How should we tap this community to develop our own 21st-century skills as educators?

[Katie Winchell]

I love the idea of learning networks and get a lot of info online myself, but am new at the interactive aspect of building your own personal, professional learning community. What advice can you share on this? What does that model look like? Thx.

[Robert Fishtrom]

I think we start this by looking at models that Mark Wagner and other technology experts have created. Educators are busy and need to see something that is easy to use and doesn't absorb too much time. They need to see value in the tool - hopefully with many resources in one place. We can only strengthen the educational community by going down this avenue. It's long overdue.

[Mark Wagner, Ph.D.]

Robert, I'm flattered. ;)

In any case, Katie suggested that this might actually be a good opportunity for me to share an article I just wrote for the League. Here's the introduction and a link to the full article.

Learning to Network & Networking to Learn
By Mark Wagner, Ph.D., Educational Technology Coordinator, CLMS; Presenter, 2008 CLMS/CLHS/NHSA and CUE Technology Conference

When I was a high school English teacher, I was lucky enough to work in a relatively collaborative environment. The English department had a lounge where we met at break and lunch each day. We shared our questions, frustrations, and solutions... and plenty of funny or heartwarming stories. At the time, the people in that room were the core of my personal learning network.

As great as that was, our learning was restricted to the views of a few colleagues at one particular school. Many other teachers aren't even so lucky. They may be the only person teaching their subject at the site – or they may feel isolated for a variety of other common reasons.

You may be lucky enough to have a core group of people you learn from at your site, or you may be one of the many who feel more isolated than connected. In either case, there are now exciting new ways to take charge of your own professional development and build your own personal learning network using online tools.

More...

[Peggy]

Great question Katie! I find that the PLN I am enjoying as a result of these advancements in communication has revolutionized my thinking, my creativity and my time management methods! Second Life provides major connectivity for my "affinity groups" but I also extend my learning via blogs, Twitter, nings, and yes - Facebook@ (ooooh , she said the "f" word!) I think what works best for me is to build slowly- rather than jump on each new shiny app or SNS--THen I get a good grip on it, evaluate it within my own frame of reference rather than buying into the hype- and once I have settled it into my routine- I can look at teh next. Just like my clothes closet - I have learned to be sure to eliminate before I add; as I have definitely reached capacity!

[Birgit Bonham]

Peggy, I think you make a great point. I got a lot to think about from the speaker this morning, but the most important nugget was the one about having to have teachers use the tools for a while before going to the students. The problem is that each time I go to a conference I find so many new ideas, that trying them out in-depth along with teaching four (elective) preps is is taking over my life and I'm sure I'm not alone here. Does anyone have suggestions about ways to try out the tools and multi-task while doing them?

[Diane Main]

We want our students to collaborate, so we should model that. We have the technology to network with other like-minded geeky educators, so we should be taking advantage of that. Too many of us are the "only ones like us" at our schools or districts. As we find support in each other (where borders and distance become a non-issue), we can take back our experiences to our colleagues and our students.

[Katie Winchell]

Love the closet analogy, Peggy! That is about it. It's interesting getting into these worlds as an adult (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., Second Life next after the Peggy initiation!), I'm reconnecting with old friends and colleagues as a result, and it also is an exploration of socialization -- what is the etiquette? Is there an etiquette? The nice thing is most Web 2.0 people seem pretty forgiving if you are a newbie. Learning by doing does seem the way to go, something that the kids model so well, that fearlessness of just trying it out.