Three Significant Obstacles to Creating a Personal Learning Network

Flickr CC image - PLN

Last weekend, after enjoying Joe Morelock's keynote about the facing the challenges of rapid change in education, I shared my thoughts on personalized professional development with a group of about twenty eager educators. Midway through our session I made the mistake of asking the group, "What is your favorite activity, or tool, for engaging with your PLN?"

A few averted pairs of eyes, a few puzzled looks, and a few others choosing to be distracted with mobile electronics (wait time...), and then courageously, Anna asked, "What's a PLN?"

"Hold the phones! Stop the presses! What is a PLN?", I let the question simmer for a few moments.

I swiped back to my previous slide, and a few participants took their turns at defining a personal learning network, along with how they personally interacted with their own learning communities.

"After learning a bit more about PLNs, how many of you regularly engage with what could be considered a personal learning network?", I asked. Predictably, the same three hands went up.

I wanted to ask, "Why is it beneficial, in this day and age, for educators to engage in a PLN?" Fearing that the conversation would have a strong likelihood of stalling out, I instead asked, "Knowing a bit more about what PLNs are, what are the primary obstacles that are keeping a majority of educators from engaging in a PLN?" Connected, Semi-connected, & Unconnected Educators - Tom Whitby

Here is the group's three most prevalent responses, along with their respective takeaways:

1. Fear - Fear of transparent sharing, fear of giving up classroom control, and fear of failure were mentioned by the group members. Several teachers admitted that fear of trying new things was their primary reason for not using social media, and web resources, for engaging with a personal learning network. Even our more experienced connected educators admitted to feeling anxious about putting themselves, and their ideas, "out there". Our acknowledgement of these feelings, along with the acknowledgement that we were all DSL ("digital as a second language" - Joe Morelock) learners seemed to lighten the mood and calm some fears. Several participants created new Twitter accounts during our session. The Takeaway - Once the concept of failure is positively re-framed, trying new things becomes an exciting exploration instead of a nerve-racking endeavor.
2. Time - Lack of time was cited as a significant reason for not engaging in a PLN. There is no denying the time intensive commitment that is required of educators. How can teachers be expected to carve out a piece of time from their daily schedules for professional growth, and personal learning? Several teachers commented that time demands have increased substantially during the course of their careers, which is a common theme. The PLN-connected educators helped shift the conversation to a discussion of how PLN interactions actually saved time. Once again, Twitter was at the center of a conversation that illustrated how small, daily PLN sessions provided helpful suggestions, useful resources, and professional connections promising future support. A few teachers agreed that this sounded more efficient and productive than the contrived workshops and professional development opportunities they had grown accustomed to. The Takeaway - Working largely in isolation is time ineffective. However, crowd sourcing for ideas, resources, and solutions is very time efficient, professionally energizing, and personally validating.
3. Ignorance - Lack of knowledge, or at least familiarity, was mentioned as another obstacle for engaging with a PLN. A few of our participants discussed not knowing how to get started with a personal learning network. We reviewed the components that make up an effective personal learning network; professional learning communities (PLCs), personal learning networks (PLNs), and communities of practice (CoPs). We also took a look at several types, and several specific online tools, that help connected educators more effectively share and fully engage with PLNs (see the Slideshare presentation below). I shared a short video created by Dr. Jackie Gerstein to help illustrate what it means to be a socially networked learner. We agreed that it was necessary to adopt a learner's mindset in order to reduce ignorance, grow our PLNs, and become models of connected learning for our students. The Takeaway - Working to leverage the collective knowledge of our networks is more efficient and effective than trying to become the content expert in our classrooms.

 Are there other obstacles to PLN engagement that deserve to be discussed?
What is your favorite activity or online tool for PLN engagement?

Personalized Professional Development from Robert Schuetz