Networking: A Valuable Form of PD

I attended and presented at 2 mini conferences this week, both of which showcased the value of peer-led professional development.

The first conference, put on by SAPDC, was directed towards CTS teachers. Knowing little about the CTS curriculums and programs offered, especially outside of our district, the conference brought some interesting points to light. First, and foremost, these teachers want more professional development opportunities specific to their programs. It also became clear that coordinating opportunities for CTS teachers was very difficult given the sheer number of areas that fit under the category of CTS, the need for specific facilities and the geographic distances between teachers. Through conversation, many of the teachers in attendance appreciated the opportunity to meet and network with other teachers throughout the South. It is perhaps these networking opportunities that could potentially yield the greatest benefit for our teachers.

Speaking of networking, I was delighted by the number of teachers who took up the call to join and use Twitter during our PD Day. Over 10% of our teachers joined in the conversation that happened throughout the day. As the day went on, the conversations began to deepen and push our thoughts as educators. I hope that these teachers will begin to build their PLNs and continue to explore using Twitter as an educational tool. I know that my PLN has helped me in a number of ways. Efficiency is the most obvious benefit. I don't need to search for resources or information because the people that I follow are doing that for me. They act as a filter, sorting through research, current trends, and resources so that I don't have to. And that happens without any participation on my part (other than reading). By participating in the conversation, I allow my beliefs and assumptions to become public, and be challenged by the beliefs and assumptions of others. This process allows you to further your understanding and knowledge of education.

Consider how influential master teachers have been on you. Through conversation they influence your beliefs and teaching practice. They offer timely advice and all the resources you could ask for. How many of these teachers have you known during your career? Five? Twenty? Fifty? Twitter will allow you to connect with this type of teacher worldwide, pushing that number in the thousands. You may even get to meet them in person sometime. Build your PLN.

Welcome Back!

"Up your nose with a rubber hose!"

- Vinnie Barbarino

Sorry. I couldn't find any inspirational words from Mr. Kotter. I hope everyone had a chance to relax and unplug over the summer. You never really realize how dependent on the Internet you've become until you are in the middle of nowhere with no service for an extended period of time. It was hard to shake the IAD (Internet Anxiety Disorder) although it was nice to re-connect with the sunshine once again.

Hopefully some of you had a chance to try out some of the many sites mentioned previously in Techronicity and begin building your PLN (Personal Learning Network) over the summer. If not, now is an especially great time to do so since it could save you hours of time in the future. Grasslands Public Schools is now on Twitter, under the username @GPS6. Grasslands is hoping to use Twitter as an effective messaging system to communicate important messages (such as school closures) with students and parents. Encourage parents to follow Grasslands!

Here is a sneek-peek at what is down the pipeline for Techronicity this year:

The 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship

Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

Moodle

Smartboard Tips

I'll leave you with some motivational pictures:

Learn through Blogging.

We know that blogging can be a very effective tool when used in the classroom. But, it can also be a great tool for developing your PLN. In fact, it's probably the easiest way to get started. You can easily find thousands of blogs relevant to your area of interest or expertise on the internet through a quick search using Googleblogs, Ask.com or Technorati.


Once you've found a blog, begin by reading some of the posts. The most current post will be on the first page you see. There is generally an area where you can navigate to previous blog postings (For instance, on the right hand side of this page you can access all blog postings from the past). Take a quick browse through to see if there are any titles or blog posts that interest you. You will quickly be able to judge whether or not that blog is a site that will be valuable for you.


Your next step should be to start contributing to the conversation. Topics and ideas presented on blogs will get you thinking. Ask questions, answer questions or tell others what you think. The whole idea is to have a conversation to deepen your understanding of a topic.


The final step is to create your own blog and express your beliefs and knowledge with others.


In the meantime, here are some of my favourites that deal with technology:


Free Technology for Teachers
My 2 Cents
ICT in Education
The Whiteboard Blog
Weblogg-ed

What's in a Ning?

Ning is great website where you can create your own social network, similar to sites like MySpace or Facebook. You may be asking why you would want to do that. Well, besides the fact that MySpace and Facebook is probably blocked at your school, both of those sites have questionable security and privacy issues that simply would not plague you if you chose to use a Ning. Your Ning could be a site used by your class as a social network to safely debate or discuss different topics relevant to your class. Nings can be made public or private, so you can limit exactly who can see and connect with your network. Also, educators can use Ning free of charge! For more educational uses, read this.


To use Ning as a part of your PLN, it would be incredibly easy to set one up and invite collaborators to join. You could share web resources, attach files or discuss issues of pedagogy. The best way to get to know the features and benefits of Ning is to experience it yourself. Chances are, whatever your bailiwick, you'll be able to find an educational Ning that is already set up and running. Most of these are public so you can join the network. Here are some that I'd recommend:


The Educator's PLN
Ning in Education
Classroom 2.0
Smartboard Revolution
English Companion Review (Award Winning)
EFL Classroom 2.0 (Award Winning)
Country Day School


Here is a video explaining Ning in Education:

Twitter? Surely, you can't be serious.

I am serious... and stop calling me Shirley!

Twitter is not what you may think it is. While you could get constant updates about what your favourite celebrity is having for lunch or what new music they're listening to, Twitter has evolved into an important educational tool that has many potential benefits for teachers and students. Not sure what Twitter is? Watch this video.

Today, I'll focus on the benefits of using Twitter as a part of your PLN. As a networking tool, Twitter helps you connect with educational experts across the globe. By "following" these experts, you can get real-time updates featuring things like new websites, blog posts or thought provoking comments. For me, Twitter has given the greatest return in terms of learning and professional development over any conference, workshop, website or program. I can directly pose a question to a number of educational experts in technology and receive a response within hours, sometimes minutes.

If you were to follow and be followed by colleagues in your district, Twitter could be an effective option for you to get resources to one another or have professional conversations. These resources and conversations could be taken further by connecting with educators from around the world, as you extend your PLN beyond your geographic location.

Give it a try and see what you think. Sign up for a Twitter account here. Search for my username: cunningandy. Follow me and receive my tweets. Take a look at the people I follow and choose to follow one or two of them. When you're ready to learn more, check out this website on twitter etiquette and twitter terminology (pay special attention to hashtags).

Check out the presentation below for more information on how to use Twitter as a professional development tool:


Twitter for Teachers- a Professional Development Tool

Delicious? Yes it is.

Simply put, social bookmarking is a way for people to share their internet links with others. Not so simply put, social bookmarking is a method for people to share, search, organize and manage not only their bookmarks, but the bookmarks of colleagues or members of their PLN.

Delicious is probably the most famous social bookmarking site and it is the one I will profile today. If you haven't heard of delicious, sign up for an account NOW!

On a basic level, Delicious is great for saving your own personal bookmarks. You can import bookmarks you've already saved on your computer to your delicious account easily.You can also add a handy delicious tool to your browser that will enable you to save websites to your delicious account with one click (I would highly recommend this). You have the option to keep your bookmarks private or public so that everyone can find the sites you feel are valuable.

One important thing to understand when bookmarking sites on delicious are tags. Tags are the most essential aspect of delicious as they will help you organize and search through your bookmarks. When adding a website to your delicious account, delicious will actually provide you with some suggested tags for that page based on words others have used to categorize that website. For an example, here is a link to my delicious account with all of the websites I have tagged as Web 2.0: http://delicious/andy.cunningham/web2.0. You can further refine your search by combining two or more tags: http://delicious.com/andy.cunningham/web2.0+presentation.

As I said, social bookmarking can be a very effective tool for a PLN. Not only can you direct people to your public delicious page you can also follow other people to see which sites they have identified as being important. Simply search for a user and add them to your network. You can browse through your Network's delicious bookmarks and keep up to date with new sites they've added. This could be very effective for a PLC group as people could simply add sites to their delicious account for others in the group to search through.

For those of you who would prefer this transcript in video, watch this:

Never Search for Websites Again!

Many teachers ask me if I spend hour upon hour searching through websites to find ones that are great for the classroom. The answer is NO! In fact, even though I create links to more and more websites all the time, I actually haven't searched for specific websites in months. They come to me. How, you ask? Through my PLNs.


PLNs (or personal learning networks) are defined in this blog as:

"the entire collection of people with whom you engage and exchange information, usually online."

Originally used by people who were actually colleagues in person (ie: our Moodle) the Internet and rise in social media have forced the evolution of what PLNs are. Now you can discuss and share with colleagues from around the world.


There are many ways in which you can build or develop a PLN, but the easiest way to get involved or become a part of one is to try out established PLNs such as The Educator's PLN, Classroom 2.0 or Smartboard Revolution. You'll notice all of these sites were created using a web-tool called Ning. Ning is a place where you can create your own specialized PLN and features free accounts for educators.


Ning is one of many different ways you can be a part of or create your own PLN. Other places you can establish PLNs are Facebook, Blogs, Delicious, Diigo, Wikis and Twitter. If you have not signed up for these services yet, take some time to do so. They can make your life as an educator much more efficient and finding resources less time consuming.


Over the next few weeks I will profile each of these networking services and include tips to help you make use of them not only as a learning tool for you, but also as a learning tool for students in your classrooms.