I had been reading a lot about Personal Learning Network and connected teachers through people like Sylvia Guinan and Shelly Terrell but my idea was a kind of club where you could ask questions and occasionally provide some help to others.
The idea of a PLN was what drew me to these courses but I really didn't understand what a PLN could be until I started reading and watching Stephen Downes and Tom Whitby. These two explain the benefits of sharing and helping in a connected network. Since then I have also watched a video about DS101 with Jim Groom and how these people see the technology and how it can help students and it just blew me away.
Almost all of what I thought I knew is out of date and I need a reboot of my ideas. It is very scary but absolutely invigorating.
My involvement with MOOCs has shown me the future but it has also flagged up some problems which my students will have to learn to deal with and will have to develop news skills to cope with. The shear volume of information and particularly of interaction with other students is frightening. Trying to deal with hundreds of emails and with a continuous flow of tutorials and videos proved to be a nightmare for me.
My plan now is to work on some form of personal information management system and some sort of filtering system to deal with the information. Once I have some answers in this area I can help my students to cope with MOOCs.
On a much larger scale I have to rethink and reassess my PLN and how, or in my case how not, to use them. I have failed to share enough with others and have been guilty of taking without giving and that will stop. My worry is that if I pass on every site I find interesting or every article will others become irritated. Again I need to think long and hard about how, and why, I share with others.
The idea of connecting with other teachers and with the great thinkers of my industry is both exciting and nerveracking. How can I have anything interesting to say or contribute. When I read about the exciting and innovative things others are doing my experience seems very limited and my knowledge incomplete. As I said earlier it is scary but the excitement and the buzz when you read, and in some cases meet (online,) these great teachers and thinkers I constantly feel that this is one of the greatest times to be a teacher.
This post also appears on my main website at www.teflideas.co.uk
