On Thursday our class had the privilege of having John Evans come in as a guest speaker. John is a web technologies consultant with Manitoba Education. I could see that John is very passionate about integrating technology into all areas of education. He provided a very informative session filled with tons of great resources, and great tips on how to build a Professional Learning Network (PLN). He spoke passionately about the importance and usefulness of building a PLN, and I found that he made a very good case! As I have mentioned before, I definitely consider myself a beginner when it comes to all things technology. When it comes to searching the internet for ideas for the classroom, I will be honest: I use the simple (and what I used to consider quickest) methods such as google, Pinterest, etc. Now I am thinking.. WHY!
John also gave the class a tour through the new program Maple, and signed up our whole class. This is a Professional Learning Network tool exclusively built for teachers. My initial impression of this tool is very positive. It seems very easy to navigate, which is great for people like me.. who are not very advanced internet users! I also noticed that it is layer out in a very organized fashion, which fits my personality very well. Maple has tons of different groups you can join which cover a very wide range of topics, and offer tons of resources. You can also upload your own resources and find friends. The part I like best about Maple is that you can create your own library. Using this, every resource I find I can just add it right to my library; this way it is all going to one place. On top of that, the library is already organized into specific topics such as Images, Videos, Blogs, etc. I am in organizational heaven! (I am sure you can tell from this I am a bit of an organizational nerd!)
Just listening to John speak about PLN's, I started wondering why haven't I been doing this the entire time. Think of how large my online PLN would have been by now, and how many resources I could have available to me with just a few clicks! Just as John said PLN's help us to connect with people all over the world, and create an easy and efficient way to not only find great resources, but share our own with the world. The great thing about using technology to build your own PLN and creating that online presence is that it is unique to each individual. You create it to fit your own needs, and make it work for you. It is all about sharing and collaborating; creating a community of learners. Professional learning has never been easier! I look forward to building my own PLN and embracing this beneficial, while still somewhat overwhelming aspect of technology!
Website: joevans.pbworks.com
John's website is loaded with links covering a wide range of topics in education. There are videos, articles, wiki's, etc. Topics/links I found particularly interesting and useful were IPads in Education, Social Bookmarking, and Literacy with ICT, just to name a few. You could get lost for hours on this site!
Great presentation - Thanks John!
Hi! I can certainly relate to being a tech beginner, and I also want to challenge myself to discover and try some tools. I am beginning to realize how generous people are with sharing their ideas online, and how crazy it is not to check out these pre-scouted resources!
ReplyDeleteI am not a naturally organized person, but faced with the sheer volume of web resources, I'm finding being organized is essential to getting the most out what I find.
ReplyDeleteI haven't explored the options in the Maple library yet, but like the idea of categorizing whatever we add.
I agreed with the "what have I been doing my whole life" comment. If I would have jumped on the wagon and started collecting earlier then I would just have a vast resource set.
ReplyDeleteI have started using LiveBinders to organize my online resources and I really like it. As you have mentioned, the key is to find what works for you. Not every tool is going to suit our needs nor our personality.
ReplyDeleteI also think that Maple is a cool curation tool. I think it will become a great resource and I really like that it is MB based. I find that most online resources are very Americanized. So it will be nice to have something more suited to our curriculum needs.
My thoughts of Maple are the exact same as yours. I need to have things in order and neatly layed out which Maple seems to have covered fairly well. It is very easy to navigate and being able to put different topics in different groups is great.
ReplyDeleteI, however, have not gotten on the Pinterest bandwagon for these exact reasons. I look at the when I log onto it and the structure and layout put my mind into overload from all the cluster (or so I will call it) and I give up. I know there are lots of great resources on the site, but for now, no thanks!
Adrienne,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind comments regarding my presentation and Maple. It excites me to see people having the same sort of vision I have for Maple - that it will be an effective tool where Manitoba educators can find/share materials and ideas and connect with other educators across the province.
Best wishes for the rest of the term!
Cheers
John