The 5 in 5: Innovations That Will Change Our Lives in the Next Five Years

“Computers are powerful enough now, but what do you think they’ll be able to do five years from now? This article featured on IBM has the answer—hear from some of the best and brightest and their predictions on how technology will integrate further into our lives in the following videos.”

via IBM.com

We think of the five senses as exclusive to living things

Processing sights and sounds requires eyes, ears and, most important, a brain—right? But what if your hardware shared your senses?

In the era of cognitive computing, systems learn instead of passively relying on programming. As a result, emerging technologies will continue to push the boundaries of human limitations to enhance and augment our senses with machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced speech recognition and more. No need to call for Superman when we have real super senses at hand.

This year IBM presents The 5 in 5 in five sensory categories, through innovations that will touch our lives and see us into the future.

From IBM’s Chief Innovation Officer
Read what he says about The 5 in 5

Touch: You will be able to touch through your phone

In the 1970s, when a telephone company encouraged us to “reach out and touch someone,” it had no idea that a few decades later that could be more than a metaphor. Infrared and haptic technologies will enable a smart phone’s touchscreen technology and vibration capabilities to simulate the physical sensation of touching something. So you could experience the silkiness of that catalog’s Egyptian cotton sheets instead of just relying on some copywriter to convince you.

Learn more

Sight: A pixel will be worth a thousand words

Recognition systems can pinpoint a face in a crowd. In the future, computer vision might save a life by analyzing patterns to make sense of visuals in the context of big data. In industries as varied as healthcare, retail and agriculture, a system could gather information and detect anomalies specific to the task—such as spotting a tiny area of diseased tissue in an MRI and applying it to the patient’s medical history for faster, more accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Learn more

Hearing: Computers will hear what matters

Before the tree fell in the forest, did anyone hear it? Sensors that pick up sound patterns and frequency changes will be able to predict weakness in a bridge before it buckles, the deeper meaning of your baby’s cry or, yes, a tree breaking down internally before it falls. By analyzing verbal traits and including multi-sensory information, machine hearing and speech recognition could even be sensitive enough to advance dialogue across languages and cultures.

Learn more

Taste: Digital taste buds will help you eat smarter

The challenge of providing food—whether it’s for impoverished populations, people on restricted diets or picky kids—is in finding a way to meet both nutritional needs and personal preferences. In the works: a way to compute “perfect” meals using an algorithmic recipe of favorite flavors and optimal nutrition. No more need for substitute foods when you can have a personalized menu that satisfies both the calorie count and the palate.

Learn more

Smell: Computers will have a sense of smell

When you call a friend to say how you’re doing, your phone will know on the full story. Soon, sensors will detect and distinguish odors: a chemical, a biomarker, even molecules in the breath that affect personal health. The same smell technology, combined with deep learning systems, could troubleshoot operating-room hygiene, crops’ soil conditions or a city’s sanitation system before the human nose knows there’s a problem.

Professional Development: Whose Job Is It?

“One-size-fits-all” is a description for a product that would fit in all instances. The term has been extended to mean one style or procedure would fit in all related applications. There are both positive and negative uses of the phrase. It’s a term that is often applied to staff development—the problem is that, according to Peter DeWitt in the following EdWeek article, this philosophy doesn’t work for educators. Check out to my post a few months ago where I actually attempted to describe the differences between, Professional Exposure, Professional Development and Professional Improvement….”

http://jeffpiontek.com/2012/03/14/teacher-professional-development-my-take-on-teacher-improvement-and-professional-development-what-do-you-think/

via Education Week

Professional Development is not defined by what someone else provides for us.

Twitter is creating a natural shift in professional thinking for connected educators and administrators. They are finding their own professional development (PD) through their Professional Learning Networks (PLN). There are other educators who don’t use Twitter but they research new and improved ways of meeting the needs of their students. Unfortunately though, there are others who wait for their school district to offer it to them.

All in all, whose job is it to offer professional development?

One-size-fits-all professional development does not work for educators. Sure, it gets them on the same page and can offer them base knowledge but its human nature for some teachers and principals to do their own professional development while others wait around for districts to offer something. One-size-fits-all PD leaves the best educators bored because they know most of the information already. With the Common Core State Standards, APPR and other accountability measures popping up, the need for PD is happening at a quicker rate than most districts can keep up with.

Add in budget cuts, and the possibility of getting high quality PD is becoming harder and harder and it becomes more of a drive-by session for staff than it is anything they can truly use in the classroom. Too often when PD is offered as a drive-by it becomes so quick and reckless that teachers walk away with more questions than answers.

How can school districts change the way they offer PD?
It’s not easy to change the way PD has been offered over the past few decades but it should be. It requires a shift in thinking on the part of district administration, building level leaders and the teachers within the school. Over the years in an effort to make sure school buildings were not their own islands some districts worked hard to create curriculum teams by grade level across the district. Now because of time and money those teams do not often get a chance to meet.

It’s time for the district and buildings to work together with teachers to design a better way of offering PD. In Unmistakable Impact (2011) Jim Knight wrote, “Educators, like everyone else, can be blissfully unaware of their own need to improve.” In addition to Knight’s insight, I believe that administrators can be equally unaware of how to offer PD to help teachers improve.

Jim Knight believes in a Partnership approach to professional development. The partnership approach is expressed in “several simple principles“:

• Equality – It’s not top-down. All stakeholders decide together

• Choice – Teachers should have a choice in what they are learning.

• Voice – “Professional learning should empower and respect the voices of teachers. (p.35)”

• Reflection – Great educators reflect on their practice but they also reflect on how they can improve. Reflection takes time.

Sure, it gets them on the same page … but its human nature for some teachers and principals to do their own professional development while others wait around for districts to offer something.

• Dialogue – Knight says that professional learning takes authentic dialogue. He’s right. PD is not about top-down initiatives but it involves conversations about what is working and what is not. Teachers need to feel as though they can share their opinions (We should just all remember that our students and parents deserve the same consideration in the classroom).

• Praxis – “Teachers should apply their learning to their real-life practice as they are learning” (p.42). Is this helping meet the social-emotional and academic needs of students?

• Reciprocity – Everyone should be taking the time to learn. Knight says, “We should expect to get as much as we give.” If teachers or administrators are waiting for someone else to give them what they need where PD is concerned, then they should not always be surprised what they get. Professional learning and PD are about what educators learn at conferences, in conversations at common planning times and what they find on their own. Professional Development is not defined by what someone else provides for us.

Knight says, “Clearly, complete freedom is not the solution. Total choice, without structure, would likely lead to total, unproductive chaos.” Many times administration believe they have the best ideas in order to help educators move forward and learn. When they decide the PD without teacher input, they are neglecting one important aspect of leadership, and one very big fatal flaw. Without including those getting the PD in the decision, administrators are not engaging their audience from the beginning and they are doing PD to teachers and telling them what they should learn.

The reality is that PD is not all about the district office offering PD, and there are many teachers who are waiting for administration to “just tell them what to do,” as their colleagues follow the road to self-discovery and find their own. Educators, including administrators, are all supposed to be lifelong learners. Whether they like it or not they have agreed to keep learning through their whole career. Time, will always be an issue. Even in the best districts, that offer common planning times and have set aside some time for professional learning, teachers are feeling the black cloud of accountability over them. PD needs to offer some breathing room and time for reflection.

It takes a partnership between the district office, building administration and teaching staff to create the best PD opportunities and they have a variety of venues to keep the professional learning going.

Venues:
• Faculty meetings – FM’s should not be about principals leading lists of things that need to be done every month. This is not an easy concept to get away from because it’s the “easy” thing to do. However, faculty meetings should be about professional conversations. This is a difficult concept for teachers as well. Sometimes they are so fried from the day they want to sit back and listen.

• PAC – Principal’s Advisory Councils should be in every school. They involve stakeholders from each grade, special area, special education area and support staff. They are the perfect place to discuss what teachers and students need and should not always be about what is going wrong in the building.

• EdCamps – It’s a concept that is catching on. No keynote speakers are involved and should be one large sharing best practices session.

• Professional Development days – If schools aren’t going to be teaching students on these days they should make sure they are as worthwhile as possible. How do school districts do that? Read Jim Knight’s book and refer to the above blog.

Resource:
Knight, Jim (2011) Unmistakable Impact: A Partnership Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction. Corwin Press.

The 36 Rules Of Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

via MediaBistro

Everyone’s an influencer. The consumer is out for himself (not for you). Optimize content. It’s an organism, not a process. Think past vanity metrics (like followers). Update your Facebook Page… or delete it.

Good advice, right? As much as it frustrates marketers, the business of social media is as much an art as it is a science, but there are some tried and tested rules and guidelines that justwork. And brands, new and old, need to pay attention.

Fast Company asked some of social media’s savviest users about their best practices, many of which were delivered in bite-sized, tweetable chunks. The finest suggestions have been documented in this infographic, which is a useful, one-stop, printable guide to best practices for brands using social media.

The Success Indicator

via Huffington Post

A few months ago I spoke at an event that Steve Wozniak also spoke at. As you can imagine, when it was time for Steve’s session, it was jam-packed. Packed with attendees, vendors and all the other speakers.

As I sat there and listened to Steve poignantly share the story of Apple and his relationship with Steve Jobs, I was enthralled. He started from their middle school years and went right up until the present, after Steve Jobs’ passing.

It seemed like he did not leave out a single detail. He just talked. There was no power point presentation, there were not even note cards — he just told his story from his heart.

What struck me the most was not Steve Wozniak’s extreme brilliance or his exuberant passion.

No, what struck me the most was his overwhelming sense of gratitude. His gratitude for having the opportunity to make the world a better place. To help us all to be able to communicate with loved ones, to run our businesses better and to have an enhanced life.

That evening I had the opportunity to sit with Steve at dinner. This was one of the smartest individuals I have ever met, and he was literally thanking all of us at the dinner table for allowing him to create some of the best technology in the world.

This experience prompted me to go back and examine a chart I created a year ago about the characteristic traits of successful people vs. those of unsuccessful people.

I have enhanced that chart and added traits that I believe to be some of the most important because nothing in life is satanic.

This chart was inspired and composed after meeting and working with some of the smartest, most successful entrepreneurs in the world, many of who are dear friends.
The following is that chart I compiled of characteristics, traits and behaviors of successful people vs. unsuccessful people.

Drum roll please . . .

The Success Factor Indicator

Successful People
Have a sense of gratitude
Forgive others
Accept responsibility for their failures
Compliment
Read everyday
Keep a journal
Talk about ideas
Want others to succeed
Share information and data
Keep a “to-be” list
Exude joy
Keep a “to-do/project” list
Set goals and develop life plans
Embrace change
Give other people credit for their victories
Operate from a transformational perspective

Unsuccessful People
Have a sense of entitlement
Hold a grudge
Blame others for their failures
Criticize
Watch TV everyday
Say they keep a journal but really don’t
Talk about people
Secretly hope others fail
Horde information and data
Don’t know what they want to be
Exude anger
Fly by their seat of their pants
Never set goals
Think they know it all
Fear change
Take all the credit of their victories
Operate from a transactional perspective
If you are ready kick up the success meter a bit, make a conscious effort to eliminate the traits on the right hand side of the chart above.

Hey, none of us is perfect but as long as we recognize and identify where we need to improve and continually strive to get there — greater success will follow.

Blended Learning Webinar

Common Core: A Step Backwards for English Standards…you decide!

Little attention has been paid to the academic quality of the mathematics, literature, and writing standards that NGA and CCSSO developed, despite the fact that they were not internationally benchmarked or research-based. The fatal flaws in the Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) standards went unnoticed because over 45 state boards of education and/or their governors hastily adopted the standards in 2010, in some cases long before they were written or finalized.
Most states agreeing to adopt the Common Core English Language Arts standards may well have thought they were strengthening high school English coursework. However, the architects of Common Core’s ELA standards never claimed that their standards would do so. Rather, they claimed that these standards would make all students “college-ready.”
This extravagant promise was and remains undergirded by a belief that a heavy dose of informational or nonfiction reading (50 percent of reading instructional time in the English class at every grade level) will result in greater college readiness than a concentrated study of complex literature in the secondary English class will.
Loss of Classic Literature
Why do Common Core’s architects believe that reading more nonfiction and “informational” texts in English classes (and in other high school classes) will improve students’ college readiness?
Their belief seems to be based on what they see as the logical implication of the fact that college students read more informational than literary texts. However, there is absolutely no empirical research to suggest that college readiness is promoted by informational or nonfiction reading in high school English classes (or in mathematics and science classes).
In fact, the history of the secondary English curriculum in 20th-century America suggests that the decline in readiness for college reading stems in large part from an increasingly incoherent, less challenging literature curriculum from the 1960s onward. This decline has been propelled by the fragmentation of the year-long English course into semester electives, the conversion of junior high schools into middle schools, and the assignment of easier, shorter, and contemporary texts—often in the name of multiculturalism.
From about the 1900s—the beginning of uniform college entrance requirements via the college boards—until the 1960s, a challenging, literature-heavy English curriculum was understood to be precisely what pre-college students needed. Nonetheless, undeterred by the lack of evidence to support their sales pitch, Common Core’s architects divided all of the ELA reading standards into two groups: 10 standards for informational reading and nine for literary reading at every grade level.
This misplaced stress on informational texts (no matter how much is literary nonfiction) reflects the limited expertise of Common Core’s architects and sponsoring organizations in curriculum and in teachers’ training. This division of reading standards was clearly not developed or approved by English teachers and humanities scholars, because it makes English teachers responsible for something they have not been trained to teach and will not be trained to teach unless the entire undergraduate English major and preparatory programs in English education are changed.
Common Core’s damage to the English curriculum is already taking shape. Anecdotal reports from high school English teachers indicate that the amount of informational or nonfiction reading they are being told to do in their classroom is 50 percent or more of their reading instructional time—and that they will have time only for excerpts from novels, plays, or epic poems if they want students to read more than very short stories and poems.
Long-Term Consequences
A diminished emphasis on literature in the secondary grades makes it unlikely that American students will study a meaningful range of culturally and historically significant literary works before graduation. It also prevents students from acquiring a rich understanding and use of the English language. Perhaps of greatest concern, it may lead to a decreased capacity for analytical thinking.
Indeed, it is more than likely that college readiness will decrease when secondary English teachers begin to reduce the study of complex literary texts and literary traditions in order to prioritize informational or nonfiction texts. This is because, as ACT (a college entrance exam) found, complexity is laden with literary features: It involves characters, literary devices, tone, ambiguity, elaboration, structure, intricate language, and unclear intentions. By reducing literary study, Common Core decreases students’ opportunity to develop the analytical thinking once developed in just an elite group by the vocabulary, structure, style, ambiguity, point of view, figurative language, and irony in classic literary texts.
It will be hard to find informational texts with similar textual challenges (whether or not literary nonfiction). A volume published in 2011 by the National Council of Teachers of English on how English teachers might implement Common Core’s standards helps us to understand why. Among other things, it offers as examples of informational or nonfiction texts selections on computer geeks, fast food, teenage marketing, and the working poor. This is hardly the kind of material to exhibit ambiguity, subtlety, and irony.
Common Core Is Not the Answer
An English curriculum overloaded with advocacy journalism or with “informational” articles chosen for their topical and/or political nature should raise serious concerns among parents, school leaders, and policymakers.
Common Core’s standards not only present a serious threat to state and local education authority, but also put academic quality at risk. Pushing fatally flawed education standards into America’s schools is not the way to improve education for America’s students.

DreamBox Learning launches global online community on edWeb.net for educators implementing blended learning models for mathematics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRINCETON, NJ, February 12, 2013 – DreamBox Learning® (www.dreambox.com), the leading Intelligent Adaptive Learning™ company, and edWeb.net, a professional social and learning network for the education community, today announced the launch of Blended Learning, an online professional learning community (PLC) to support educators exploring and implementing blended learning models for elementary mathematics.

The Blended Learning PLC will provide a collaborative forum for administrators, math coaches, curriculum coordinators, and teachers of mathematics to gather and share insights as schools and districts implement blended learning models at the classroom level.

“As the pioneer of intelligent adaptive learning, DreamBox Learning has redefined personalized instruction in the classroom,” said Lisa Schmucki, founder and CEO of edWeb.net. “Blended learning is an area of great interest to our online professional learning community and we’re thrilled to provide such high caliber experts to educators to improve their knowledge and help them implement best practices in classrooms.”

As part of the partnership with edWeb.net, DreamBox Learning will host a monthly Blended Learning webinar series as well as provide a dedicated blog and access to resources and tools that will allow educators to receive a Continued Education (CE) certificate.

The next webinar, Principal’s Guide to Blended Learning for Elementary Mathematics, is scheduled for February 27 at 3:00 p.m. EST. The session will be presented by well-known author and educator Dr. Jeff Piontek, who will present the keys to implementing successful blended learning models that leverage the powerful combination of real-time and online interaction to improve math teaching and student learning.

The joint effort benefits both edWeb.net and DreamBox Learning. “Joining forces with edWeb.net provides DreamBox Learning with the unique opportunity to engage directly with forward-thinking administrators and educators who are actively exploring innovative ways to increase student confidence and achievement in math through blended learning and differentiation,” said Jessie Woolley-Wilson, President and CEO at DreamBox Learning. “We’re very excited to share our knowledge and success stories as well as learn from the community as we collectively continue to inspire positive outcomes in education.”

Administrators and math educators are invited to join the Blended Learning community. All webinars and content are free. Register for the February 27 webinar. Listen to an interview with edWeb.net’s Lisa Schmucki and Dr. Tim Hudson, Director of Curriculum Design at DreamBox Learning discuss the rise in blended learning and the launch of the Blended Learning PLC. More information about the overall program can be found at www.edweb.net/blendedlearning.

About edWeb.net

edWeb.net is a professional social and learning network for the education community that makes it easy to connect and collaborate with colleagues, share information and best practices, and create professional learning communities. edWeb makes it easy to move forward faster with ideas that transform teaching and learning. edWeb hosts free professional learning communities on key topics in education and won the 2012 Edublog Award for Best Free and Open Professional Development for Educators. edWeb reaches 3.5 million educators in the U.S. through our membership and our partnership with MCH Strategic Data. Learn more at www.edweb.net.

About DreamBox Learning

DreamBox Learning was founded in 2006 in Bellevue, Washington and launched its first online learning product in January 2009. The platform has won more than 20 top education and technology industry awards and is in use in all 50 states. DreamBox Learning Math offers a groundbreaking combination of intelligent adaptive learning, rigorous elementary mathematics curriculum, and motivating learning environment. The innovative DreamBox platform captures every decision a student makes while working in the program and adjusts the student’s learning path appropriately, providing millions of individualized learning paths, each one tailored to a student’s unique needs.

DreamBox Learning closed its Series A round of funding in December 2011 led by private investors Reed Hastings, John Doerr and Deborah Quazzo, as well as GSV Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: GSVC).

###

PR Contacts:

edWeb.net:
Lisa Schmucki, 908-407-2755 or lisa@edweb.net

Foghorn Public Relations for DreamBox Learning:
Mary Leddy, 508-872-3369 or mleddy@foghornpr.com
Shelly Eckenroth, 717-852-7060 or seckenroth@foghornpr.com

District Administration Magazine Webinar on Blended Learning…..check it out

Blended learning – the powerful combination of real-time and online interaction— is being adopted across the country to improve math teaching and student learning. By implementing an online supplemental math program that utilizes intelligent adaptive learning™ technology, your school or district can easily and effectively provide personalized instruction in the classroom and at home for all students, regardless of level or ability. Attend this web seminar to learn how to get started with blended learning and the keys to successfully adopting this latest technology to improve achievement of your elementary math students.

Topics will include:

• The importance and efficacy of blended learning
• Evaluating curriculum and blended learning model options
• The latest and most effective technology used in elementary-level mathematics

http://www.districtadministration.com/webseminar/principal%E2%80%99s-guide-blended-learning-elementary-mathematics

20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network

“20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network” by Miriam Clifford first appeared on the InfomED blog.

Networking is a prime form of 21^st century learning.  The world is much smaller thanks to technology.  Learning is transforming into a globally collaborative enterprise.  Take for example scientists; professional networks allow the scientific community to share discoveries much faster.

Just this month, a tech news article showcased how Harvard scientists are considering that “sharing discoveries is more efficient and honorable than patenting them.”  This idea embodies the true spirit of a successful professional learning network: collaboration for its own sake.

As educators, we aim to be connected to advance our craft.  On another level, we hope to teach students to use networks to prepare for them for a changing job market.  But what is the best way to approach PLNs?

Learning networks are based on the theory of connectivism, or learning from diverse social webs.  Connectivism implies that learning relies on communicating ideas with others.  PLNs facilitate learning through meaningful interactions.  The advantages of PLNs today are two-fold.  In one way, they can improve classroom teaching and help develop new projects. On the other hand, they act as a form of communal intelligence that changes societal perceptions.

What are some ways to grow your PLN and improve the quality of your interactions?  As you will see, there are diverse ways to build your network and many new management tools.   Here are some simple tips:

10 Tips For Using PLN’s

1. Keep the spirit of collaboration as your driving force.  PLNs are all about working together.  Be reciprocal and resourceful.  Don’t think about what you have to gain, first think about what you have to give. Why?  Because it’s the right thing to do.  By buying into the process and sharing useful information, your PLN grows naturally.  Collaboration creates a common ground and allows others to see your interests.  Genuine interest builds a solid, authentic network.  Try to see the big picture of how your ideas can change the world.  Social responsibility is the best kind of motivation for establishing a PLN.

1. Join an online community.  Nings are online rings of people with similar interests. Sharing ideas and contacting people for direct feedback is more effective in a community setting.   Communities such as, Classroom 2.0  and The Educator’s PLN provide a meaningful circle of experts.  They provide professional development resources, such as online events, and are a great place to start networking.  Plus, using Mightybell, Edmodo, or Ning you can create your own virtual space to share pictures, documents, calendars, or projects.

1. Join a Meetup group.  Meetups are common thread interest groups that meet in the real world.  The groups can also extend in social networks.  For instance, social studies teachers in your district or city might create a group to share teaching ideas.  Meetups take online networks and bring them into the real world.  And if you can’t meet online try using a cyberspace, like Google+ HangOut, SecondLife, or Skype. Some university academics even have virtual labs on SecondLife.

1. Become a beacon of light.  PLNs rely on open sharing of information.  So if you know something, share it!  It’s best to start with a specific interest and then grow into other topics as time goes on. Become an expert in your niche by researching current trends.  This will draw a larger following on your network, because you can provide a novel source of information.  You might write a blog, start a Scoopit page to repost interesting articles, share a free tool, or create a Youtube video.  Cater to your strengths and use what’s comfortable for you.

1. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  After all, PLNs are all about learning.  But don’t ask questions that you can easily research yourself.  Try simple searches on TED talks, Wikis, blogs, or news articles before posting a question. Try to be specific and think of how a question might generate interest from others.  For example, you may want to refer to an article or research study when asking a question.  Be specific!  This will generate the best answers.

1. Be an active participant.  Brain power is the main asset of a PLN.  Spend some time to identify a specific cause and communicate it on your profile.  Let your knowledge of a specific cause help grow your PLN.  Keep up to date with your niche.  Stay relevant.  Try to post at least once a week.

1. Remember to be polite and acknowledge contributions to the rightful owner. Show common respect for the people in your network.  This may seem like common sense, but can be a pitfall.  It took me some time to learn “web etiquette” over the years, but it has helped me tremendously.   Send thank you notes, acknowledgements, and use your true voice.  Not only does it make the other person’s day, but it will help you gain more meaningful connections.

1. Designate a professional and personal account.  I keep my social life on Facebook and my professional life on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.  There can be some crossover, but it’s best to keep it minimal so things are easy to find.  Certain groups will appreciate different types of content.  Your Facebook friends might find your baby’s stories adorable, but your Twitter followers might not appreciate extra messages cluttering their inbox.  Do this in ways that are comfortable to you.  You might designate accounts for each sphere of your life.

1. Create a landing page.  It may be a good idea to consolidate all of your accounts on a landing page.  A webpage or personal blog will make it easier for people to find you.  It will also create a space where you can showcase the different projects you are working on.

1. Engage newbies.  It is best to include a mix of newbies, peers, and experts.  Having this type of diversity in knowledge allows you to increase your mentoring skills.  It keeps with the essence of collaboration.  One blogger in Australia provided a great visual and commentary on how varying levels of expertise are vital to developing a meaningful PLN.  He describes how he learned in a PLN learning MOOC that the 3’Rs have been replaced by the 3 C’s Collaborate, Communicate, and Create.  PLNS create new projects through the power of active collaboration.

10 Tools & Strategies for Establishing a Productive PLN

1. Use Diigo, Evernote, Pocket, or Delicious to bookmark links.  You can access them anywhere and on any device.  For example, Diigo is like creating your own personal library.  Diigo is the preferred tool for educators.
2. It allows you to highlight paragraphs and clip pictures while you are reading.
3. You can bookmark a page in a “virtual” library or online archive, even PDFs or videos.  You can add your own tags to search for information later.
4. Your entire school and class can add Diigo as a group, so that you can share resources.  For example, a chemistry class might share a digital periodic table, online lessons, or practice assignments.  Here is a great video about how to set up Diigo specifically for education.  They have specific accounts for educators to create a shared school library.

1. Use a reader to subscribe to blogs.  Google reader allows you to manage multiple subscriptions to blogs. This allows easier access to new research.  You can also use an application like Scribd or Yahoo News Social to publically share what you read with others.

1. Establish your own platform. Consider establishing a blog site on WordPress or blogger.com.  A blog provides a worldwide stage to share your views of education. You can spread your passion and find kindred spirits.  From there, you can develop lasting connections and plan new projects.  Fellow bloggers will appreciate the time you put into creating meaningful materials. Your ideas can be then be re-shared as a link. Many teachers keep class webpage or use applications such as PB works to share ideas.

1. Share on Twitter first. Twitter reigns king, for now.  Anything can change with technology, but Twitter is the most commonly used tool among academics for expanding PLNs.  LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+ also provide access to different types of networks. Later, you can use other tools to further expand and manage your network, such as Skype and Google tools. Many new platforms are emerging so stay current by reading tech or social media news on a site such as, Mashable.

1. Consider your role. The article “Individual Learning” sheds some light on learning roles. Consider your learning style when designing a specific approach to your PLN:
2. Activist-Learning by doing, such as writing a blog.
3. Reflector- Learn by reviewing situations, such as posting opinions to articles.
4. Theorist-Prefer to learn by researching information and data, such as by creating a model.
5. Pragmatist-Apply learning to real situations, such as by creating a project that uses PLNs in the classroom.

According to Wikipedia, PLN roles can include, “searcher, assemblator, designer of data, innovator of subject matter, and researcher”.

1. Aggregate resources together. Applications like FlipToast and HootSuite allow you to merge all of your social media accounts into one interface. You may want to play around with different types of portals until you find the one that is right for you. Map out an organized plan for using your PLN. There is a great chart of resources for mapping out your PLN plan on this blog.

1. Take a free course to learn about PLNs. MOOCs are Massive Online Open Courses that are free to the public.  For instance, this course complete with handouts shows you how to establish a PLN.  You learn actively by taking small steps to create your PLN, such as creating a blog, twitter account, and content.

1. Stay current with new tools. For example, try Pearltrees. This is one of my favorite new tools for PLNs.  Pearltrees is basically a visual organizer for your links.  Pearls are collaborative and public.  You can add pearls as you browse and share them with others on Twitter and Facebook.  Customize your experience.   There are many specific tools on different applications that allow you to customize and organize your PLN to fit your own needs.  Chrome and Windows 8 have several free applications that are worth trying.

1. Simplify logins. You can speed up the log in process by installing a Password management application.  To further simply your PLN, use Google to keep a shared document drive, email, chat, and Google+ networking in one place.

1. Establish a classroom learning network. Share your own expertise with other educators on a website or blog.  Create a class website or teach students how to create their own PLN. You might want to design a classroom project that relies on using one aspect of PLNs.  Doing so allows you to learn new ways to use PLNs. A YouTube video, The Networked Student, does an excellent job of explaining how a student might engage in a PLN. Teach students how to establish a PLN in small steps.  For instance, they might use Google scholar to research a paper or share ideas on Google Hangouts.

PLNs are a powerful change agent. And in today’s world an online professional learning network is indispensable.  Technology allows easy access to an unparalleled network of professional resources. Growing your network can lead to opportunities for professional growth and help change the future of education.

Feel free to add the InformED team on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Read more: http://newsroom.opencolleges.edu.au/features/20-tips-for-creating-a-professional-learning-network/#ixzz2HaWJm6DB

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