Teaching is one of the professions that are continuously learning. Every year, teachers participate in creating their own Personal Learning Plan (PLP) to help them grow as educators. Sometimes, its not easy to find professional development opportunities while teaching in the classroom. A great way to build learn from others in the profession is to create a Professional Learning Network, PLN for short. Jones and Kennedy (2023) state " Teachers should be provided opportunities to engage in life-learning opportunities that can be utilized in the classroom and shared with colleagues" (p.66). Many teachers feel like excluded due to being isolated to their classroom. Administrators can support their staff through building professional learning communities and encouraging their teachers to participate in professional learning networks (Jones & Kennedy, 2023, p.84).
Throughout the course Instructional Leadership in Educational Context, EDL 677, I learned how to create a PLN and interact with various professionals through different platforms. I found creating the PLN met the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) standard 1K that "communicates the effectiveness of technology in professional activities" (CoSN - Consortium for School Networking, 2018, p.3). A PLN focuses on the different connections and tools that an individual utilizes for personal growth, learning, and sharing of knowledge.
Pena, Curado, and Oliveria (2022) describe LinkedIn as "a Professional network which allows users to promote themselves professionally and expand their social networks". If you're anything like me, you have heard of LinkedIn but thought it was strictly a job seeking site. I was not aware that it was social networking for professionals. I have discovered many professionals that offer great ideas and resources to education.
Pinterest has been around for many years. I have always used it to save ideas for things that I wanted to use in the classroom but never considered it to be part of a Professional Learning Network. Lundgren, Curcio, and Schroeder (2021) explain that "Teachers are no longer limited to participating in face-to-face professional development experiences or only resources over lunch or during passing periods. With educational resources easily accessible on social media like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Tik-Tok, and Instagram, we must interrogate the ways teachers share the knowledge they gain online with their colleagues" (p.2). Pinterest is an easy and meaningful way to share your personal ideas and new discoveries with your learning community.
Flipboard is something that I had heard of in the past but never researched and used for professional growth. After delving deep into Flipboard, I discovered that it has many uses from saving your favorite resources and articles, to seeing what other educators and professionals around the world are finding as well.
Like CoSN Standard 1K, PLNs provide opportunities for educators to engage in ongoing learning through social media, webinars, and collaborative discussions. PLNs offer educators the space to collaborate with other professionals around the world to build on their knowledge. It seems like a daunting task and the acronym makes you think that it's just something else that educators have to do, but building your professional network is probably something that you unconciously have already done just by following professionals on social media.
References:
Jones, L., & Kennedy, E. (2023). Effective technology tools for school leadership: Understanding Digital
and Data-Driven Strategies. Taylor & Francis.
Lundgren,L., Curcio, R., & Schroeder, S. E. (2021). Are you a team player or a personal pinner?situating pinterest as part of teachers' online and offline professional learning networks. Innovation and Education, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42862-021-00013-z
Pena, L., Curado, C., & Oliveria, M. (2022). The contributions of LinkedIn use to career outcome
expectations. Journal of Business Research, 144. 788-796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.09.047
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Keley,
ReplyDeleteI too am new to the creating PLNs using social media tools. I have personally loved using LinkedIn and Pinterest as great tools for creating and engaging with my PLN group members. In an article about creating PLNs, Poth (2023) states, "Teaching can be isolating, and that isolation and lack of support can lead to burnout. PLNs help educators to escape the isolation that can become part of the profession." (para. 2). Jones and Kennedy (2023) further state about LinkedIn, "There are opportunities for educators to engage in many professional development initiatives." (p. 20) These various social media tools and platforms are a great way for educators to learn from other educators across the world, or just across the hall. They give leaders and educators access to materials, ideas, and development that they may not normally have access to. Great post!
Resources
Jones, L., & Kennedy, E. (2023). Effective technology tools for school leadership: Understanding Digital and Data-Driven Strategies. Taylor & Francis.
Poth, R.D. (2023, July 28). Building your professional learning network. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/professional-learning-networks-teachers/