Thanks to everyone who helped me demonstrate the power of personal learning networks for my presentation yesterday. Your comments, tips and advice were THE essential part of my presentation because I wanted to demonstrate a personal learning network in action to show how it extends our learning and reflection beyond what is normally achieved during traditional professional development and enables us to share our learning with global educators.
The aim of this post is to show how I used your comments in my presentation, explain the main points covered plus to provide links to help others get started setting up their own personal learning network.
As Graham Wegner highlights “it is hard to explain and sell what an online PLN is to educators without diving and experiencing it themselves”. This is why I felt my best chance was demonstrating a PLN in action by using the network to help create the presentation.
My presentation involved a Keynote presentation composed of information collected from 27 reader’s comments to questions on Personal Learning networks blended with visiting web sites to show a range of different online tools. The title for my presentation and this post is from Ines concluding comment ” As I’ve been told myself in my first days: “You must listen to the wisdom of the network””. Thanks Ines!
I only had 30 minutes so the main points I tried to emphasize were:
Face to face interactions within workplaces provides limited opportunities to exchange ideas and thoughts.
Your Personal learning networks increases opportunities to help each other and is available anytime, anywhere, whenever connecting you to a global network.
If you are planning to integrate online tools into your classroom it is important that you use these tools first for your personal learning to gain greater understanding of how to use them effectively and to realize their importance for empowering personal learning.
It does take time “to get” the value of some online tools and it is important to engage with using them using an open mind. “Not getting” the benefits of a tool often relate to not using it effectively.
Global Nature of PLNs
I started by demonstrating the global nature of PLNs by showing a World map with the names and locations of readers who left comments.
A quicker method would have been to use a Frappr map but didn’t want people just to add their names and not answer the questions on PLNs.
Importance of PLNs
Next I showed a Wordle of commenters’ responses to “Why is your personal learning network important to you?” to emphasize the key reasons why educators use PLNs. Thanks Jane Lowe for providing me with the idea to use a Wordle.
Tools Used in PLNs
I then discussed tools people use to create their PLN by showing a diagram I had created using commenters responses to “Which tools are the most important part of your personal learning network?.” It was created by counting the number of readers who recommended a tool; the size and number indicates the relative popularity of each online tool.
Online tools written in white text were sites mentioned by one reader only. RSS aggregator refers to use of RSS readers like Google Reader and Bloglines.
Which tools people use in their PLN are very individual that is why they are personal . The benefit of the diagram was it meant I was able to discuss and show a wide range of web sites that they could consider including in their PLN.
Most readers included online bookmarking sites as an important tool in their PLN however some readers included both del.icio.us and diigo in their list - I’m assuming because they use each differently?
I was surprised to see Facebook included and would love to hear more from readers as to why they value Facebook so highly in their PLNs.
Setting Up Your PLN
Finally I talked about the tools for getting starting with setting up a PLN. I did this by counting the number of readers “tips on how to get started setting up their own Personal learning network” and listed them in order of popularity.
Start reading blogs - You could use this list of top Edubloggers to find some blogs you would like to subscribe to. Alternatively check through this list to find blogs.
Subscribe to RSS feeds using Feed Readers - understanding RSS and using it’s power to make your life easier is an essential part of using these tools. Read this post to learn more about RSS and setting up a feed reader.
During my presentation I also showed my twitter network and asked my twitter network provide links to help educators get your PLN started. Here are the links:
23 Things Program - There is a 23 Things program starting on 21 July. This type of program is really good for learning about a range of online tools. Link supplied by Katherine Greenhill.
FINAL THOUGHT
It isn’t possible to capture all the information contained in readers responses to my question so I strongly recommend you read:
Meeting people who you network with online for the first time face to face is always an amazing moment because your mind has created a mental picture of them based on your interactions. Unfortunately the online identity you develop for yourself and how it appears to you may not match what your online friends expect when they meet you, f2f, in real life.
Take for example KerryJ (who I had the great pleasure of meeting this week for dinner with Kathyrn Greenhill). KerryJ and I’ve been networking online for awhile, both share a wicked (evil) sense of humour.
Let me say I’m glad KerryJ told me this (& thanks KerreJ for letting me tell the story) — but apparently my photo avatar is making me look OLD. She pictured me a a much older looking person compared to the person standing in front of her. Now with my birthday tomorrow there is no way I want to look my AGE. She said in person I looked in my 30’s (which many people take me for) but my photo avatar makes me look in my 40’s (which unfortunately I am).
So here’s the offending picture:
I liked it because to be honest there are not many photos of me because I’m one of those people whose photos turn out like crap. And at least the photo looked okay.
This was my previous photo which I liked but felt made me look too bland:
Here’s what I looked like at dinner:
Developing Your Online Identity
Developing our own unique identity is an important part of being online which we don’t always appreciate when we first start setting up our online accounts. Personal connection is really important for interacting online. The better others can visualize you as a real person the more likely they will be to want connect and network with you.
1. Branding
Having the one online identity across all your accounts makes it easier for others to connect and relate to you. When starting out we often feel nervous about using our own identity but there are many long term benefits. Read Vicki Davis’s advice to educators on the value of using their own identity (take the time to read the comments also).
It’s amazing how often I network with people using sites like twitter, and their username is so unusual that it can take me months to realise “Oh that’s really John from John’s Blog and I love reading his blog.”
2. Sharing Your Human Side
Giving people a glimpse of your human side, warts and all, is important — this makes you human as opposed to a machine. Show people that you have a sense of humour, that stuff upsets you, that something exciting has happened….. Help them connect with you.
Take for example my post Vacation Without Internet Access? What The? — those readers who network with me a lot, know how addicted I am, were laughing at the idea of me not coping well without Internet access and know in reality that a break would be healthy for me. Others could relate because they’ve faced similar situations themselves.
3. Build Your Identity Using Variety
Text can convey your feelings, emotions and to some extent your personality but won’t help others build the visual picture of what you look like. Your photos means others can visualise what you look like to some extent e.g. no sense of height (I’m 167 cm).
I find twitter gives others a much deeper insight into my personality than blog posts; because I tend express more sides of my emotions and my interactions with others can be synchronous.
A voice to go with a photo helps further to create the mental image. But video is even better as it adds an entirely different dimension again — it helps complete the image. Kate Foy showed me the power of this at the end of the 31 Days to Build A Better Blog — thanks Kate.
I’ve created a quick video of me talking so you can check it out. If you are reading this in your feed reader — you might prefer to watch it on my blog — just press the play on the Edublogs image.
So what do you think? Should I change my photo to the one from dinner? Perhaps I should mix them up to keep you guessing?
How do you create your online identity? Have you found mental images you have created been considerably different from the real person when you’ve meet?
Beth Kanter has tagged me with the meme Four Lessons Learned: Social Media and Nonprofits which was really cool because as Katya points out “Beth is THE maestro on nonprofits and social media (and she could probably accompany Yo-Yo Ma on flute)”. MMMMmmmm shame a minor matter of me being an educator, not involved with non-profit, makes the meme just that bit harder — but not impossible. Fortunately I network with nonprofit bloggers/twitterers which helps.
For Beth’s meme I have to consider:
What if I could start all my social media and nonprofits work over from scratch?
What would I do differently?
What 4 lessons have I learned that will stick with me for 2008?
The most important lesson I learnt in 2007 was that when you are struck, if you have invested the time and effort into building strong social networks, one of your networks will help you out. After a few hours of trying to write this post I realised that help was urgently needed and luckily my twitter network came to the rescue. Thanks for rescuing me Corrie Bergeron, VeletSarah, Catherine Eibner and especially Judy O’Connell (whose words of wisdom were “Beth Kanter will have all the answers you could possibly want I think”)
Yes, I cheated on my meme, because it is a collective effort as opposed to my own personal lessons, but Social Media is not about working harder but working more effectively; using the power of social networking to connect, collaborate and innovate at a greater rate than working on your own.
So here is four five lessons from us:
#1. Use what works
Most of us don’t have the budget to be on the bleeding edge; focus on using social media that you know will work e.g. blog to advise of news/events and provide feedback on recent events or information, wikis for community resources.
#2. Have a *reason* to use it - it’s just a tool
Think very carefully about what you are trying to achieve and then choose the right tool for the job. Don’t just use a tool for the sake of it.
#3. Be fearless in learning
Really investigate the options out there - there are many free or very low cost ways to introduce social media into the business but take the time to learn about them first!
The biggest mistake I ever made was using blogging with others before I had a good understanding of what blogging was about myself. Always start by using a new Web 2.0 tool for your own personal learning. Explore your options; lurk a while and get a feel for the site you’re in, what its community is like etc. As you become effective with using the tool you will soon understand how you can use it for your work and are more likely to be successfully with implementing it.
#4. (which should really be #1) keep your mission in mind. Why are you here?
Check out Deborah’s post on the importance of the mission!
#5. Work Smarter not harder!
With so many new Web 2.0 tools appearing on a daily basis, you can waste a lot of time testing new tools. Instead sit back and listen to noises from your social networks to work out which ones are worth investigating. If enough people whose opinion I value are promoting a particular tool I take notice.
FINAL THOUGHT
Any poor explanations of the lessons are entirely my fault, and are no reflection of the input of my network. They worked extremely hard, thanks everyone, under difficult circumstances (me not being able to express myself).
What advice would you give to either nonprofits or other educators - what are4 lessons, relating to social media, that you have learned that will stick with you for 2008?
For those into twitter you will already know about the amazing conversations and sometimes it is just good plain fun to learn more about where other people live. Photo by phxpma.
at almost $3 a gal cost almost $70 to fill tank…was REALLY running on fumes got me thinking tho…what’s gas cost these days where u r?
I just had to do some research — using Twitter off course!
Price of Petrol Here
We currently pay AUD142.50 cents per litre (US$4.73/gal) in Perth, Western Australia. Here petrol retailers are required to notify their next day’s retail price for each fuel type by 2pm to Fuel Watch. Price boards and bowser prices are changed by the retailer at 6am and remain unchanged for 24-hours. They incur large fines if they alter their fuel prices from what they submitted to Fuel Watch.
So here is what I have discovered for other parts of the World so far:
Leah Jones I think it is over $3/gallon in Chicago, most expensive in country last I heard
dmcordell in upstate NY gas is $3.19 to $3.29 per gallon; cheaper in New England states because their taxes are lower
cogdog - national average in US is about $3.05/gal, quite variable- I paid last about $3.13.
pjhiggins paying $3.39 for diesel. Anyone know of biodiesel dealer in Northern NJ?
paulhami Petrol is $1.09 per litre where I live in Canada. That’s AUD$1.23/l, US$4.12/US gallon, AUD$4.66/gal
LittleLaura Hi Sue, would love to see your petrol results, are we the most expensive here in the UK? Our garage is £1.06 per litre! which equals US$8.14/gal
Skytrystsjoy Brisbane petrol AUD$1.18/l which equals US$3.93/gal
lenva NZ petrol is $1.70 per litre which equals US$5.01/gal
Please note I used US dollars and gallons because Kristin started the discussion and I just followed up with more research. This is the currency calculator I used for the conversions.
What It All Means
So far the UK is the most expensive for petrol but New Zealanders, Canadians and Western Australians are paying considerably more for their petrol than Americans. We also argued that most British don’t travel far by car — I travel 70 km (44.4 miles) return to work.
FINAL THOUGHT
Okay not my normal sort of blog post but, like twitter, blogging doesn’t always have to be focused just on getting the work done. Also twitter conversations are lost if you don’t record them.
So what are petrol prices like where you live? Maybe we should compare prices of Big Mac meals next?
Last night I attended E-Show n Tell Online Unconference where one of the topics chosen by participants to discuss was “How do we aggregate or classify all the great resources.” Concerns were with so many resources, tools and information it is very easy to suffer from information overload leading to not knowing where to start, what to do which can lead to you doing nothing.
My answer was simple:
Social networking = great resources = your friends help you rank them
but for those that are not effective social networking it does require greater explanation.
I don’t need:
information put into one place with a tagging system so I can find what I want easier
be told this is all I need to know
this is what I need to focus on
Sure it might be nice? But unless it is constantly being updated accurately, by knowledgeable people, it will only reflect past resources and information, not the most current and certainly not is what is happening now! Past is good but now is better!
However I do understand it is very overwhelming for people new to the online world to decide which tools to use (e.g. blogs, wikis, bookmarking sites) and what resources will help them learn how to use the tools. And the solution is the MOST IMPORTANT resource — PEOPLE not resource aggregators!!
Build up a strong network of friends and they willingly help you:
With the answers
Help you choose what tools are worth using
Show/Explain why you should try using a tool
Provide you with links to the best resources for learning how to use the tool
If necessary, they will even help you learn how to use the tool
For example, my strong network of friend taught me how to use tools like Twitter, Second Life, Facebook and how to be a better blogger. Okay! Lets not blame my friends if I am not a better blogger — friends can only do so much!
Most of my friends who help me, I have not meet in person, I met and interact with them online = social networking. For new people starting out you need to realise that my networking with others did not happen overnight. It is the same as building relationships face-to-face — it takes time. You get out what you put in!
So how do you get involved with social networking and build up a network of people?
1. Online presence
People are more likely to want to network with you if you have an online presence. Reality is many of the people you might like to network with already have a large network of friends — online presence helps show why you are worth networking with. The stronger the value of your online presence the more reason they will have to network with you.
Start creating your online presence one step at a time by setting up a site such as a wiki, blog, podcast or ning community — whatever you feel comfortable with. If you are struggling for ideas on what to put on your site why not use the site for pulling together all the information you are learning — that is how I use my sites (I started with a podcast site then a wiki, then this blog and now a Ning community).
2. Start connecting with others
Locate and subscribe to blogs you would like to read - easiest way is to check out the blogroll (or in my case the Blogs I like to Read — please note like others I read a lot more blogs than in on my list and need to update my list) on blogs you do read and use these links to find blogs
Blogging is all about conversations - if you want to connect with bloggers you need to make the effort to write comments on their posts
Start connecting with people using different social networking sites e.g. I use sites like Facebook, Twitter, Second Life, Flickr, Ning.
Remember when you are making connections — that the value of a social network lies in the strength of your network. All social network sites look dull and lifeless without the right network e.g. without friends Second Life will feel very lonely.
As you become experienced you will realise which people provide you with the best information i.e. who you can trust. For many online tools, I wait until I hear enough of these people telling me something is worth checking out — then I check it out.
As you build your network I strongly recommend that you reflect on Stephen Downes words of advice on The Personal Network Effect. You do need to have enough knowledgeable friends with diverse backgrounds — too many = information overload — too few = poor information.
Since our dinner I have been reflecting on what James said about online communities like Ning. He said that a Ning community may initially start off well but in the long term will always struggle because for one simple reason — “ownership.”
Firstly I should explain why am I worried about about online communities floundering.
Well I do spend considerable time reflecting how to make online communities work because:
If I want to effectively use social networking and online communities with my students, for educational purposes, I need to understand what will make it thrive and why it will flounder.
I am working with the aquaculture industry in my State looking at ways to use these technologies to support their training needs.
We are planning to implement social networking tools within our College.
So what does James mean?
Well, people are more likely to participate if they feel a sense of ownership – which is what a blog give you. Communities set up by an individual lack this sense of ownership which means members are less likely to feel obligated to participate. They don’t own the space so there is less emotional reason for them to buy in to be involved.
Geek Squad Story
This reminds me of the story about the Geek Squad and how Robert Stephens spent considerable time and effort creating an internal wiki for his employees to use for communicating, collaborating and sharing resources — only to find slow uptake of it use. When he investigated the matter he found that they had formed their own community, for exactly this purpose, but were using the online game Battlefield 2.
The Geek Squad story is my favourite because it keeps me focused on the fact that you can spend a lot of time building what you think is a site that is “a goer to ensure community interaction” but that does not mean people will use it.
Answers?
Would love to have all the answers but community interactions are really complex.
Think about how people interact in f2f situations like within a kids sport community — what makes individual donate so much of their time when others won’t (you know the individuals who coordinate the canteen, cook all the food while others sit on the sideline)? What drives people away from these communities?
So what are some strategies that might help Ning type communities? Well I have written some of my thoughts previously in my post on creating thriving online communities. I agree with James — ownership will always be an issue and will not be easy to overcome.
I am more willing to become involved if I feel a sense of obligation to the individual who set up the community or a very strong bond to the group involved. For example of the individual or group has willingly helped me, as I have helped them, off course I will go out of my way to participate. But if everything has felt like a one way street — where I am always expected to give with nothing in return — forget it - not interested.
Also don’t expect people who have not been involved in online social networking to suddenly understand or want to social network. This is not how it works.
And don’t use the whole digital natives/digital immigrants myth to justify why you should be using social networking tools with our youth. Or that because our youth already know how to social network they will help you out. Pleeeease they social network totally differently from how we need them to network. Most youth social network with mainly their f2f friends and are very good at using the tools they like to use. Whereas we need to learn to mass collaborate with a global audience with a wider range of tools.
So what are your tips? Have you found some online tools better than others for social networking? And if so, which ones? How have you managed to get encourage the development of an online community?
Back in August I wrote a post titled Is Twitter shifting blogging to a new phase? I have decided to take it back!!!! Not only is twitter totally shifting blogging into a new phase but it is also changing the nature of our conversations and is incredibly important for our personal learning.
If you are not using twitter and wondering why any one would like to know “What you are doing?” well while you are going this is a Web 2.0 tool I don’t need to know about there are amazing conversations happening in the twitter networks that are important!
So what astonishing events was I involved with today as a result of my twitter universe?
Well there was so many — here are a few just from this morning!
I have absolutely enjoyed attending these sessions — so many highlights but here are a few:
Technology wise — how loved seeing Skype and Yugma (free online virtual classroom) used for delivering these sessions. Worked so well!
Conversations — many of us are all in these sessions while doing our other commitments so we get an insight into each others lives. E.g. loved how Kristin was participating while braiding her daughter’s hair. While we were on a break her kids were asking me about my strange accents and if I see kangaroos in our city streets — answer yes! Although I did not mention that occasionally cars hit them on our freeway (might have been too much information for that age!)
navcon2k7
While in Darren’s social software session I quickly jumped into Leigh Blackall’s keynote address for Navcon2K (NSW, Australia) thanks to Judy O’Connell providing us with twitter updates on the presentation.
Apparently Leigh said “that we ‘caught him out’ - he was surprised” but Judy said “it was cool to see his reaction.” And how did we catch him out — well he asked for questions so Judy twittered it and I responded. He was spun out that global learners were trying to ‘listen in’ - and we had asked a question to him that fit with the keynote!!
Message to all presenters and conferences — we are using twitter and are live blogging!!!
Organisers of Conferences – you must provide free wireless access or your attendees won’t be happy! And I would strongly recommend that you set up a conference twitter account to keep participants updated with latest news!
Presenters be warned! You are no longer just presenting to the audience in the room you are now presenting to a global audience — yesterday Rachael Boyd invited me through Twitter into Ewan McIntosh’s key note for Ulearn using Skype.
Off to the Pub!
Finally with all the hard work from Darren’s session it was time for a drink so where else should I go but to a pub somewhere in USA with Will Richardson, Steve Dembo and David Jakes being broadcast live via uStream.
Like everyone else I was totally blown away by the quality of the live feed considering they were in a pub on wireless. Incredible! Would love to tell you about the amazing conversations but oops I was paying attention to how powerful uStream could be as a tool!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Today I gained so much from Twitter — and all this happen from my house in Western Australia — great conversations, saw great tools in action and participated in conferences virtually. Thanks to everyone in my twitter network for helping me with my personal learning! If you are in twitter and not using it much — I suggest you rethink it! There is a massive party going on and you don’t even realise it!
So what are your thoughts on twitter? Are you using it? And if you are, how has it changed your life?
Leigh Blackall (Learn Online) has been running fantastic 10 minute online lecture series in New Zealand for Learning communities Aotearoa and I was fortunate to be invited to join some of the sessions.
Unfortunately I missed James Farmer’s session but I liked the recording so much that Leigh and James were nice enough to grant me permission to convert the audio into a video.
So here is the video version of James’s talk on Identity, Ownership and Online Learning — make time to check it out! Sorry, James, that I have taken so long to create it (work commitments) but definitely a fitting way to celebrate 100,000 edublogs! Congratulations James — must be chocolate party (no definitely chocolate) time!
Thanks again Leigh and James for giving me permission.
Well I don’t know about everyone else but I am one of those people that can take a long time “to get” the benefit of a Web 2.0 tool — I really have to see the “what’s in it for me” to be engaged enough to want to use.
Here are examples of tools and how long it has taken me from being introduced to a tool and then actually start using them effectively:
Twitter- 2 months
Podcasting - 3 months
Wiki - 5 months
Ning - 5 months
Delicious - 7 months
FlickR - 8 months
Blogging - 12 months
Now considering most see me as innovative and a prolific user of Web 2.0 technologies — I think how long it taken someone like me to adopt new tools should be considered when introducing these tools to educators who have never been exposed to any of them!
If we look at the whole Ning thing — why did it take me so long “to get it?” Well considering I understood RSS I was not seeing the forest for the trees — I was not subscribing to the feeds from the Ning Forum, Blogs or Latest Activity. This meant there was no way I could effectively manage the information that was being generated by these sites nor was I able to effectively respond to discussions because I was totally unaware that these discussions were taking place.
Whatever online resources and tools we develop our first rule should always be to make it very clear how to:
participate
use
navigate
This is equally important to the experienced and inexperienced — we should not assume what is required is obvious!
What is required should be in your face! So there is no missing the obvious!
My thoughts are those that have got the “Ning Thing” are probably managing the feeds from the sites using Feed Readers like Google Reader, Bloglines or dare I say it NetVibes (ROFL).
Or alternatively realise the benefit of this community such as:
Ease of use for the less tech savy
Ability to easy manage discussions, embed videos and create blog posts
Over It
What can I say–well there would be a number of reasons. And would love to hear those from my readers. One reason why I was Over Ning initially was I never got it to begin with. However I can understand the feeling of too much Ning because I belong to 7 Ning communities but am only managing 3 of them effectively (on my to-do-list to rectify this with the other communities. And I can totally relate to the whole time issue!
And as Web 2.0 savy people like Patrick point out “being connected to a network that you create based on your needs and passions is far greater than one that is created for you”
Final Thoughts
Well ultimately, at the end of the day, it is not about us techy savy ones but the individuals that we are trying to get started on their journey. So I would really love Graham to convert the comment on my post to be created into your own post, with pictures, because you have, as always, explained it so well especially your closing sentence “We just don’t want educators sitting on their hands in their classrooms saying, “Everything I and my students need for learning is in this room. No need to go anywhere.”
Doh moment! Really think that I have done a disservice to lecturers in my own organisation. I have been using wikis but now realise that a Ning community, based on what I have gained from etools and tips for educators community, would better service their needs in terms of empowering their learning outside of professional development sessions!
What can I say? Whatever plans I had for last night were distracted by Graham’s BYO networks post. Why? Because he reflected on Ning communities vs blogging and highlighted that while Ning is a good starting point for new educators he worries that people may limit their online learning by staying within these Ning communities and failing to realise that building your own network from blogs, wikis etc provides greater potential for learning. [image by circulating]
Without writing a really long post Clay is reflecting on how to run workshops for teachers. His “goals are to make them not need to learn from me, but to get out there and find their own pathways” and encourage their creativity. (You really need to check out comments on Graham’s and Clay’s posts — plus follow up post by Clay because it is not possible to summarise all the thoughts and ideas)!
Ning’s designed to appeal to users who want to create networks around specific interests or have limited technical skills
So members could interact with me before and after my presentation– and to ensure that their learning was much more than just an hour online session
So experienced members can share their tips
To demonstrate how an online community’s knowledge gain is greater than a person working individually.Collectively a community will always help each other more effectively than I will ever hope to achieve
To showcase why communities are important for personal learning
I love Clay’s analogy to a driving instructor because that is exactly what I tell participants in my f2f workshops. My challenge is most of my participants are starting their first driving lesson with their parents and need me ready to grab the steering wheel. Overwhelm them too much and they will crash into the tree.
Members new to participating in the online world report the community makes them feel
Several have been inspired to go on and achieve personal first’s like blogging, embedding videos, replying to discussions and creating their own videos using Ning
Their questions and responses have given me a far greater understanding of who they are and their needs; far more even than my f2f workshops
Collectively we have all gained more than working as individuals
There is no way I would have achieved these outcomes if I only interacted with the participants on my blog or if I had played it safe, stuck with just a 1 hr session, and not gone out on a limb to use Ning for embedding video during a live session.
Final Thoughts
I think that Brian C. Smith’s advice for getting others to buy into elearning is good advice. Check out this video of an interview he did with me! This grasshopper needs to remember this Master’s advice more often.
. The benefit of the diagram was it meant I was able to discuss and show a wide range of web sites that they could consider including in their PLN.
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