Check out Jeff Utecht's article from 3rd April regarding how we develop/grow our personal learning networks. Jeff's blog post sprung from David Warlick's article ( My Personal Learning Network needs a ########! )....both of the guys are suffering as many of us are from information overload. How many times have you stayed up those extra few hours past midnight ( wherever you are) in order not to miss a conversation? I know for certain that I have, to listen to Ed Tech Talk chats which don't start until 2amGMT!!! and even to the extent of getting up at 5am to join in a Ustream discussion from Bangkok International School and the list goes on.....
There certainly comes a point which Jeff says in his article when something ( usually your family commitments!!) takes you away from your network for a period, this is a good thing as it allows you the time to reflect on the networks that you are involved in.... and is bad as in my case friends and colleagues thought I had dropped off the edge of the world!!!! It even got to the point were Allanah King in NZ left a message on my answering machine at home in Wales wondering where I was!
I can relate directly to Jeff's graph above ( from Flickr - Creative Commons licence) where I guess I have entered Stage 5 where I don't strive to be involved online all of the time, I make time for the family ( when you have grandchildren you have to - they don't understand unless they are at the centre of the universe - and who would deny them that?).
I think that you have to strike a balance otherwise a bit like I found around the start of the year 'bloggers block' can set in and then you might actually find that you switch off from your PLN for a period in order to re-adjust your body clock ( it helps to know which time zone you are in - let alone everyone else!)
I realise as well that a change of role also has an effect on your PLN, I feel a little on the outside looking in these days as I am not in the classroom anymore, it affects the way I interact in the online community as it is bound to do..... so in closing I apologise to those who missed my rather boring Welsh accent for a few months but I am in Stage 5 and am gradually getting back into the networks that I find most valuable and thought provoking.
Incidentally if you want to see how we have grown into the use of online applications which is also a driver of our PLN's check out the top 100 apps here ( thanks to John Sutton from Creative ICT)
2 comments:
I hope I don't come across as a stalker but we were worried that suddenly there had been no on-line presence.
AllanahK
Of course not AK but it made my point about our online presence, it proves that there is a PLN out there :-)
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