Building your PLN (Professional Learning Network) with Twitter

What is a PLN?

According to TeachHub, a resource in my PLN "In the education world, PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. What it means is that an individual has developed their own personalized "network" of fellow educators and resources who are designed to make them a better teacher".

For me, it is a way to further my learning and understanding of educational concepts that I am passionate about and support my work. My PLN allows me to easily connect with like minded educators from all over the world at my leisure. Learning and professional development can happen anywhere, even if I am at home in my pajamas or working out at the gym.

The following video describe in just over a minute, what a PLN is and how it can be beneficial for teachers to build their own network.

One forum for collecting resources is Twitter. There are many ways to interact with Twitter both simple and complex. Some people like to use it as an online magazine that curates resources while others also use it as a forum for creating and sharing content. Your first step to building a PLN on Twitter is finding people to follow.

Going to a conference? If you go to a session you enjoy, follow the presenter. Often times presenters will list their twitter handle in the resources section of the conference website. If the twitter handle is not communicated in the session, you can search by name in Twitter as well. These technology leaders can be excellent resources for innovative ideas and resources.

Do you belong to any professional organizations or subscribe to professional journals or magazines? These organizations can be a great resource for building a quality network. Some of my favorites are ISTE, ASCD, & Edutopia.

Once you start following active professionals in your field, it's easy to find other professionals to follow. Look and see who your favorite people follow or click on your "find friends" icon to see recommendations made by Twitter. If you find a re tweet that is relevant, consider following the person who originally tweeted the content. The following info-graphics includes some more tips on how to get started building a PLN.

 

Embracing the #

Now that you have people to follow on Twitter, what do you do next? Think about places where you could connect with other like minded professionals. In Twitter, you can find communities through hashtags. These communities either host conversations on educational topics during a designated time or are conducive to ongoing discussions. Browse through the following presentation to see some of the most popular hashtags for educators. 

Getting Started

Now that you have some information on building a PLN, it's time to get started. The following Jeffco departments are must follows within our Jeffco Community. Use them as a launching point to building your network. 

@jeffcoedtech

@JeffcoScience

@JeffcoEdEffect

@JeffcoSchoolsCo

@JeffcoInduction