Using Technology Tools - PLNs/PLCs
Professional Learning Network/Community
Social Networks such as Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest can be easily leveraged to create your own professional learning networks (PLNs) or communities (PLCs.) This will, however, require some attention on your part.
Twitter (Links to an external site.) requires you to take time to search for content based on keywords related to your professional needs. Once you find good content, scan the stream of tweets from those individuals, and determine which of them have great, continued sharing of items that interest you. Follow those individuals, retweet their content to your followers, and interact with them.
Using hashtags (#), many educators on Twitter have formed and joined education-related conversations, which tend to happen on particular days/times of the week. Topics and questions are carefully vetted, and many join in to tweet back and forth. By adding a unique hashtagged word, it's simply to search for all tweets that have included it - hence, it becomes easy to follow the conversation, or chat.
TeachThought's Complete Guide to Twitter Hashtags for Education (Links to an external site.)
Consider this: You don't have to follow back anybody who follows you on Twitter, if you don't want to. Simply by following good sources of information is enough for their tweets (and resources) to show up in your Twitter feed. If someone follows you, you can make a determination as to whether or not to follow back, based on a review of their tweets. If an account with objectionable content follows you, you can simply use the block user feature to make them disappear from your list of followers.
Google (Links to an external site.) has its own social networking tool, called Google Plus, or Google+. You can find people you know and connect with them, and developing social "Circles" to share targeted content to. There are a variety of social communities surrounding education, and you can join (or request to join) them. Search across Google+ using keywords to find great people to add to follow, or to find great content shared. Like or share any great content you find.
ComputeTeachLearn's How to Use Google+ f (Links to an external site.)
Pinterest (Links to an external site.) has one of the largest and most active streams of actionable content -- information that can be readily acted upon, today, in your classroom. If you've been enjoying Pinterest for your own use, pinning recipes, projects for the home, garden ideas, and more, moving over to include educationally helpful content is a cinch.
As with other accounts, I would recommend creating another Pinterest account for classroom use only. Use keyword searches to find great pins, great boards, or great pinners, and follow them. Take the time to visit your educational stream a few times a week, and repin finds to your own boards for easy future access.
TeachThought's 37 Ways Teachers Can Use Pinterest in the Classroom
Using Technology Tools - PLNs/PLCs
Using Technology Tools - PLNs/PLCs
Professional Learning Network/Community
Social Networks such as Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest can be easily leveraged to create your own professional learning networks (PLNs) or communities (PLCs.) This will, however, require some attention on your part.
Twitter (Links to an external site.) requires you to take time to search for content based on keywords related to your professional needs. Once you find good content, scan the stream of tweets from those individuals, and determine which of them have great, continued sharing of items that interest you. Follow those individuals, retweet their content to your followers, and interact with them.
Using hashtags (#), many educators on Twitter have formed and joined education-related conversations, which tend to happen on particular days/times of the week. Topics and questions are carefully vetted, and many join in to tweet back and forth. By adding a unique hashtagged word, it's simply to search for all tweets that have included it - hence, it becomes easy to follow the conversation, or chat.
TeachThought's Complete Guide to Twitter Hashtags for Education (Links to an external site.)
Consider this: You don't have to follow back anybody who follows you on Twitter, if you don't want to. Simply by following good sources of information is enough for their tweets (and resources) to show up in your Twitter feed. If someone follows you, you can make a determination as to whether or not to follow back, based on a review of their tweets. If an account with objectionable content follows you, you can simply use the block user feature to make them disappear from your list of followers.
Google (Links to an external site.) has its own social networking tool, called Google Plus, or Google+. You can find people you know and connect with them, and developing social "Circles" to share targeted content to. There are a variety of social communities surrounding education, and you can join (or request to join) them. Search across Google+ using keywords to find great people to add to follow, or to find great content shared. Like or share any great content you find.
ComputeTeachLearn's How to Use Google+ f (Links to an external site.)
Pinterest (Links to an external site.) has one of the largest and most active streams of actionable content -- information that can be readily acted upon, today, in your classroom. If you've been enjoying Pinterest for your own use, pinning recipes, projects for the home, garden ideas, and more, moving over to include educationally helpful content is a cinch.
As with other accounts, I would recommend creating another Pinterest account for classroom use only. Use keyword searches to find great pins, great boards, or great pinners, and follow them. Take the time to visit your educational stream a few times a week, and repin finds to your own boards for easy future access.
TeachThought's 37 Ways Teachers Can Use Pinterest in the Classroom