Journal 7: My Personal Learning Network

A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a group of technology platforms that allow one to be a more effective educator (or citizen!) in my opinion.  I see the network as a web that is waiting for signals to be passed to you or inputs.  These inputs actively gather information and relay it to me on my PLN. On my PLN, I use Twitter, Diigo, and Storify.  Twitter is a means of connecting a very large audience on a very specific subject instantly!  Diigo is a web tool that allows me to publish and highlight web content to everyone that follows me.  Storify is a means of establishing a more permanent record of a twitter conversation.

Twitter will help me become a better teacher by allowing me to form bonds with like minded individuals and learn from them.  I don't mean to brag, but I am following 11 people on twitter.  Some of my classmates like Stephanie Cambell, Marisol Martinez, and Joanne Menchaca are in my twitter network.  Additonally, I also follow my instructor Jeff Heil.  I had a great initial twitter experience tweeting all about earth day with fellow educators in #NTCHAT.  It was great to instantly connect with educators from around the world.  I have turned my first chat into a storify and added it to my blog.

Diigo is a social bookmarking hi liter so to speak.  With it, I can mark items for later use (Think Tivo for the computer) and "check them out" at a later time.  Additionally, people that follow me can see what I mark, and follow my though stream.  Personally, I do not like Diigo too much.  It kind of freaks me out that other people can see every thing I do online.  I like a little more privacy I guess.  Though I do like the ability to mark things for later reading.  I find Diigo to be very busy, and I like things to be simple.

I joined Classroom 2.0 with the intent of learning what a web 2.0 tool was.  I guess 2.0 just refers to the fact that a website is more than just informational now.  This would make all websites 2.0 if they have some amount of interactivity to them.  The community seems vibrant, and very helpful.