My Focused PLN

Choosing a Professional Learning Network for a school community is an important decision. There are several factors that must be taken into consideration when deciding the right PLN for you. First, one must assess the accessibility of the PLN. Questions that I think about are: can all staff easily sign up & access the resources? Can the resources be shared without membership? Is it free to sign up? What kind of technology is required to use the PLN. Second, one must determine the value, relevancy, and usefulness of the resources provided. Questions that come to mind: What is this PLN offering my teaching/assessment practice that I cannot get elsewhere? Are these resources useful for all my staff or are they limited to specific subject areas/grade levels? How relevant/current is the material? When was the PLN last updated?

The four online networks we were presented in the course were:

Microsoft Educators Community Apple Teachers Google Educators ISTE Professional Learning Networks

After my exploration of all four, I have decided to play around with two until I am ready to commit to one. My decision-making process, though lengthy, felt quite meaningful. I’ll share my thoughts about each online community below.

While I have a Macbook at the circulation desk in my learning commons, very few teachers at my school are currently using Apple products. This made it very easy for me to rule out Apple Teachers.

Next, I created and account on ISTE Professional Learning Networks. At first, I was impressed with all the options for different PLN. The ones that specifically caught my attention were: Digital Citizenship Network, Digital Equity Network, Digital Story Telling Network, Virtual Environments Network and Librarian Network. I decided to investigate what Librarian Network had to offer. Once I got to the homepage for this learning community, I noticed the last announcement was 7 months ago. In addition, the clicking on the discussions tab lead me to a “No Data Found” notification. I instantly felt a little turned off at having created a count and not being able to access materials I wanted. I decided to move onto the next PLN. It’s important to note that it’s not that I’m not up for a good challenge but more that ease of accessibility for me is really key.

Next, I explored Microsoft Educators Community. I loved that everything was easy to find and that they had resources and workshops that felt relevant. For example, I found a great resource titled “Feedback and Assessment Tools for Remote Learning” and another course called “Hybrid Learning: A New Model for the Future of Learning". In addition, most teachers at my school have a Microsoft account, so it is very easy to join this online learning community.

Last but not least, I explored Google Educators and decided to explore this further because a lot of the teachers at my school use Google Apps for Education and while I am quite familiar with this platform. I would love to learn more.

References Google for Education: https://teachercenter.withgoogle.com/

ISTE Connect- Professional Learning Networks

https://connect.iste.org/community/learningnetworks

Microsoft Education Center: https://education.microsoft.com/en-us