A PLN is a Personal Learning Network to assist us in the way we think,teach and use our resources. It is a great way to gather outside information and pull it together in one location that is useful to you. I plan on accessing my PLN to help me teach and gather more information to use within the classroom environment. We all know there may not be enough time and money to grab all the information in one location; well PLN's assist us in these times of economic crisis. For example, some social media tools to create PLN's are Twitter, Facebook, Diigo and other networking tools. These resources are useful because it comes from different perspectives and is a collective place for information to flow into which helps give us seek out valid sources for our database.
1. Twitter
One particularly useful PLN is Twitter. A pool of information that many can add more information too. I specifically chose 5 student peers to follow within my Twitter to give me a better sense of direction. Being at the same stage of life, the student peers are eager to gather information much like I am. This will help me obtain a wealth of information that I may not of looked into before. It gives different perspectives, ideas and links of informational resources that may not just be art or history which I enjoy. I had also followed some educators who specialize in Elementary technology as well as history since they are some of the various things I follow. It helps to gain assistance throughout the professional world and keep connections going to obtain the information that's out in the world.
I had followed one particular Twitter chat by the #artsed group. This was based upon the education of art and its importance within the school system. They hold their sessions on Thursdays at 7:30pm EST. I found it intriguing the various questions they brought to the table questioning the system and its lack of role in supporting art educators. I, myself, find art essential to our imaginative minds. It broadens our perspectives and helps us to think abstractly. What was an important topic was the question of what kind of ideas we can incorporate to art to make it essential to the school system because we all know the arts are the first to be cut when their is an economic crisis.
2. Diigo
Diigo is another resourceful tool to gather information and resources. Much of what I was searching for was based around history. I tagged 3 different history related sites such as Art History Resources on the Web, History is Elementary and Teaching History. I tagged these sites due to my teaching profession in the teaching field. Having these sites at my fingertips helps me to surf for information. I followed 5 history buffs that enjoyed the ongoing teachings of history. I managed to follow 2 teachers and 1 coordinator of History and Sciences within Massachusetts. I feel it will help me excel in gathering appropriate information as well as lesson plans to set up for a middle school classroom. I feel Diigo is a fun and easy way to grab information compared to Twitter. Its like a search engine that reaches out to follow relevant information and resources without dealing with the annoyances of advertisements and random information.
3.Digital Discussion Forums
On the website, Classroom 2.0 I found a very informational forum which dealt with technology or gaming within a classroom environment to forward education. It was intriguing how technology was used to create games which involves art, mathematics and imagination to construct a world which can be economically beneficial if that is the profession someone chooses. It assists in not only learning but also a career path that can be taken which is increasing as technology becomes more integrated into society. It was exciting to read into and with the links,information and differing opinions; I was able to get some valid incite on how gaming can work in a classroom.
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