What Is a Professional Learning Network?

A professional learning network (PLN) is group of interconnected people with common professional interests who share ideas, resources, requests, questions, and reflections. In education, a PLN facilitates communication and collaboration among teachers reducing the isolated nature of the profession. PLNs typically take advantage of technology or social media platforms that allow professionals to connect anytime and anywhere. However, a PLN could also refer to a group of colleagues who regularly ask each other for feedback or ideas in person.

A PLN is an important part of what Jan Turbill calls “inside-out” professional learning for educators. Inside-out professional learning is teacher-initiated and teacher-driven professional learning. This learning comes from teachers’ wants and needs, reflections, investigations, interactions with students, and conversations with other professionals. It is on-going, job-embedded, free, and always available. On the other end of the spectrum is “outside-in” professional learning (workshops, trainings, conferences). The interplay of inside-out and outside-in professional learning is what makes the conditions for meaningful, powerful, and sustained professional learning (Varga-Atkins, O’Brien, Burton, Campbell, and Qualter, 2010).

Why Should I Have a Professional Learning Network?

A Professional Learning Network for teachers is important. Teaching has always been an extremely complex profession. The accelerating rate of change in today’s society makes it even more complex and fluctuant. To fully grasp these complexities and to keep pace with the rate of change in society, teachers must actively engage in sustained professional learning to deepen understandings and stay up-to-date on what constitutes quality, relevant education. Teachers must work together to build collective knowledge and a large repertoire of strategies they can apply effectively in the classroom to best meet students’ needs. With the demands of modern times and the affordances of technology, teachers can no longer wait passively and patiently for workshops and rely solely on outside-in professional learning. A professional learning network is now essential.

Beyond that, great educators are constantly learning and evolving. They understand the road to becoming a master teacher is like an asymptote where the possibilities for refinement are endless. Progressing towards mastery, however, brings meaning and enjoyment to the profession. This is another reason why every teacher needs to have a professional learning network (or perhaps several).

Tips for Getting Started with a Professional Learning Network

Now that what a PLN is and why it is important to have a PLN is clear, here is a look at how to get started.

Lurk: The first step to getting involved in a PLN is just to get in and lurk. To lurk is simply to watch what is going on in the PLN and read what people are posting. This is a great way to keep up with the conversations, to learn and reflect privately, to begin to experience how the PLN works, to understand the norms of the PLN, and to see the types of contributions that can be made and the types of resources available.

Like: The next step is to “like” what other people are posting in the PLN. Hitting like is a way to show support of others in the PLN and to show your own presence in the community. To “like” an update might mean different things. It can mean that you read the update. It can mean that you agree with the update and do indeed like it. Even if you disagree with the update, a “like” can mean that you appreciate the diverse contributions and perspectives which are important to a healthy PLN.

Comment: When you are ready to up your participation beyond “likes”, leave a comment on others’ updates. This is a great way to expand on ideas, make connections, ask questions for clarification, or offer a different point of view. Actively participating in discussions with colleagues enriches the PLN experience and increases everyone’s learning.

Post: Finally, posting your own updates to the PLN optimizes professional learning in the network. When all members of the network are sharing classroom experiences, reflections, articles, tools, resources, and ideas, the PLN flourishes and its members reap the benefits. The benefits go beyond a wealth of teaching strategies, though this is a key outcome of the PLN. Benefits also include “happiness chemicals” released by the brain as the result of learning something new and becoming better each day. Don’t be shy in sharing. What seems obvious to you is often amazing to others!

There you have it!  We’ve looked a what a PLN is, what it is important, and how you can get started.  I look forward to interacting with Bolivar teachers on our Schoology PLN!

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References:

Lindquist, R. (2010, April 15). The pursuit of mastery and the mastery asymptote [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://life-engineering.com/the-pursuit-of-mastery-and-the-mastery-asymptote/

Varga-Atkins, T., O’Brien, M., Burton, D., Campbell, A., & Qualter, A. (2010). The importance of interplay between school-based and networked professional development: School professionals’ experiences of inter-school collaborations in learning networks. Journal of Educational Change, 11(3), 241-272. doi:10.1007/s10833-009-9127-9