Hey everyone, I had some thoughts whilst trying to define what a PLN was and decided to write a bit more about it..........
My definition of a Personal Learning Network (PLN):
To define a PLN in a sentence I would say it is: A Personal Learning Network is a web of connections constructed offline and online by an individual that allows for the sharing and improvement of knowledge.
I did some further thinking on why, and I wrote a bit about it (its also on my blog). Let me know if anyone thinks I am wide of the mark.
Basis for my definition
The thing I struggled with the most about defining a Personal Learning Network is does it require technology in its construction to be considered a PLN. Many blogs and articles I looked at stripped the concept of a PLN right back to being an interaction between people about a shared interest which produced some sort of a newly learned knowledge, for example, one lecturer asking another how they managed to get their students to engage better in a lesson, as they had heard from other colleagues that they had had success with a new technique. This conversation could happen in a University cafeteria or a staff office and new knowledge has been shared between a network of people. That leads me to question whether the knowledge transferred needs to be in a solid form, kind of like an artefact, so the technique would need to be written on a blog site by one of the people involved in the initial discourse, so that it can be subsequently accessible by anyone who searches on the internet for similar knowledge.
Some websites and articles explicitly state that a PLN has to have a technological aspect. In a 2013 post on Edutopia.org, Tom Whitby states that a PLN is “a tool that uses social media and technology to collect, communicate, collaborate and create with connected colleagues anywhere at any time”. I think this statement makes a massive assumption that meaningful knowledge is now only transmitted and discussed on the internet. I agree, a large majority of discussion does happen on the web, as it offers an unparalleled opportunity to connect so many people in different place with different ideas. However, meaningful knowledge is created in smaller, more ‘personal’ networks which may contains under 10 people in a close proximity.
The term Personal Learning Network seems confusing to me, as when something is personal its bespoke to an individual, closed off and precious and what I think would be a better term is an Open Learning Network or a Massive Open Learning Network.
Block 2 H817 Week 10 Activity 15 - PLN
Hey everyone, I had some thoughts whilst trying to define what a PLN was and decided to write a bit more about it..........
My definition of a Personal Learning Network (PLN):
To define a PLN in a sentence I would say it is: A Personal Learning Network is a web of connections constructed offline and online by an individual that allows for the sharing and improvement of knowledge.
I did some further thinking on why, and I wrote a bit about it (its also on my blog). Let me know if anyone thinks I am wide of the mark.
Basis for my definition
The thing I struggled with the most about defining a Personal Learning Network is does it require technology in its construction to be considered a PLN. Many blogs and articles I looked at stripped the concept of a PLN right back to being an interaction between people about a shared interest which produced some sort of a newly learned knowledge, for example, one lecturer asking another how they managed to get their students to engage better in a lesson, as they had heard from other colleagues that they had had success with a new technique. This conversation could happen in a University cafeteria or a staff office and new knowledge has been shared between a network of people. That leads me to question whether the knowledge transferred needs to be in a solid form, kind of like an artefact, so the technique would need to be written on a blog site by one of the people involved in the initial discourse, so that it can be subsequently accessible by anyone who searches on the internet for similar knowledge.
Some websites and articles explicitly state that a PLN has to have a technological aspect. In a 2013 post on Edutopia.org, Tom Whitby states that a PLN is “a tool that uses social media and technology to collect, communicate, collaborate and create with connected colleagues anywhere at any time”. I think this statement makes a massive assumption that meaningful knowledge is now only transmitted and discussed on the internet. I agree, a large majority of discussion does happen on the web, as it offers an unparalleled opportunity to connect so many people in different place with different ideas. However, meaningful knowledge is created in smaller, more ‘personal’ networks which may contains under 10 people in a close proximity.
The term Personal Learning Network seems confusing to me, as when something is personal its bespoke to an individual, closed off and precious and what I think would be a better term is an Open Learning Network or a Massive Open Learning Network.
Whitby, T (2013) How do I get a PLN? - Edutopia.org [Accessed at: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-do-i-get-a-pln-tom-whitby] [Last Accessed: 12/04/15]