Tag Archives: PLN

What Else Do You Do On A Rainy Day?

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I saw this tweet from @keishawilliams about TweetStats.  Curiousity got the better of me, so taking a break from Empressr and MyStudiyo (blog post to follow), I entered my twitter username.

TweetStats :: for nzchrissy

Considering my family and I have just spent 5 days down in Nelson (blog post in progress over here) with the amazing AllanahK – it’s no wonder she’s top of my Replies To (@) list.  Ms Cofino – well everyone knows I just LOVE working with this highly motivating and intelligent lady (even have the t-shirt to prove it!!) so NO surprises there.  HeyMilly is absolutely gorgeous, witty and funny and I love reading her tweets – I wish I was as full of energy as she is – she’s loving life and taking us along for the ride – Go Girlfriend!!

Here’s the graphic I think is most revealing though – TweetCloud!  My top 5 tweets are a reflection of the last 5 days spent in Nelson on our first ever visit to the South Island – thanks, new, time, nz, great !!

But I like the fact that awesome, learning, students, skype, mac, think, need, time & blog feature heavily too.

TweetStats :: for nzchrissy

Most of all, I’m really, really pleased that thanks features the most in the Tweet Cloud!  Without such a supportive, inspirational, generous and caring bunch of people in my PLN – my learning journey would be a half-empty glass.  Thanks twitter PLN! (And thanks Mum, for teaching me that manners matter!)

SuNY Reading Reflection 2

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This week we’ve been directed to read Will Richardson’s article World Without Walls:  Learning Well With Others and Distrupting Class: Student-Centric Education Is the Future by Dr. Clayton Christensen as we begin to look more closing at Personal Learning Networks.

Will Richardson writes

The Collaboration Age is about learning with a decidedly different group of “others,” people whom we may not know and may never meet, but who share our passions and interests and are willing to invest in exploring them together. It’s about being able to form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process, and contribute to the conversations and co-creations that grow from them. It’s about working together to create our own curricula, texts, and classrooms built around deep inquiry into the defining questions of the group. It’s about solving problems together and sharing the knowledge we’ve gained with wide audiences.

My personal learning network is one of foundation stones of my own life-long learning journey.  Without it, it would have been so easy to become overwhelmed in this world of ever-changing technology and digital learning tools.  My PLN has become my “go to” place whenever advice is needed, help is required, or just a reality check of the pressures, joys, low points and highlights we all face as educators.

Because of a PLN I have had the privilege of meeting f2f some of the amazing people who willingly share their ideas and resources.  I’ve connected online with people that I wouldn’t normally have the chance to connect with should my PLN be wholly based on whom I meet in face to face situations.

Through my PLN I have connected with mothers of educators (and stayed with them in foreign countries), had the door of opportunity opened in the world of International School teaching and I’ve made some lasting friendships with people I will probably never, ever meet face to face.  That’s pretty amazing and never ceases to make me go WOW – that’s incredible.  That’s a PLN established “later” in my life.  What really blows my mind is what will my students (aged 10 years) PLN’s look like if they start establishing them now?

When first reading Distrupting Class: Student-Centric Education Is the Future by Dr. Clayton Christensen, I was at a loss to see the connection between it and Personal Learning Networks and finding information online: How do we address truth and bias in the classroom?  Then it suddenly occured to me – PLN and finding information online will eventually become the way of learning for students.  Maybe not next year, maybe not even in five years – but it is going to happen.  The rate of students learning online has already increase by 55,000 in just eight short years.  Not only will PLN’s be crucial to the success of students and teachers online, but finding information online whilst addressing truth and bias will also be mandatory.  It’s extremely important that we learn how to make and maintain our own PLNs and teach our students to do the same.  It’s extremely important that we understand how to address truth and bias in the information we find online as our students are already reaching for the keyboard with the internect connection and no longer reaching for the encyclopedia on the bookshelf!