What is a Personal Learning Network?

Isn't this just a group of friends and colleagues getting to together to learn? 

How have Web 2.0 Tools expanded the definition of learning and networking?

These are the questions we will be exploring together as we examine various personal learning environments and how we can use them to establish our own personal learning networks.

Karl Fisch has this to say...

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.

Personal Learning Environments (PLE) as a Subset of Personal Learning Networks (PLN) 

Will Richardson, in his blog post The "Added Value of Networking", provides a compelling rationale for accepting the challenge of creating our own PLN's. The world is changing because of social web technologies. Our kids are using them. No one is teaching them how to use them to their full learning potential, and ultimately, as teachers and learners, that’s our responsibility. To do that, we need to be able to learn in these contexts for ourselves.

The circle at the top of this page was designed by Joyce Settzinger in an attempt to clarify and/or define Personal Learning Networks (based on feedback from her own PLN). 

Capturing the essence of a Personal Learning Network can be tough. As your Personal Learning Network grows, revisit the graphic above and the two below. What would you add or change?  How is your definition growing along with your network?  How do these tools and resources add value to your work?

  Personal Learning Networks: Tools to Get Started

• Social Bookmarking - Anywhere, anytime access; Sharing resources with colleagues
• RSS Aggregators -Getting it together; The Mall
• Skype - Simple, Free, The New Phone System
• Google Docs - Collaborative authoring at its best

Free Learning Resources

• Podcasts - Think magazine subscriptions on the go
• INFOhio - SchoolsRooms, Learning Express Library, Digital Video Collection - Excellent Learning Resources, Untapped
• D3A2 Resource Exchange - Bookbags to share - A one stop shop