Professional Learning Networks

While this workshop has been a place where you got some new ideas, where will you get the next new ideas? Sure, you can come back next year, but have you thought about how Reuben and Dan stay on top of these tech trends.

Well, we have created Professional Learning Networks for ourselves. It is a blend of Twitter, blogs, and now Google Plus. Here are the basics.

Way #1: Twitter for Teachers

This is probably the most powerful source of our PLNs. For two big reasons:

    1. We follow people who have interests that complement ours - other teachers, educational technologies, authors, college professors, etc.
    2. We also follow discussions (which could include people we follow, but often includes many who we don't). There are "chats" about math, science, social studies, special ed, art, educational technology, and more.

It is a constant stream of ideas. If you want to participate, that is great, but if not you can still reap the benefits.

Some things to do:

    1. Set up a Twitter account
    2. Follow some conversations (they are indicated by a hashtag #) - here is a list of educational chats.
    3. Follow some key ed tech people, including: David Warlick, Vicki Davis, Angela Maiers, Rod Lucier, Alec Couros, Jen Farr, Russel Tarr, Keith Jarrett, Steve Hargadon, Bernie Dodge, Bud Hunt, and Will Richardson
    4. You could even follow Dan (@danmcdowell) or Reuben (@reubenhoffman)

Want to know more:

Way #2: Blogs

Blogs are still one of the best ways to see best practices and new ideas. Often bloggers share their posts via twitter, but if you find someone you like, your best bet is to follow the blog itself.

You can do that with Google Reader which tracks a blogs RSS feed (you don't need to know anymore than that). Here are some resources to get you started if you are interested:

If you want a list of great educational bloggers, then look no further than the following list:

Way #3: Google Plus

A little too new to judge, but it just might be the Twitter killer...