A PLN is just a way to share ideas with other professionals. In the pre-Internet era we did that in the faculty lounge, at conferences, and in graduate school. Now, we have many other tools at our disposal, some of which are listed below. Use one or all, in no particular order, to start your own PLN.

 

1) INFOhio's Knowledge Building Community (KBC). The KBC is a free online community for Ohio educators that lets them share ideas with like-minded professionals around the state. Just create an account in the INFOhio Learning Commons and participate in the Community. Join any of the dozens of groups: Digital Citizenship, Thinking Outside the Box Librarians and Educators, Early Learning, College and Career Readiness. Or start your own group and invite members to join.

 

2) Twitter. One of our librarians says she "can't even begin to elaborate on how I have changed, learned and grown from the PLN I have on Twitter." Twitter lets you connect with many people quickly. This Twitter for Educators: A Beginner's Guide will get you started. It is short, yet thorough, and has cute bird graphics.

 

3) Blogs. Search for blogs using Google Blogs or other blog search engine. Some of our favorites are Math Teacher Mambo, The Unquiet Librarian,  Bud the Teacher, and School Library Journal Blogs. Many other education magazines also sponsor blogs. Check out your favorite ones online to see whether they do.

 

4) Free Webinars. INFOhio offers many webinars throughout the year and archives them all. Bucks County (PA) Intermediate Unit #22 archives its Virtual Speaker Series on educational topics and edWeb.net offers free webinars for educators. 

 

5) Social Networking Sites. The KBC and edWeb mentioned above offer social networking. Also try Facebook, Ning, or LinkedIn. While primarily a personal social networking site, Facebook does have professional content. For example, the Ohio Department of Education has a page just for educators with daily tips and announcements. Other great sites are Edutopia and, of course, INFOhio.

 

6) RSS feeds.  Setting up an RSS feed channels the information you want to one place. An easy way to get started is INFOhio's EBSCOhost. You can set up a subject search to automatically pull articles from dozens of professional journals, which you can then read in one place using a service such as Google Reader. You can even subscribe to entire magazines for free! This short document shares the steps you need to set up an RSS feed through EBSCOhost.

 

7) 21 Essential Things. The 21 Essential Things is an online study program that helps you learn to use many of the tools listed here. For example, Thing 5 addresses RSS feeds while Thing 21 gives you tips for using INFOhio's KBC and social media sites. You can work through as many of The 21 Essential things as you want for your own knowledge or for college credit.

 

8) Face to face. Yes, talking with real people still works. But consider starting a group at your own school to try out any of the ideas above. The comfort of friends makes learning easier!

 

Try two or three of these ideas and you'll have an official PLN. If you'd like more information on any of these ideas, let us know at central@infohio.org and we'll address it in future issues of I.ON INFOhio.