My Personal Learning Network in Action

This article was originally published in the March/April 2008 issue of ISTE�s Learning & Leading with Technology. I�m cross-posting it here because it�s much more meaningful with links, plus it�s more likely I�ll read a comment here than if you write it in the margins of the magazine. As a side note, I found it very difficult to write a column for Bloggers Caf� with a due date that was two months before publication. And, of course, I found it very hard to write something that was only 500 words or so!



We�ve spent a lot of time at my school thinking about the concept of Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). We live in an age of information abundance. Our students need to learn how to find, evaluate, organize, synthesize, remix and re-purpose information in order to understand and solve complex problems.

A PLN isn�t a particularly new idea; learning networks have existed for a long time. What�s new is the reach and extent that�s now possible for a PLN, with technology and global interconnectedness providing the opportunity for a much wider, richer and more diverse PLN than ever before. This is a complex topic that can�t be fully addressed in a short article, but let me provide an example of my own learning that resulted from my PLN.

I�ve been a big proponent of publishing student work on the web, of using Web 2.0 tools to provide our students with a wider, often more authentic audience. But I�ve struggled with the quality of that work and question whether publishing student work that at times is pretty mediocre is such a good thing after all. My PLN helped me think more deeply about this.

Christian Long posted, �are we really prepared to drown in a sea of "just good enough" presentations.� That led me to several posts by Dan Meyer, �But if they and their teachers aren't immersing themselves constantly in better, clearer work than their own . . . work which for the first time in history is available freely and quickly, how in that vacuum can they rise to any greater occasion?� Dan led me to read Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen (books are still part of my PLN). Both Dan and Carolyn Foote led me to a post by Garr Reynolds, �Perhaps if all of us smart experts, with our massive intellects, tried to approach problems with �the beginner's mind� we could get much better at solving problems.� A couple of posts by Vicki Davis got me thinking again about how it takes a �special kind of individual to make connections to be able to see things that specialists on their own cannot see. How do we teach that?�

I had multiple conversations with teachers in my school to further refine my thinking (direct conversation is still part of my PLN). Finally, I came upon a post and a Technology, Entertainment, Design talk by Larry Lessig, who suggested that the �read/write culture� is �a literacy for this generation.�

My thinking has evolved; I have a more refined, nuanced viewpoint on students publishing their work on the web. I believe even more strongly this is something we need to do with students, but I�m also thinking more critically about how to nurture the quality of that work.

As I envision the future, I think it�s critical for our students to create, nurture and expand their PLNs. It�s also critical to include varied viewpoints in our PLNs, to make sure we don�t continually reinforce our already held beliefs. I thank the members of my PLN for all they�ve taught me and encourage all of you to help your students � and yourselves � develop powerful, meaningful and effective PLNs.


Due to space limitations, I couldn�t include this portion with a very long quote from Howard Rheingold that I think is relevant.

A post by Will Richardson led me to an article by Howard Rheingold writing about the importance of developing critical and analytic skills:

Loss of certainty about authority and credibility is one of the prices we pay for the freedom of democratized publishing. We can no longer trust the author to guarantee the veracity of work; today�s media navigators must develop critical skills in order to find their way through the oceans of information, misinformation, and disinformation now available. The ability to analyze, investigate, and argue about what we read, see, and hear is an essential survival skill. Some bloggers can and do spread the most outrageously inaccurate and fallaciously argued information; it is up to the readers and, most significantly, other bloggers to actively question the questionable. Democratizing publishing creates a quality problem, the answer to which is�democratizing criticism. Critical thinking is not something that philosophers do, but a necessary skill in a mediasphere where anybody can publish and the veracity of what you read can never be assumed.

I would also highly recommend that anyone interested in learning more about Personal Learning Networks regularly read both Will Richardson�s and Clarence Fisher�s blogs, as well as the work of George Siemens on Connectivism.

Learning 2.0: Brief Reflection and Recap

So, it looks like we pulled off a conference today. I'd estimate we had between 130-150 physical attendees (we had about 170 folks registered, and about 40 didn't pick up nametags, but some other people came and some folks probably just didn't get a nametag), as well as some virtual attendees.

We'll have to wait until everyone fills out the evaluation to get a complete picture of how the day went, but certainly the comments we received - and overheard - were very positive. Overall, things seem to run fairly smoothly, the sessions and conversations seemed to go well, we had enough food for lunch, and our students were amazing (as always) for the student panel discussion. We certainly could've done better on the virtual component - some of the Ustreams didn't work well and it probably would've helped if we'd had some people on site just dedicated to helping with those and managing the various chats. But, as we said all along, we were mainly concerned with pulling off the physical conference and the virtual part was a bonus - so I think we did okay there. Should there be a next time (umm, can we pick somebody else's school?), we'll do better. You can see a couple of CoverItLive Replays on the main page of the wiki, as well as the Ustreams that did work and some partial copy and paste's of chats. There are also quite a few resources on various parts of the wiki, particularly linked from each session page.

I'm really tired, so this post will be brief (for me), but a few thank you's. Thank you to Littleton Public Schools, Arapahoe High School and St. Vrain Valley Public Schools for supporting the conference so that attendees not only didn't have to pay anything, but also got fed. Thanks to all the presenters that gave of their time and expertise. Thanks to the attendees for giving up most of a Saturday to come and help us all learn. Thanks to the five students from Arapahoe and one student from Ben's Cresthill Middle School for sharing your insights with us. Thank you so much to Barbara Barreda and Clarence Fisher who helped us out with a video (produced by Bud Hunt) to start off our day and then participated in a virtual roundtable discussion at the end. And, finally, thanks to Bud Hunt, Ben Wilkoff and Mike Porter for helping take this harebrained idea and making it a reality. 'Twas an honor to work with you.

Sharing Our Staff Development � Session 2

Earlier I blogged a description of our first staff development session of the year. Last week we had our second session, so I thought I�d share what we did. First, please note that this time we did not meet as one large group, but rather as three smaller groups. Cohort 1 (16 teachers) met last Tuesday, and Cohort 2 met in two different groups of 15, one in the morning and one in the afternoon last Thursday. This allows for better sharing, for groups to bond together, and � in the case of Cohort 2 � for subs to be shared to cut down on the costs.

The first 90 minutes or so of the session was spent discussing Chapter 4 of the PLC book, focusing on mission and vision, both for our school and specifically for 21c (what we call our staff development effort). That discussion was facilitated by two members in each of those groups who had volunteered ahead of time. All six of them met ahead of time to discuss what they were doing in their three separate groups, but there was no requirement that they do things exactly the same way. We feel it�s important for the staff development to not always be led by me, or by members of my planning team, but that the participants take control of it. We�ve had mixed success with that, as intellectually they mostly agree but when it comes down to actually volunteering to do that they are somewhat reticent. This appears to be mainly for two reasons � being uncomfortable teaching their peers and simply a lack of time to prepare and do it well. We'll continue to work on this.

The mission and vision discussion seemed to go well in Cohort 1, although I missed the two Cohort 2 group discussions because I was chaperoning 41 second graders on a camping trip (I heard the Cohort 2 sessions went well). As most folks do, we struggled a lot with differentiating between mission and vision, but also between mission and values/goals. I certainly am not an expert on this, but it sure appears as though a lot of the ideas included in mission statements are really values or goals, not mission. For the group I was in, I encouraged them to really think about purpose, about why we exist (as a school and as 21c). And I suggested that a short, concise mission was necessary if it was going to be a successful mission statement - a mission statement that helps define who we are. I think we�ll get there with our 21c group, but I�m not so sure as a school.

We will continue to work on mission and vision in our next two sessions, with the next session spent actually writing a mission and vision statement (in our 3 separate groups), and then the following session trying to mesh the three mission/visions together. I worry that we�ll burn people out on this, because many people do not like this kind of activity and think it�s pointless. And, to be fair, it often is. But when done correctly, it helps define everything that comes after, so I hope we�re successful. That�s one of my big concerns with my school�s mission, that we�re not taking adequate time to really work through it and that we�ll end up with something that sounds good, but really won�t help point the way for our school.

We didn�t spend as much time on vision (at least in Cohort 1) because we need to get mission down first, but I think we�ll have some hurdles there as well. The main hurdle is getting folks to toss everything aside and really focus on what our school should like in five to seven years. What should it look like to best meet the needs of our students, without all the �yeah, buts� that typically get brought up. I framed it this way,

Think about what you would want this school to look like if you were designing it from the ground up today, with no limitations. Don�t settle for what you think will be "acceptable" or "uncontroversial" - design a mission and vision that will meet the needs of our students.

I really, truly, passionately feel we need to define what that looks like first, then deal with the obstacles. As opposed to artificially limiting our vision by assuming the obstacles will triumph and compromising our vision. Isn�t that what we should be about, figuring out what's best for our students, and then designing the best possible learning environment and experience to facilitate that vision, and then figuring out a way to make it work? Perhaps I�m tilting at windmills here, but I�m really tired of the �yeah, buts� getting in the way. If we know the right thing to do for our students, and then don�t do it because it might be difficult or controversial or a lot of hard work, then I don�t know why were here anymore.

After the mission/vision discussion, we spent a little bit of time with some �tech tips� that some of us brought back from NECC. These weren�t any great instructional ideas or anything, just some simple programs or keyboard shortcuts that could help out some folks and then they could adapt for their classes. This was inspired by Frank Miracola�s Free is Good session at NECC (I didn�t attend that session, but two others from my planning team did and thought it was great). They focused on a few of the photo applications (pun intended), but you can view all of Frank�s resources (Word doc).

We then closed with providing them time to explore their own personal learning networks. To read each others� blogs, or blogs from elsewhere, or write in their own blog, or start on their �assignment� for next time. Their assignment was:

1. By 9-15, watch the David Warlick presentation Contemporary Literacy in the New Information Landscape. Scroll down to 2 pm on Tuesday, June 26th, then click on stream. It�s worth watching the entire thing, but if you don�t want to devote an hour to it, scroll over and start at either the 11 minute mark or the 31 minute mark. Please at least take the 30 minutes necessary to watch from the 31 minute mark to the end. The slides don�t display well on the stream, you can get a better view of his slides here � scroll down to Redefining Literacy 2.0
   
   
2. Then read the Teacher as Network Administrator article.
   
   
3. Your focus for both the Warlick Presentation and the article is: What does it mean to be literate in the 21st Century? How can we help our students � and ourselves - become literate? How do we help our students � and ourselves � develop Personal Learning Networks?
   
   
4. For our next session, think about mission and vision. While our primary focus is a mission and vision for 21c, also think about AHS�s mission and vision as well as your own personal mission and vision. Think about what you would want this school to look like if you were designing it from the ground up today, with no limitations. Don�t settle for what you think will be �acceptable� or �uncontroversial� - design a mission and vision that will meet the needs of our students.
   
   - From Brian and Jessie [led the Cohort 1 discussion]: For our next session (9-25 or 9-27), blog/reflect on the four questions at the bottom of p. 78 and top of p. 79 [from the PLC book].
   
   - From Micki and Andrea [led one of the Cohort 2 discussions]: Five years from now � Imagine there are no barriers, in what ways would we be different? Consider the following � practice, procedure, relationships, results, climate�

So, again, I�m not saying this is anything spectacular, but just trying to share out some of the things we are doing in our staff development. I think the mission and vision stuff is important, as are the values and goals that we�ll get to next, but it�s not as interesting to blog about (perhaps) as some of the things we�ve done in the past. But hopefully somebody out there will find it useful or get one good idea they can use.