A personal learning network, although often emergent and continually developing, does not just happen. It requires cultivation. To begin your thinking on how to cultivate your PLN complete the activities below.

To Do:

  1. Read Howard Rheingold’s Advice on Building a PLN. The ebook Learning in a Digital Age by Cathy L. Green of Oklahoma State University also has some great resources for how to build a digital PLN that can be used to provide additional to connect with peers, not just through social media. There is a reference list with several additional resources at the bottom of the page.
  2. Find NEW professional groups or individuals who align with your professional interests.
    • If you’re interested in connecting with groups that have a focus on education, a good place to start is to review the Twitter EdChat calendar and Inside Higher Ed’s Twitter Directory twitter accounts.
    • Use the search tool in Twitter to find virtual places that feel most comfortable and sustainable for you. Go where your people are, be strategic, and take your cues from people in your network. For example, if you notice at a conference that several presenters are posting their Twitter account names, then Twitter is likely the place where others will be found. Or perhaps the common gathering place for your discipline is something other than Twitter, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or a Slack.
    • See also the Twitter list of people and organizations related to Ontario Extend for possible accounts to follow.
  3. Represent new additions to your PLN. Now, using the Extend Toolkit find a creative visual way to showcase/illustrate which new professional groups or new individuals align most to your professional interests. Many people create a mindmap for this activity but try to stretch your imagination and find other ways to represent your connections to these new groups or individuals.
  4. After you make your submission, save the web address to your response (found in the green confirmation box) so you can use it later for your badge submission form.

 

Learning in the Digital Age by Cathy L. Green, Oklahoma State University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.


This activity is part of the Cultivate Your PLN section of the Collaborator Module.

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87 Responses for this Activity

  • PLN- visual way to showcase/illustrate
    by David Schenk (@dschenk)

    I don’t use twitter.  I find Linkedin is a professional platform to share PLN’s find a creative visual way to showcase/illustrate which new professional groups or new individuals align most to your professional interests. >> Linkedin page attached (professors):

  • Cultivate Your PLN – Supporting Accessibility in Higher Education
    by Andrew Molas (@amolas)

    Please see my responses mapped out in the attached file

  • Completed-
    by David Schenk (@dschenk)

    “Cultivate Your PLN” personal learning network Activity, I have attached I have created a Pixabay account as instructed by the lesson plan https://pixabay.com/accounts/settings/ I have been using LinkedIn for many years (Connections: 4,162 & Contacts:397) https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-schenk-b1288673/ A zoom recording for one of my classes that I teach at Conestoga College : MGMT8640 https://conestogac.zoom.us/rec/play/pN8CUC35WvsUo-Hl5mIZ4C1t9QjXUjV7cWkzQ4wZ_lfMuagoxRnaWdOHhpd-ZfQfr-rblUbhl2jIdrEF.ui6t_wjCoY1iZ268?startTime=1673470473000  Regards, David Schenk

  • Cultivate my PLN network
    by Heather Melo (@Heather)

    In exploring how I will cultivate my PLN network I have decided to invest efforts into utilizing Twitter as a PLN resource. I searched and read. I was definitely impressed by a video related to Edchat during my exploration. I feel the investment in creating a Twitter account may be beneficial. Heather

  • PLN Power!
    by Lorinda Seward (@Lorinda)

    I began with the recommended list of twitter accounts to follow that are part of Ontario Extend.  I saw that my own institution’s learning design strategies department was being followed by Ontario Extend.  When I noticed that their last post was from over a year ago it drove home the importance of keeping up to more… »

  • Cultivating my PLN on Twitter
    by Shiong Len Chan (@Len)

    Searching Twitter hashtags has been an interesting activity! I now understand how useful Twitter can be in cultivating my PLN.

  • Personal Learning Network for Teaching Pronunciation
    by Sarah Darling (@SDarling)

    Hello! Here is a visual representation of my personal learning network with Mindmup. The brand new additions are in yellow/orange, (thanks to Twitter for the rabbit holes that followed). I did see two resources that I may implement in the coming weeks or possibly next month: pronunciation mazes for ED endings, in which students ‘follow’ more… »

  • PLN for edu
    by Kelly Brennan (@kmbrennan)

    After falling down a Twitter search hole, I’ve added a few more great accounts to my PLN and created a cool graphic to celebrate! 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  • Personal Learning Network
    by Farah Shafie (@fnshafie)

    Hello, Attached is my persona learning network that I  have created.

  • Cultivating PLN
    by Andrea Wappett (@wappeand)

    Prior to this exercise my PNL had been created organically by coming across an interesting group or person. To actively search out different connections was eye opening to see what I may have been missing, I will continue to cultivate!

    1 Resource for this Activity

    • Baby Network
      shared by Christopher Rowe (@ChristopherRowe)

      I’m just getting started of developing my personal learning network. Actively pursuing this hasn’t been a priority for me in the past, but as I’ve begun to engage in the instructional design and ed tech industry, I see that it’s becoming increasingly important.

    Creative Commons License
    This work by Ontario Extend is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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