This document defines and explains personal learning networks (PLNs), which allow individuals to extend their learning outside the classroom by engaging with others online. A PLN involves connecting with people who can guide one's learning by sharing knowledge, resources, experiences and answering questions. Benefits of PLNs include learning new things, collaborating, getting validation and building camaraderie. Various online tools that can be used to build a PLN are described, including Twitter, Diigo, SlideShare and Flickr. Maintaining a PLN is important for teachers to stay current and teach in a way that engages students.

1. PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
NETWORKS ALSO KNOWN AS
PERSONAL LEARNING
NETWORKS (PLN)

2. WHAT IS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORK?

3. WHAT IS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORK?
 PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORKS THEY
ARE A TERRIFIC WAY TO EXTEND YOUR
KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING OUTSIDE
YOUR CLASSROOM
 IT IS THE ENTIRE COLLECTION OF
PEOPLE WITH WHOM YOU ENGAGE AND
EXCHANGE INFORMATION, USUALLY
ONLINE.

4. MEANING PLN CONT....
PERSONAL LEARNING
NETWORK –
“A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO CAN
GUIDE YOUR LEARNING, POINT
YOU TO LEARNING
OPPORTUNITIES, ANSWER
YOUR QUESTIONS, AND GIVE
YOU THE BENEFIT OF THEIR
OWN KNOWLEDGE,

5. MEANING PLN CONT....
 “PLN IS A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO WILL
HEIGTHEN YOUR LEARNING, SUCH
PEOPLE CAN POINT YOU TO LEARNING
OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH SHARING
RESOURCES AND EXPERIENCE, AND
THEY CAN ALSO ANSWER YOUR
QUESTIONS” (WILKINSON,2010)

6. BENEFITS OF PLN

7. LEARNING, SHARING
Contribute
SEEK TO BE
WORTH KNOWING
Tag everything

8. WHAT DOES MY PLN DO FOR ME?
 CROFUT (2009) STRESSED THAT
SHE GOT TO HER PLN FOR MANY
THINGS SUCH AS;
LEARNING NEW THINGS
ASKING QUESTIONS
COLLABORATING WITH OTHERS
VALIDATION
CAMARADERIE

9. • ADD TOOLS/SERVICES
• CONNECT TO DATA,
INFORMATION,
KNOWLEDGE
• CREATE ARTIFACTS
• CONNECT TO PEERS,
EDUCATORS, FAMILY AND
FRIENDS
• SHARE THOUGHTS,
IDEAS, RESOURCES,
ARTIFACTS
• CONNECT TO
PROFESSIONALS AND
EXPERTS VIA
PROFESSIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS AND
NETWORKS
• COLLABORATE
• CONTRIBUTE
WHAT DOES MY PLN DO FOR ME
CONT….
(IVANOVA, 2009)
DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORK

10. All that we send into the lives of others
…comes back into
All that we send into the lives of
others
…comes back into our own
Reciprocity
“THE PRACTICE OF EXCHANGING
THINGS WITH OTHERS FOR MUTUAL
BENEFIT” SIMPLIFIED-YOU SCRATCH MY
BACK I'LL SCRATCH YOURS TOO.

11. “TEACHERS ARE
NODES,
STUDENTS ARE
NODES
BOTH
TEACHING AND
LEARNING
CONSISTS OF
SENDING AND
RECEIVING
COMMUNICATIO
NS TO OTHER

12. BUT A NETWORK ISN’T JUST FOLLOWING
YOU HAVE TO CONTRIBUTE!

13. RESPOND TO BLOG POSTS-NB!! YOU SCRATCH M
BACK THEN I’LL DO LIKEWISE.
www.flickr.com/photos/23324812@N00/93936385

14. SHARE WITH
OTHERS AS YOU
WOULD HAVE
THEM SHARE
WITH YOU WHICH
WILL BE THE
RESULTANT OF

15. DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLN
 FLICKR=http://flickr.com
 SLIDEFLICKR=http://slideflickr.com/
 DIIGO.COM=http://www.diigo.com
 SLIDESHARE.NET=http://www.slideshare.ne
t
 DEL.ICIO.US=http://del.icio.us/
 TWITTER=http://www.twitter.com

16. DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLN EXPLAINED

17. SLIDESHARE.NET
 http://www.slideshare.net
 Upload, find, and share presentations
 Great for publicly posting copies of a
presentation you give.
 Don’t reinvent the wheel! Presentations
available on just about any subject.
 Can be slow to load
 Distinct URLs for linking

18. DIIGO.COM
 http://www.diigo.com
 Highlight, annotate, bookmark, tag web
pages, and share them
 Create and share specific bookmark lists
 Create workgroups!
 View the annotations of other users on a
page

19. DO YOU TWEET?
 http://www.twitter.com
 What are you doing now?
 Anything you can say in 140 characters or
less!
 Automatically uses http://tinyurl.com/ to
shrink long URLs
 Tweet from phone, IM, or browser
 Those you follow and those who follow you
become your Personal Learning Network

20. DEL.ICIO.US
 http://del.icio.us/
 Social Bookmarking
 Bookmark, tag, organize, and share internet
sites
 Makes your bookmarks browser/computer
independent!
 Browser tool bar makes use a snap

21. FLICKR
 http://flickr.com
 One of the most popular image sharing sites
on the Internet
 Requires a free Yahoo ID
 It’s a good idea to make a Yahoo ID anyway
so that you can use the email account for
your networking registrations.

22. CONCLUSION
 As a teacher its important to teach in a way that is
relevant to the world around us and to the
generation of our students. This can be done by
expanding our PLN, we can teach with new online
tools, find ways to introduce paperless classrooms
and find new resources. Being a teacher that is
fluent in technology will certainly organize your
mind as a teacher as well as your students.
 Be creative, step out of your comfort zone and give
your students a classroom where resources and
knowledge is at their fingertips
(Wilkinson,2010)

23. CONCLUSION CONT…
 THUS THIS ASSIGNMENT WENT INTO
GREATER DETAILS OF THE FOLLOWING;
 WHAT DOES PLN MEAN, WHAT'S THERE
FOR PEOPLE TO BENEFIT FROM PLN
AND LASTLY IT GAVE THE LIST AS WELL
AS EXPLAINED BRIEFLY THE DIFFERENT
TYPES OF PLN.

24. BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Wilkinson,2010)
(DOWNES,2009)
(KELLER, 2008)
(CROFUT, 2009)
(IVANOVA, 2009)

25. BIBLIOGRAPHY CONT…
 Crofut. S, (2009) "Professional (Personal) Learning Networks. Available
from:
http://conference2009.tie2.wikispaces.net/Professional+(Personal)+Lear
ning+Networks.
(Accessed 11 March 2013)
 Downes, S. (2009). New Tools for Personal Learning. MEFANET 2009
Conference. Brno, Czech Republic.
 Ivanova, M. (2009). From Personal Environment Building to
Professional Learning Network Forming. The 5th
International Scientific Conference. Sofia-Bulgaria:
Technical University.
 keller, C. (2008). Creating Your Own Personal Learning
Network. Summer Professional Development Institute.
Whitehall, PA: Summer Professional Development Institute,
Whitehall, PA.