Week 4 - Activity 15: Defining a PLN

Week 4 - Activity 15: Defining a PLN NOTES

VLE = Virtual Learning Environment / LMS = Learning Management System
Institution server hosted, structured, tool - like Moodle
AKA - school whiteboard and teacher notes

PLE = Personal Learning Environment / PLN = Personal Learning Network
Student initiated use of tools and collection of peers
AKA - pen and paper with friends

PLN = Personal Learning Network (or perhaps Peer Learning Network)
A PLN emphasises that it is the people in the network that are significant
Which is great if the peers aren't a bunch of dummies i.e. in secondary school environment bird of a feather flock together and so the peer network would need to be teacher assigned.

Is this not over-rated? what happened to the master-pupil relationship? PLN could be too nebulous. You may have 10,000 FB friends, or 1,000 Twitter followers but how many of them would actually help? Still a bit cynical over this.

Timing: 2 hours (2 days then!)

As with many new terms, PLN is used in a variety of contexts. The Wikipedia entry defines it as:

‘an informal learning  network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment . In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection.’ (Wikipedia, 2012 )

• Use search tools and the discussion in the forum to formulate your own, one-sentence definition of a PLN.

Week 4 forum - http://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/forumng/view.php?id=13741


Perhaps it's just me but do we need a PLN? For example, over the last year or more I have been studying and reading up on Climate Change. This was initiated from early discussions with a friend involved in this field, and proof-reading his environmental studies textbook. My far-more-than-I knowledgeable friend acts as a mentor for me and discussion with him, exchanging links and papers is more than sufficient.

I do not need, want or have the time to devote to maintaining a PLN. I see it more as an encumbrance requiring the taking up of my time. Just exchanging resources and ideas with one person, a more knowledgeable person (a mentor, guide, "master") is sufficient. Since I am involved in secondary education I like to think how secondary students could form a PLN. Some of my older classes, IB level, form private FB pages for their class and that works well they say. Although their PLN consist of the people they meet in their class. I do not think a middle school student, KS3 or 4, is able to form an effective PLN. In particular the weaker student is most likely going to form a PLN consisting of his/her friends, also perhaps the weaker students in the class/year group. Likewise, the high flying students PLNs will consist of their own upper level group. I don't see PLNs working in secondary school, particularly with concerns for eSafety if they are open to the public. So, back to PLNs in further and adult education. Who has the time to maintain meaningful online relationships to further their learning? I do not. For me then, a PLN consists of people we have physically met, and studied with, and continue to engage with over time exchanging resources, ideas and information via the Internet irrespective of the communication tool or media used.    

I can support this definition a little further by explaining that a group of teachers at my school began the Bath Uni MA together (with support from the school) and we formed a weekly study group. Over time this became less necessary but we stay in touch via email, asking questions and sending resources. Is this a PLN? Or is it just a group of colleagues meeting up now and then to chat and swap ideas on how their MA is going?

"Rajagopalet al (2012) explain that we are in control of how we network and who we network with and have the ability, supported by technology, to develop the relationships that will further our own development: “An individual can therefore create and orchestrate ties to effectively support learning needs and potentially use technology to support this network, effectively making it a personal learning network (PLN)” (see Ian Luxford, 9 April 13, posting above)

To me this seems to be stating the blindingly obvious. Aren't we all in control of who we decide to be friends with, online or off? Is your phone list your PLN?  I must be missing the bigger picture here because I can't helping thinking that this PLN term and idea is over-rated.