opengecko

Short version:

Find out why a developing your own PLN is a good idea for your professional development.

Long version:

This is the introduction to the #15MINPLN series,

What is it about?

Committing to building your own PLN – Personal Learning Network. (This might equally be called a Professional Learning Network.

It is about developing your own professional development through readily available social networking tools which allow you to easily and quickly connect with like-minded educators around the world.

Just 15 minutes a day

Image: Some rights reserved by zoutedrop

The ‘15MIN’ bit refers to the deliberately small amounts of time each day which you could devote to getting this going. There is a somewhat arbitrary and admittedly contrived approach I am suggesting here: spend 15 minutes on each of these 15 activities over the course of 15 days, and that should certainly set you up in the right direction. Then, keep at it on a regular basis by perhaps spending 15 minutes per day, and you should soon recognise the fruits of your labour.

The two key points are, firstly, that you should frequently try to devote small chunks of time (15 minutes or not) to this project and this point acknowledges the fact that you are an incredibly busy person who hasn’t got too much spare time to afford. Secondly, a lot of people will put off a project like this with all the natural friction that comes with starting any new project. By proposing 15 achievable, discrete steps, hopefully much of that friction is overcome.

Reading this post and watching the three videos is my first suggested 15 minutes (or so) towards developing your PLN.

What am I trying to achieve here?

Image: Some rights reserved by viZZZual.com

I will write 15 posts prefaced with the label ‘#15MINPLN’. They will attempt to encourage educators to develop a productive online presence on the Internet as one means to control their own professional development.

Techniques such as social bookmarking, posting resources online, using twitter, and more will be explored. All of these will allow you to tap into immensely powerful networks while building a sustainable, rewarding and potentially prolific online portfolio of your key professional interests.

The 15 posts will form the structure of a presentation I am working on.

Image: Some rights reserved by Lincolnian (Brian)

I am setting out on this same journey myself. So I am writing about this just as I am personally doing it and thinking about it.

Relying On Others

But for the rest of this post, I now rely on others’ contributions. And that’s OK, because that is partly what this is all about. I knew there would be youtube videos that already said much of what I want to say. Nothing I am saying here is particularly original. And again, that is OK.

This is a simply designed one to open with:

This video matches my notion of one step at a time beautifully:

We don’t need more than 3 of these. The third one gets chosen because it adds a human voice and goes into a bit more detail so serving as a taste of what’s to come.

Next #15MINPLN post: ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out’