Develop Your Personal Learning Network

Every educator should have a PLN – that’s a Personal Learning Network. Each person should develop their own network of leaders, educators, and resources to assist you with questions, ideas, and support. In this Tip, I am going to share with you some ways to develop your own PLN.

A PLN doesn’t have to be something fancy… it’s just developing links with other local and non-local educators to share ideas and best practices and to call upon for teaching advice. Educators that you follow on Twitter and blogs that you read are part of your PLN. (You do use Twitter, right? If not, next week’s Tech Tip will get you started!).

If you’re not sure where to start developing your PLN, here are some ideas:

• • Be on the lookout for neighboring groups putting on events. Your local Educational Service Center has plenty of opportunities where you can network with other educators and develop your skills.

• • Ask other teachers from various districts about questions or concerns that you may have.

• Seek out no-cost opportunities – Northern Buckeye offers free training, webinars and virtual tech support. Visit our Training Website for more details.

While I have developed a great Personal Learning Network that includes many of the teachers, tech directors, and other educators that I have personally worked with during my time at Northern Buckeye, some of the greatest connections that I have made have been through social media networks such as Twitter. These networks have changed the world of education – no longer are you limited to networking with those close by. You can literally collaborate with people all over the globe!

Here are my Top 15 people I follow on Twitter as part of my PLN:

1. 1. Alice Keeler – Google ROCKSTAR! Author, speaker, math teacher – @alicekeeler

1. 1. Kasey Bell – Author of Shake Up Learning – @ShakeUpLearning

1. 1. Matt Miller – Educator and Author of Ditch That Textbook – @jmattmiller

1. 1. Nicholas Provenzano – The Nerdy Teacher – ISTE Teacher of the Year, Google Certified Innovator, Author of two books on making – @thenerdyteacher

1. 1. Steven W. Anderson – Educator, Speaker, Blogger, #Edchat Co-Creator, Top 50 Innovators in Ed – @web20classroom

1. 1. Jill Thompson – #21stedchat Co-Creator, Personalized Digital Learning Director – @Edu_Thompson

1. 1. Sir Ken Robinson – author, TED speaker, education and creativity expert – @SirKenRobinson ‏

1. 1. Leslie Fisher – k-12 EdTech Conference Presenter – @lesliefisher

1. 1. Eric Sheninger – award-winning principal, best-selling author – @E_Sheninger

1. 1. Eric Curts – Tech Integrationist, Google Certified Innovator – @ericcurts

1. 1. Christine Danhoff – Genoa Integration Specialist, local Tech Rockstar – @cmdanhoff

1. 1. INFOhio – great resources for teachers and students – @infohio

1. 1. Joe Sanfelippo – superintendent, keynote speaker, co-author of Hacking Leadership – @Joe_Sanfelippo

1. 1. Tom Murray – Director of Innovation for Future Ready, Author of Learning Transformed – @thomascmurray

1. Jon Gordon – Speaker, author of The Energy Bus, Power of Positive Leadership and more – @jongordon11

In next week’s Tech Tip, Julianne Lange will get you started on Twitter including ways to continue developing your PLN through hashtags and Twitter chats.