Personal+Learning+Networks

=Personal Learning Networks=

Personal Learning Networks or PLNs can take many forms. The important thing is to create a network of people and resources that you can use to improve your instruction and your learning within your classroom. This page is a collection of PLN resources that will help you to do this. One key to developing an effective PLN is to make it easy for you. If you make it simple for you to follow and learn you will more effectively improve yourself and in turn your classroom.

PLN Resources
C3 Training Wiki, this wiki was created for a technology workshop that Kristin and I offer at the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit. Feel free to use/take any of the resources offered here. media type="youtube" key="RDxK0OSvKEU?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

Twitter
[|Twitter]is a microblogger tool that allows people and businesses to share information in 140 character posts. The beauty of this tool is that you can follow people who are posting information that you want to learn. If you are a math teacher you can follow other math teachers who are sharing resources, lessons, ideas, and more. [|Twitter]allows you to have a 24/7 workshop/training on any topics of interest to you. Once you build your PLN through [|Twitter]you can also use it to ask question. Imagine if you or your students had a question about the Revolutionary War and you posted it to [|Twitter]and received several responses from your PLN in answer to your question. This is a powerful tool! Probably the most powerful learning tool available today.

Twitter in Plain English
media type="youtube" key="ddO9idmax0o?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

Online Resources

 * [|An Educators Guide to Twitter] (Livebinder)
 * [|Twitter for Teachers] (wiki)
 * [|50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom]
 * [|Top 10 Twitter Tutorials on Youtube]
 * [|List of All Twitter Chats]
 * [|9 Step Plan to Combating illTWITTERacy]

Paper.li
I am sure [|Paper.li] was create when someone thought, "I dont have time to check [|Twitter]every five minutes to see what people in my PLN are posting. How can I make it easy to aggregate the posts from the people I follow in one place that I can check when I get a minute?" Well the answer to this question is [|Paper.li]. [|Paper.li] is a simple way to aggregate tweets, lists, and hashtags that you want to follow and it is done in an easy to read newspaper style format. Just set up a [|Paper.li] account and create a newspaper of whatever tweets, lists, or hashtags that you would like to follow. [|Paper.li] then creates a newspaper with all of the tweets that you chose. You then have an easy to read newspaper with tons of resources! This is amazing!

Online Communities
[|The Educator's PLN], this ning site was created to house discussions and resources on educational topics. You can sign up to become a member and following whatever discussions board you would like and have constant contact with people who share the same interests and teacher the same courses that you do. Awesome resource for educators!

[|Classroom 2.0], this ning provides resources for those interested in [|Web 2.0] and [|Social Media] in education. Another great resources for connecting with people in education, discussing topics, gathering resources, and they have weekly webinars that you can attend for free!

Google Reader
[|Google Reader], if you are a follower of blog this is a great tool to collect blog posts in one location for efficient viewing. You can subscribe to any blog and Google Reader will keep all posts from this blog on your Google Reader page. media type="youtube" key="PvKFP67GwSY?fs=1" height="385" width="480"