Personal Learning Network - Part 7

At this point in my posting on the Personal Learning Networks we have taken a look at various aspects of the concept. We have taken a look at personal learning networks in terms of education, the learner, and ways to evaluate sources of information. This posting will be dedicated to the impact of personal learning networks in schooling. This post will describe how schools, teachers, and classrooms are developing and implementing personal learning networks to support students learning.

Schools, teachers, and classrooms have been using personal learning networks for a long time, whether they knew it or not. Researching current events in the news or publishing work on the internet are forms of using the personal learning networks. (Davis, 2009) (Fisch, 2008). In the past teachers would consult subject matter experts, research from printed materials, face-to-face conversations, and attending workshops or staff developments. (Roland, 2009) (Anderson, 2008). Because of technological advancements teachers are able to connect to each other through the use of the internet. To successfully use a personal learning network in the classroom the teacher must first get comfortable with using it themselves. Sue Waters (2007) offers 4 ideas you must consider when beginning the early stages of develop a personal learning network:

1. What tools you use!
2. Who you connect with!
3. How you want to learn!
4. When you want to learn!

As a teacher begins to develop a personal learning network Sue Waters (2007) gives several points of advice to help a teacher become comfortable and at the same time be a contributor to the personal learning network spectrum:

1. Start slowly and find mentor(s) to help you.
2. Use the same username across tools
3. Share as much as you take
4. Ask as much as you answer
5. Try new TOOLS before you decide they're not worth the time
6. Comment on other people's blogs
7. Lifelong learning is the key!

The idea is to of these steps presented by Sue Waters is for teachers to become familiar with a personal learning network and how to use it to support learning. Successfully using a personal learning network in the classroom and becoming familiar with the how to use it the teacher can direct students on how they would like the student to use it in. For example, when Vicki Davis (2009) uses a personal learning network in her classroom “its content changes based on the student's current course work. When [Davis] assign[s] them a term paper, the students comb the Web to sign up for information that will feed into their personalized Web page to construct a PLN for that topic. When they get a new project, they assemble another page.”

Motivation is a factor that seems to influence educator’s uses of a personal learning network in the classroom. Authors mentioned taking ownership of learning, pursuing individual goals and being highly motivating. (Epcke & Meech, 2008) (McCollum, 2009). Epcke and Meech (2008) state "Personal Learning Networks are systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning. This includes providing support for learners to:

• set their own learning goals
• manage their learning; managing both content and process
• communicate with others in the process of learning
• and thereby achieve learning goals"

Providing this motivational factor when using personal learning network teachers set students up to be proficient lifelong learners (McCollum, 2009).

After teachers have gone through the process of figuring out what a personal learning network is and how to use it, and the motivational factors to using it, teachers must consider what can students get from using a personal learning network besides that fact that it is a 21^st century learning strategy. Will Richardson (2008) provides these factors for using a personal learning network. In addition Richardson looks at this list not only in and educational sense but other factors as well including professionally, and a citizenship standpoint.

• Networked–They’ll need an “outboard brain.”
• More collaborative–They are going to need to work closely with people to co-create information.
• More globally aware–Those collaborators may be anywhere in the world.
• Less dependent on paper–Right now, we are still paper training our kids.
• More active–In just about every sense of the word. Physically. Socially. Politically.
• Fluent in creating and consuming hypertext–Basic reading and writing skills will not suffice.
• More connected–To their communities, to their environments, to the world.
• Editors of information–Something we should have been teaching them all along but is even more important now.

Each point presented by Richardson has a correlation between personal learning networks and the student, which will be demonstrated by going through each point.

Networked – They’ll need an “outboard brain,” is quite simply a student’s ability to store sources of knowledge, however, not within their own brain. Clive Thompson (2007) discusses how the storage of facts and information in his head are blurred between being connected to the grid and the uses of various search engines to retrieve answers. Being connected helps in the storage of information for retrieval to the learner.

More collaborative is perhaps one of the biggest adjustments to meet the needs of learners today. Collaborative learning provides peer to peer teaching and learning and to help evaluate information on importance or relevance.

More globally aware allows for learners to collaborate and learn not only from the students in their class but also around to world. Making learning authentic provides another element to learning that enriches the student’s experiences.

Less dependent on paper means that both teachers and students have to understand that research is not only done in books and assignments are not only completed on paper. There is an array of tools available to both teachers and students that allows for extensive research without opening a book and the ability to turn in assignments where the teacher does not have to physically go to each student and collect a sheet of paper.

More active and more connected are two points that the reviewer will cover together. These are both important because students should be domestically and globally active and aware of what is going on in the world around them. The hope is molding better and smarter citizens.

Fluent in creating and consuming hypertext is the ability of reading and understanding the wealth of information available electronically but being able to add to this information with thoughtful and innovative ideas.

The last point of editors of information is the ability to evaluate information and being able to check the validity of it as well. Not all information is good information and not all good information is the information needed to support and point. Students have to find a medium in there when searching information.

These 8 items presented above are essential when considering what a student can receive when using a personal learning network. It does not allow for learning to stop once you leave the classroom but to become lifelong learners in and out of the classroom. Teachers must remember that most learning is informal. (Cross, 2009). Most learning is informal means that most learning happens outside the controlled environment of a classroom. Once implementing the use of a personal learning network into the classroom teacher should not expect student not to use it outside of the classroom. On the contrary teachers should welcome the use of students using their personal learning network outside the classroom.

Anderson, C. (2008). Building your own personal learning network on vimeo. Retrieved July 24, 2009, from http://vimeo.com/2299158

Cross, J. (2009, February 27). Personal learning networks: Why peers are better than classmates. Retrieved July 24, 2009, from http://www.masternewmedia.org/personal-learning-networks-why-peers-are-better-than-classmates

Davis, V. (2009.). Personal learning networks are virtual lockers for schoolkids | Edutopia. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from http://www.edutopia.org/personal-learning-networks-technology.

Epcke, J., & Meech, S. (2008, November 16). Personal learning networks: The power of the human network. Retrieved July 16, 2009, from creatingapln.wikispaces.com/

Fisch, K. (2008). The fischbowl: My personal learning network in action. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-personal-learning-network-in-action.html

McCollum, K. (2009). Teaching with technology. Retrieved July 18, 2009, from ipt286.pbworks.com/Piecing-Together-a-Personal-Learning-Network

Richardson, W. (2008). What do we know about our kids’ futures? Really. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/what-do-we-know-about-our-kids-futures-really/

Roland, C. (2009). Building your own personal network, part 1. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from www.davisart.com/Portal/SchoolArts/articles/3_09-art-education-online-personal-learning-networks-craig-roland.pdf

Thompson, C. (2007). Your outboard brain knows all. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-10/st_thompson

Waters, S. (2007). Skills to build your own personal learning network. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from suewaters.wikispaces.com/