The Power of the Network

Learning has moved beyond what you know, to what you know plus what you can find out from your online network of information and people.

On a drive to Santa Barbara from Sacramento, a group of friends and I started discussing the UCSB mascot, the Gaucho. One of the individuals in our group had attended a workshop at the Student Lobby Conference in Sacramento where the presenter said that all of the UC’s originally had bear mascots, so we started debating the validity of this message. Our debate was short-lived because no one in the car had extensive knowledge of the history of the UC’s and their mascots, until one of the individuals pulled out a smartphone and did an in-depth search. We then found out that the original UCSB mascot was a roadrunner (which was considered weak by the Athletics staff) and in the 1930’s UCSB adopted the strong, South American, cowboy mascot (nicknamed Olé). (source) 

This is just one example of how learning is no longer limited to the classroom. Students can learn anytime, anywhere (as long as they have a computer or smartphone and access to the Internet). Students are starting their own businesses, giving and receiving professional feedback on their photography skills, learning how to design clothing hacks for popular online games, and participating in collective knowledge building for real world science applications (http://fold.it/portal/). However, students aren’t doing this alone – they are building personal learning networks.

Personal Learning Networks

A personal learning network (PLN) is a collection of resources and connections that facilitates informal learning. There are two main types of PLN’s: information acquisition (using Google Reader to stay up-to-date on hundreds of blogs, websites, and resources) and social media connections (using Facebook/Twitter/social media tools to connect with a global audience to give and receive advice, help, support, and feedback).

At 9-years-old, I created my own Beanie Baby enterprise – buying beanie babies in bulk, waiting until they were retired, and selling them for a solid profit through ebay. I followed many websites and discussion forums that predicted trends for which beanie babies would be retired, how much beanie babies were worth, and which ones to buy. And this was over 15 years ago.

Imagine what students can do today with access to millions of people worldwide. I posted a link to my K-12 Tech Tools website on the Math subject community in Edmodo and asked if anyone had any resources to add. Within 1-hour, I had 10 responses with multiple links and suggestions. That’s how easy it is to find information nowadays.

PLN’s are the future of learning and the students that have figured this out are shaping their own learning and gaining essential skills for the 21st century. Unfortunately, education is still stuck in the Web 1.0 world where the teacher has all of the information and the student must wait to learn from the expert. In the book, Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education, authors Richardson and Mancabelli recommend that teachers need shift being the experts to being the connectors. As connectors, teachers connect students to resources and people that have the information the students need to learn.

This also means that teachers should role model how to use their networks as learning tools. With the vast amount of information available on the Internet and people to connect to through social media, students need to learn how to organize, sort, evaluate, and analyze the validity of the information they find and whether the people they interact with are trustworthy. This is where the teacher comes in – as a role model of safe and ethical use of PLN’s for sustaining lifelong learning.

What’s Next?

With the fantastic opportunity of continuing my ED 257A class to ED257B next quarter, I will spend Spring quarter designing an e-course for new teachers about building PLN’s (or professional learning networks) in hopes that the connections they build will help them feel less isolated and more confident in seeking help when facing challenges in the classroom. Here’s a powerpoint preview of what I have in mind:  A Teacher's Guide to Building a Professional Learning Network (PLN)

View more PowerPoints from Torrey Trust