Gaining more understanding to the Professional Learning Network
Before the start of this class, I had never heard of a PLN.
Anxious to learn more about what this would be and how it will be beneficial to me in my college class, I dive into the five blog posts shared for week one.
While each blog post intrigued me, the blog I enjoyed reading the most was the "3 Steps for Building a Professional Network."
I believe I enjoyed reading this one the most because I am an individual who enjoys connecting with outs to have deep enlightening conversations that help with self-growth. While I normally enjoy connecting with people face to face, over the last few years I have wanted to develop and improve on communication with others online, especially to understand and learn from more people in this world outside of those whom I work with.
Finding the people you want to connect with and grow from is crucial and step one in the blog post to building your professional network. This step is something that I realized is something I already do in wanting to develop myself mentally. I have spent the last year listening to more podcasts which then led me to search to learn more about the podcaster's who I have learned to love listening to. I also love to follow them additionally on Instagram and X. Then their sites lead to other people who are like-minded to them and have blogs or posts that provide additional knowledge to learn from.
Step two in the process was finding the niche groups that are similar to your interests and make you feel comfortable. This step also discussed that these places are beneficial to help with gathering people with similar interests and experiences. Such as, if I love listening to Ed Mylett, I will want to find a similar group who loves discussing ways they have learned to improve their lives through life experiences. Because of live in a rural area, I have created a group that meets once a month, and we talk about and discuss his podcasts for the month and what we gained from them to help improve our lives.
Lastly and what I believe is the most important step was step three finding your professional network buddies and mentors. Similar to what I discussed above about creating a group in the town I live in; it is important and beneficial to have people in your life and professional network who help you grow into the person you desire to become. When I created my group, there were certain individuals who I didn't know well enough and ever thought could bring value to my life other than an occasional hello when passing by each other. Now these are people I enjoy and love spending time with because I feel comfortable around them every time, we discuss a new podcast and something we learned, our connections deepen each time.
As I write this and realize that a PLN is something that I want to create and develop in my career/work area. Not only will it help me to create stronger bonds with those I work with but it will also help our group to develop each of us individually and as an organization. We will be able to follow and learn from some of the best in the world if we search for things that can help us to learn and grow.
I have a feeling that the more we learn about PLNs, the more we will realize that we have been utilizing of at least one type them for a while. I initially thought at the beginning of the course online PLNs were mainly things like X, Instagram, and Facebook. However, now I am starting to think about it in regard to my current organization. We utilize MS Teams, which I now recognize as a form of PLN. Additionally, I also believe that in prior courses that have had me use what was then called Flipgrid -now called Flip- was a way to have the students working with a form of PLN to interact with each other past the traditional discussion post in Moodle.
ReplyDeleteAgree! The concept/structure of a PLN is a useful way to talk about and think about on-going professional development; but many of us have been using some sort of synchronous or asynchronous on-going professional development in our careers. What I like about PLNs, is that it gives structure and makes the idea of on-going professional development more concrete and therefore we can be more intentional about it.
DeleteThank you both so much for the responses. I am so excited to continue to learn more about PLNs.
DeleteWhile I agree with most of what you had to say here, Kashia, I would like to make a couple of comments. Hopefully they bring some value to the conversation.
ReplyDeleteI agree that surrounding yourself with great people and niche groups will result in you learning and growing. On this matter: comfort, intentionality, and growth have an interesting relationship. In my opinion, comfort is a great foundation to begin learning and growing in any particular area. I like to think of this as, "settling in." However, comfort leads to complacency and a stagnation in learning and growth.
Intentionality is crucial to maintaining growth. Dr Robin has already touched on this with her comment above. PLNs, "gives structure and makes the idea of on-going professional development more concrete and therefore we can be more intentional about it." Again, the intentionality is key. When comfort leads to complacency, we may surround ourselves with great people, but without intentionality, opportunities for development will likely pass us by.
You may try some ways to be more intentional in online networks like PLNs in the following ways: Using the Ed Mylett example, it is great to want to surround yourself with people who love Ed Mylett. However, if you want to continue to grow in your expertise, understanding, or even opinions of the music, intentionally seeking out those who disagree with your opinions/tastes while both participants have a growth mindset may lead to incredible developmental opportunities. Perhaps a respectful debate, unique knowledge sharing, or more developed ways of expression could arise.
PLNs are a great opportunity to foster the sort of respectful, safe, and challenging environment that leads to continued professional development.
I hope that one would continue to grow and learn, to develop when applying this to PLNs, work, or just life in general.
Thank you so much for this comment! I agree with everything you said and has me really wanting to step out of the comfort zone even more.
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