Professional Learning Networks

I've thought quite a bit about the direction of this site. Naturally, I want it to be about Professional Learning Networks. But I've struggled with how to get it to reflect my vision. (Probably because my vision wasn't nearly as clear as it should be). I think that I'm ready for the next step however. I plan on spotlighting some members of what I consider to be my PLN. It is my hope that you will find some new resources, reinvest in some that you may have forgotten, and join the conversation about your PLN. 

Now, I just need to pick one member of the PLN to start with. Hmmm….

I've been asked to present at a drive-in conference on using ActivExpressions for formative assessments. I'm pretty excited. I had the opportunity to bring in ActivExpressions in my building when I was a building principal. These are incredibly useful educational tools. They can really help teachers gather useful information very quickly. 

For those who aren't familiar with ActivExpressions, these are a product of Promethean. They usually tie in with Promethean Boards. They are "clickers". The units allow students to answer multiple choice, likert scale, short answers, etc. (They are not cheap however). 

The kids usually catch on to using them really quickly.

First step: The units need to be registered to the hub. Some of my teachers would have the kids register the units using their names. This would be done every hour. It gives the kids a sense of ownership. Once they are trained on how to do it, it takes about 2 minutes. I prefer to name the units once (T-01, T-02, etc) and have one assigned to each student. The software allows the teacher to track the responses of each student and the class as a whole. Once the units are registered, the teacher is ready to go. 

The teacher has a couple of options. Questions can be set up ahead of time and included on a presentation. Questions can also be "ad-hoc". In this case, the teacher either gives the question verbally, or writes it out on the board. It is important for the teacher to not the question if tracking by student. With a couple of clicks, the appropriate options show up on the ActivExpressions for the students. For example, if the teacher asks a question with the possibility of answering A,B.C or D, those options show up on the units next to buttons. The student just needs to select the appropriate response and push "send". 

Once all of the answers are in, the teacher can have a graph immediately show what was answered ( eg. A=33%, B=0%, C=17%, D=50%). This allows the teacher to discuss with the class which answer was correct and why. This gives the teacher incredibly useful information about what the students are thinking. This is greatly preferable to having students raise their hands (how many kids wait for the "smart kid" to raise his hand and then follow?). 

I believe that this kind of information is valuable to teachers. If used correctly, it allows teachers to make adjustments quickly, know when it is time to move on or when to reteach before the information "sets" in with the kids. It really doesn't take very long once the kids are used to it – and the kids take to this quickly. 

A lower cost, analog version of this is to go to a home improvement store and pick up a 4'x8' showerboard. Have them cut it into 12"x12" squares (they usually will make a limited number of cuts for free, but if you let them know you are a teacher, they may cut it all for free). This will get you 32 boards. This doesn't allow you to record the answers or get the quick graphs, but it will get a general sense of where the students are. 

I receive lots of email. Every day. You probably do too. For me, email is fundamentally broken. Why?

• I have no control over who sends me email. 
• An email from my boss looks exactly the same as an email from a mass mailer. 
• It is so easy to write and send email that it happens all the time. 
• There is not a lot of agreement over the use of email. 

The first one is huge for me. The easiest way that I've heard others describe this issue is the analogy of FaceBook or Google+. With either of those, I have to approve you before you can send me stuff. If you send me stuff that I don't like/want/need, I can stop you from sending me stuff. The metaphor of having a trusted relationship is appealing. 

Yes, I do know that I can write rules to move mail from important people into different folders and check those folders first. That adds complexity to the system. Plus, I've seen rules fall apart too quickly on the Exchange server. This also requires a constant tweaking and maintenance. The metaphor above also requires some maintenance, but the process is much smoother. 

There are people who actually receive (i.e. email that makes it through the SPAM filters and to an actual inbox where it is looked at by a human) hundreds upon hundreds of emails in a day. My job is not to answer email. My job is to do other "stuff". Email was supposed to allow us to communicate more efficiently and free time up. Every time someone sends me an email, I have to take time to process the email and act on it. Sometimes, this takes a second or less. Sometimes this takes much, much longer. 

Finally, there is not a lot of agreement over the use of email. I don't read emails that are 3 long paragraphs (unless they are from my boss). Here's another example of disagreement: do you respond with a "Thank you" to an email? If so, should the other person respond with a "you're welcome"? If so, should you respond with a "no problem, I was glad to do it"? If so, should you respond…… where does it end? 

On a related issue, I've had several people tell me that "you can't get tone from an email" – The last time was right after I told someone that I didn't appreciate the tone of their last several emails. It seems that there are people out there who don't understand the text carries  with it tone and more. This can easily lead to misunderstanding. 

So, that being said, what do I see replacing email? Well, I'm glad you asked. I just wish I had an answer. 

In my day job, we are moving our web server to Exchange 2010. I sent out an email to ask users to delete their deleted items. I sent out directions that included screen shots – thanks, Skitch. All seemed fine. Then, I was asked if "I really needed to delete those items, I search for them sometimes". Someone else asked to keep the last 100 days of deleted emails. This leads into one of my rants- we all think that we know how to do email because we sit in front of email much of the day. In reality, we don't. Here's the thing, few of us were ever taught how to "do" email. I remember showing a Superintendent how to label things "important". He was tickled. And everything thereafter was "important" from him. I've had the pleasure to see how people use email. A couple of observations: 1. Lots of people only ever access email through a web browser, even though they have an email client on the computer. 2. Lots of people never delete anything. 3. Organization varies widely So point 1 generally denotes a lack of sophistication. Sometimes, people just are overwhelmed and don't want to have to learn one more thing. Point 2 interests me. I've dabbled with "inbox zero", and get the cognitive expense of seeing all that email. Maybe it really doesn't bother other people, it sure seems not too. But this leads to a lot of cruft. At some point , this just takes up hard drive space. Yes, I know that the files are small, but when multiplied by thousands of users, it causes issues. It is also a question of "why". Why save all that stuff? Point 3 can be humorous. I've seen people who delete absolutely nothing. I've seen people who create a folder for each person who sends them emails (and dutifully files each email in the appropriate folder), people who create a folder for each project, and people who just delete everything and then never empty their deleted folder. Here's the thing. I don't think that I have "the answer". I do think that I could teach some people how to improve their email habits though. Next post- email is fundamentally broken.

I’ve updated the PLN definition page. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

A PLN will be defined as “a relationship through electronic means to further learning”.

I’ve struggled with this for a while now. What does a PLN really mean? In application, it can become so broad so as to become meaningless. By some definitions, everyone you’ve ever come into contact with is part of your PLN. Certainly we are always learning. Informal learning is a crucial part of our existence.

Yet, a PLN is and should be something different. In order to understand something, it is necessary that we define it. A definition that is too broad does us very little good. Thus, I’m working on the definition that is above. My intent is to reflect that we make connections on-line. These connections are different than what was possible before. Certainly we still have connections with others that we meet in “real” life. We still have those connections. We’ve always had those connections. The issue, for me, is how has the ability to connect electronically changed our relationships? That is where the electronic part comes in.

The electronic connection is the pivotal issue for creating PLN’s for me. This is what has changed.

I’m looking to build some interactions and content that is useful for educators. Of course, these center around the whole idea of PLN’s. However, it seems to be quite the challenge to create a useful site that has a thread of usefulness. Building communities is hard work. It takes time and effort. I’ve been really pleased at the connections and relationships that have been fostered with a podcast that I co-host (Middle School Matters).

We’ve gotten some incredible feedback – and more importantly, met some incredible people. However, I’m looking to for  a slightly different focus with this site. There will be lots of crossover, but lots of things that are appropriate for here and not there will be shared too.

I’m playing around with lots of ideas and technologies. Currently, this site looks too raw, and is extremely rough around the edges. I’m trying some different user experiences and features as well.

As always, your feedback is appreciated (unless you live in Russia and are looking for someone).