EDET 543 Blog Post #1- Professional Learning Networks

For your blog post this week, I want you to reflect on the reading from the Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2 in the Personal Learning Network book. Back up your reflection by referring to content in the book or linking to additional resources you find

After completing the readings this week in regards to Professional Learning Networks, it is apparent through both the research that has been conducted and my experiences over 18 years that educational pedagogy must change in regards to how we conduct our classrooms as well as how we obtain our own professional development.  Too many schools are still holding onto the believe that the way things have been done in the past is the best way to achieve success today.  The fact that schools must reevaluate their policies in how they view cell phones and other digital technology in regards to the access they allow students to have throughout the school day is irrefutable.  However, what is often overlooked is that professional development may be more antiquated than the philosophy that disallows digital tools in the classroom.  For instance, I have been involved with countless professional development days in the last 18 years where I have left my training feeling as if the presenter had no idea what life in the modern classroom even looks like.  I am sure many of us have left PD training wondering why the presenter feels it necessary to simply read off their power point slides when there are so many other digital methods that could be used to engage educated professionals.  I would have little success in my classroom if I delivered my subject matter in that fashion, however this seems to be the protocol more often than not.

As a result, I completely agree with Richardson and Mancabelli who advocate that teachers need to take ownership of their own professional development by taking advantage of PLN's.  I recently have started utilizing various networks through Twitter.  In one of the few professional development days that was dedicated to technology, we had a teacher share their insights into all the accounts they had discovered on Twitter that are designed for teachers or direct educators to useful digital tools, 21st century digital lessons, and educational discussions. After leaving that training in particular, I was sold on the idea that if I wanted to grow professionally I needed to pursue my own network where I choose to follow those who I find most interesting and those who I find most beneficial to my classroom. Through my MET program I have also been introduced to Blogger and how to use RSS reader, both of which continue to be a great source of professional growth.  As Richardson and Mancabelli alluded to in their text, it is important for all of us in education (not just students) to understand that social media, Twitter, Facebook, and other 2.0 tools are not just for socializing and entertainment.  These tools can be the best opportunity we have to obtain a greater level of education than we have ever been given before...we just have to learn how to incorporate them in a productive fashion.