My PLN and Plan to Grow It
Personal and professional learning networks (PLNS) are an informal way to connect with people and information. According to Haas et al (2020), PLNs offer an opportunity for people to engage in professional growth and individualized personal development. While transitioning from a classroom teacher to an instructional designer, I found my PLN changing from education and teacher focused to authoring tool tutorials, job opportunities, and design resources.
Plan to Build On
The groups that I would like to add to my PLN are Slack, Facebooks, and podcasts. All three of these networks offer a variety of support and information depending on the group or organization that I receive the information from.
Slack: I currently use Slack as a Rumie volunteer creating microlearning Bytes but am interested in seeing who else I can connect with on the platform and through which groups or organizations. One benefit to using an application such as Slack is the constant exchange of information and ability to ask ongoing questions. To me, Slack represents the future of PLNs in its ability to maintain organized flows and collaboration.
Facebook: Using Facebook as a PLN would involve joining groups with whom I share interests and ideas. While I do not belong to any instruction design groups, I do have an account and have used it for personal connections. I plan to grow my PLN by joining groups associated with learning and instructional design, use of eLearning tools, technology, and publications.
Podcasts: I want to add podcasts to my PLN to learn more about the instructional design field, updates in educational technology, and overcoming challenges in the field. Podcasts can be used to both inform and entertain. One drawback from listening to podcasts is that the information flows in one direction. However, I can also participate with the community and/or hosts through other platforms where they share the podcast, such as Linked In.
What podcasts and FB groups do you recommend?
References
Haas, M. R. C., Haley, K., Nagappan, B. S., Ankel, F., Swaminathan, A., & Santen, S. A. (2020). The connected educator: Personal learning networks. The Clinical Teacher, 17(4), 373–377.