Fourteen years ago I got my first job as a programmer. Being a newbie and an amateur I faced many challenges which made me realize that there was a lot I didn’t know (duh!). In my quest to figure out how to accomplish the tasks set ahead of me, I found an online resource called Experts Exchange. This website was kind of like a point based discussion forum. Members could ask technical questions in any category of their choice like SQL, VB, Java etc., and other members (the experts) would try and solve their problems. Once your question is answered some of your points get transferred to the person who answered your question. This site helped me a lot to get my career started. Not only that, after finding solutions to many of my issues, pretty soon in my spare time I was making contributions to this site by looking for unanswered questions which I knew something about. The motivation being - to increase my points and thus increase my ranking on the site. There was a certain thrill in knowing that my solution got accepted as the answer!! This was my first experience of what is now called a Personal Learning Network.
Today my Personal Learning Network has matured, much like me, to include both online and offline resources. My offline PLN includes all colleagues – those who I have lunch with; those who sit next to me in my cubicle, those who teach courses or sections with me; those who are involved in PD sessions, curriculum development etc. It also includes people I meet in conferences and seminars.
My online PLN consists of newsletters, blogs, Facebook pages, LinkedIn news and email groups I’m subscribed to. The amount of information pushed into my mailbox can be overwhelming. Usually I’m too busy at work to read these articles, however once in a while I come across an intriguing article which I can’t help but read and this alone makes it worthwhile to be in a PLN. That being said, I’ve also found that mobile devices are a great way to truly extend our learning experiences because that’s what I have in my hand when I’m having a cup of tea at home, or when I’m in the mall and my kids are busy in the play area.
The question that came to my mind after reading the linked articles in moodle is – Can I be part of an online PLN if I’m not actively contributing to it? The articles I’ve read suggest that you can merely be a consumer of a PLN, which is what I think I am in most cases. However, I’ve come to realize that , when I read a blog or watch a youtube video, I benefit not only from what I’ve read or watched but also from users comments. This makes me think that the value of a Personal Learning Network comes from the people who are in it. Therefore, inorder to sustain and grow a PLN, we should make an effort to contribute to this network by interacting and participating in it.
Today my Personal Learning Network has matured, much like me, to include both online and offline resources. My offline PLN includes all colleagues – those who I have lunch with; those who sit next to me in my cubicle, those who teach courses or sections with me; those who are involved in PD sessions, curriculum development etc. It also includes people I meet in conferences and seminars.
My online PLN consists of newsletters, blogs, Facebook pages, LinkedIn news and email groups I’m subscribed to. The amount of information pushed into my mailbox can be overwhelming. Usually I’m too busy at work to read these articles, however once in a while I come across an intriguing article which I can’t help but read and this alone makes it worthwhile to be in a PLN. That being said, I’ve also found that mobile devices are a great way to truly extend our learning experiences because that’s what I have in my hand when I’m having a cup of tea at home, or when I’m in the mall and my kids are busy in the play area.
The question that came to my mind after reading the linked articles in moodle is – Can I be part of an online PLN if I’m not actively contributing to it? The articles I’ve read suggest that you can merely be a consumer of a PLN, which is what I think I am in most cases. However, I’ve come to realize that , when I read a blog or watch a youtube video, I benefit not only from what I’ve read or watched but also from users comments. This makes me think that the value of a Personal Learning Network comes from the people who are in it. Therefore, inorder to sustain and grow a PLN, we should make an effort to contribute to this network by interacting and participating in it.
Networks are very powerful things and PLN is a more focused form of networking for a specific objective ... that is our own learning and professional development ... what are your thoughts on encouraging our students to develop their own? I think I'll be asking the same question to other people in our community of practice to see how they relate their experience with PLN to our students educational requirements.
ReplyDeleteI think as educators we do many things, whether knowingly or unknowingly, to help students form their PLN, like involving them in discussions, inviting guest speakers, taking them on field trips, involving them in group projects. They network with each other as well as industry experts in their courses.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we don't do enough to get them to form an online PLN. We can get them to read other blogs and comments on it, or find interesting blogs that aligns itself with the course we are teaching and ask students to follow that blog for a period of time.
Most importantly I think we should encourage students to be responsible for their own learning. We should focus on raising awareness of a learning networks and make them realize that learning is not confined to the classrooms. Forming PLNs will help them in all aspects of their life, personal, academic and professional.
Yes, well said. But getting them to make the conceptual leap from learning is confined to the classroom to recognizing that learning also happens in the realm of their personal life and professional life, is quite a jump. I certainly don't expect it to happen over night. How can we go about it? I can only think of as you say, encouraging them, and perhaps being a role model and showing how I've done that as well, myself. Any other ideas? This is such a great idea in my opinion Ghazala.
ReplyDeleteHi Ghazala,
ReplyDeleteI found your description of the points system in Experts Exchange to be interesting. Was there any reward to having a high ranking on the site other than personal satisfaction?
I think indirect competition can be a powerful force. I remember when I was active with Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/) which was digitizing books long before Google or other highly publicized projects. You contributed by editing the scanned pages. They also had a way to compare yourself to others in the number of pages you had edited, etc. It was addictive!
Do you think there is any way we can harness this competitive element with our students?
Dean
Hi Dean,
DeleteAs far as I remember the only reward for high ranking on experts exchange was having your name highlighted along with your total points. And even though I knew that I couldn't possibly beat the top score (it was really really high!!) I was still finding answers to reported problems and trying to gain points. The point system was based on personal satisfaction that came not only from gaining points but also from contributing and helping others.
I guess its all based on the psychology of things and human behavior. I was recently reading an article called the psychology behind social media, and the author was explaining about why Facebook or social media in general is addictive. Why do people find it rewarding with they receive comments and likes on their posts?
According to the author - "People react to content that touches them on an emotional and/or personal level".
I think if we manage to incorporate this personal element in our pedagogical strategies we can get students engaged.