Artifact #2 for USF Foundations of Educational Technology EEND-675

Artifact #2-The Benefits of PLNs And Twitter Assignment

Until this course, I was not part of any official online PLNs. I had a professional Twitter account that was never used and I did not follow any teacher blogs. I also have a Pinterest account that has a few boards dedicated to “school”, but my pins are more class decorations or craft activities, not PD in nature. Over the duration of this course, I have begun to follow many of the suggested organizations and people on Twitter. I have really enjoyed seeing many of the ideas, comments, and articles people share. As both a teacher and a parent, I have found the majority of the articles to be very good reads. I really like the revised definition Whitby (2013) provides by stating that “better label today for PLN, is Personalized Learning Network -- the shift in nuance maintains that participants are both personal and professional learners.” I think this label is more accurate. When using Twitter, it is my personal choices based on my professional needs that guide who and what content I follow. I have chosen to use Twitter as my main PLN because it is new to me and I want to focus my time learning how to best use it. I’m sure I will branch out to other PLNs, but focusing on only one right now helps reduce my anxiety of maintaining multiple sources of information.

“The purpose of a PLN is personalized learning. You determine your needs and goals, and then acquire the sources that you need in order to attain them” (Whitby, 2013). I have greatly enjoyed exploring Twitter these last few weeks. I am still learning, but knowing that I have complete control and choice makes it less stressful. This is a benefit of connecting with people this way. I have a choice and what I learn about is personalize to ME! I do not have to follow anyone (or sit in a PD presentation) for content that is not relevant to my teaching position. For example, I was able to find @FountasPinnell (my intervention program), and through that found #FPAskMeli (a beloved dog in many of the non-fiction books) to use with my students. We can create and submit questions for Meli to answer! My first graders will be so excited to do this. Another benefit of connecting via technology for PLNs is the ability to hear about the ways other people of incorporate teaching tools into their classrooms. I initially found SeeSaw from looking at a Twitter post of a coworker’s wife, asked my coworker if he has used it, and based on our conversation I investigated that tool in more depth. I like seeing ideas people are posting and beginning to think of how I would use that idea in my own teaching. An online PLN resource truly allows me to “regularly read and discover new apps and strategies from leading edtech experts across the globe” and apply them however, and whenever, I choose (Jones, 2017). Additionally, I have enjoyed seeing what many of my coworkers within my own building, who use Twitter for a parent correspondence, are doing within their classrooms since I am generally contained in my classroom throughout the day and rarely “see” what is happening in other rooms during the day. Jones’ (2017) statement “due to the global nature that comes with being a connected educator, essentially all connected educators are international because their networks transcend geographical boundaries (although time zones can be a pain sometimes),” really sums up one of the largest benefits of online PLNs. They are international. People can connect with educators and classrooms around the world within seconds to learn and share ideas.

While Whitby (2013) explains that the goal of online collaboration is to “develop PLNs to maintain relevancy, follow good ideas, rich discussions and resources,” there are challenges and negative aspects that can be related to this. One challenge is confidentiality. Our building does not have an easy to access list of students who DO NOT have online permissions. The individual classroom teachers have access to their class, but as a specialist, I have to do some hunting to determine if students are allowed to have their picture on Twitter. To be safe, I chose to cover ALL student faces for my recent posts because I did not have the time to look through the multiple lists. Related to this challenge of confidentially is setting boundaries for personal and professional use. I appreciate how Jones (2017) explained that she “sets very clear boundaries when it comes to social media. Her Facebook account is set to private, the strictest possible settings that she regularly checks despite the fact that she doesn’t post anything that could be perceived as unprofessional. Her Facebook account is purely for friends and family. However, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest are all forms of social media that she uses to engage with professional development as an educator.” After reading that, I decided that I would only have a professional Twitter account. I use Facebook for friends and family, and have an Instagram account that I have been told I need to learn and use more frequently. I think that mixing, or having multiple accounts within one social media platform, would be difficult for myself to manage. Another challenge of utilizing digital PLNs in that not all districts have the same resources available to use with students. This can cause frustration and disheartened feelings of people who would like to try different activities with their students because they see the benefits, but are unable to do so. Another challenge with digital PLNs is that unless you know the person, it may be difficult to tell tone of voice. This can cause misunderstandings and hurt feelings. PLNs are supposed to be safe places. A final challenge is TIME. “We must remember that lifelong learning requires effort. We expect this commitment from students. We should accept no less from ourselves” (Whitby, 2013). Learning the “ins and outs” of different PLN platforms takes time. Finding resources, and simply exploring, also takes time. Much of my time of Twitter has truly been just exploring and trying to keep track of what I find useful and interesting. However, I am excited to continue my exploring and utilization of my new online PLN!

Works Cited

Jones, K. (2017, January 16). News - Comment: What does it mean to be a connected educator? Retrieved April 8, 2019, from http://www.educationjournalme.com/news/comment:-what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-connected-educator?_2_111432

Whitby, T. (2013, November 18). How Do I Get a PLN? Retrieved April 8, 2019, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-do-i-get-a-pln-tom-whitby

Rationale for Artifact #2-Twitter

I chose to include the Benefits of PLNs discussion because I was not actively a part of any digital PLNs prior to this module in the course. The Twitter assignment during this module basically forced me to become active on a Twitter account I made long ago at a District Institute Day. And to my surprise...I REALLY LIKE IT! I was definitely hesitant at first, as I did not know proper Twitter etiquette. Luckily, there were some helpful Twitter Tips provided in the module. I enjoyed finding many colleagues and being able to see what they were doing within their classrooms. I was able to find content related to the intervention program I use for the majority of my day, and even an interactive discussion area my students can “write” to the characters in some of our books.

I appreciated the discussions brought up related to Twitter that week. As a “newbie,” I was feeling all excited about something new and engaging. However, I greatly appreciated the honest responses from my classmates who were more familiar with Twitter and the potential pitfalls related to its usage. Anne explained her experience with great honestly that, “there is always a new person to follow or a group to join or a podcast to listen to, which makes my head spin at times. In the past, I found myself listening to educational podcasts in my car and during my workouts just to try and keep up. I lost my “me time” in all of that and just became frazzled....So, I pulled way back this year and hit the reset button...A wise person once said that you can’t pour from an empty cup. This is very true, but you also can't pour from a cup that is constantly overflowing under the slushy fountain at 711 with much effectiveness either.” As I began to explore of Twitter, I can see how it can become very overwhelming, which I plan to try to reduce as much as possible. I do not plan to become a highly active Twitter user. I honestly want to be able to reference it for specific items and share only what I find as relevant.

I also appreciated Mallory’s honest response that she found “that members of this community are unfortunately not immune from the nastiness and pomposity that marks much of online communication. I hate seeing teachers attack other teachers through the veil of the internet. I have been on the receiving end of it, and I find that the benefits don’t outweigh the anxiety and exasperation. I prefer to use Twitter recreationally.” I hadn’t come across that in my dabbling, but was very thankful for the heads up, as I hadn’t even thought of people purposefully being rude on educational items. Mallory also shared that she had “a lot of experience with the education side of Twitter, and I find myself quickly exasperated by it. I see it as “work”, and I don’t like to use a fun outlet for work in my free time.” Before reading her post, I had decided to only use Twitter for professional use and to only use it at school on my laptop. If I am researching or learning about work, then I want to do it at work during my plan time or while I eat lunch. I will not put Twitter on my phone. Reading her post reaffirmed these decisions.

I plan to continue to use Twitter to gain ideas for teaching, keep current with happenings within my own buildings by viewing what teachers are sharing from their classrooms, and stay current with technology trends. I feel that having these honest discussions helped me become alert to potential negative aspects so that I won’t be discouraged, and turned off to Twitter, if I come across them.