Viral Learning is Contagious!

Week 13 – Individual Learning and Mass Sharing #SAVMP

The week 13 SAVMP posted asked these questions of the BLOGers:

How do you share the work that you do during individual staff PD to ensure that great learning goes viral? I would love to see some other examples of how people are sharing.

I don’t know why, but I have ALWAYS been a sharing person (sharer).  Often times, it does not benefit me whatsoever, as folks will take my ideas and implement them, and then THEY get the credit. But, hey, wasn’t it Reagan who said, “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

There are two ways I am “sharing” the professional development we have at Cherry Street Elementary. One way is my Twitter feed. During our two days of pre-service training this year, I ran a live feed during the two days of training and posted all the videos we used as well as images of our teachers as they provided the professional development for our campus. I know that the Principals in my PLN often share videos and training topics, and they give me brilliant ideas. I hope that my sharing does the same! Here are some examples from back in August.

And, even more fun, I have started sharing videos of EVERYTHING! I created a YouTube Channel about a year ago, and I have been having the most fun populating it with faculty videos and videos I have made for school-based professional development goals. Here are just a couple:

The sky is the limit when it comes to sharing. I don’t know who the approximately 4,000 people are who have viewed my BLOG, but I hope in some way that they have had at least one “take away” from the experience. This is connected learning at its best. Viral learning is contagious! LOL. 

Who Is in Your PLN?

Unless you are a technology junkie like me, I think this title probably has some folks scratching their heads. What IS a PLN? A PLN is your Personal Learning Network.

Ask yourself where you would go to learn? A decade ago, your answer would have been the “library” or possibly “a college class” or “buy a book like Paddleboarding for Dummies,” etc. Well, with the internet, we can easily Get Connected  and learn from all of our contacts across the globe. For example, I rely on Twitter, ITunes University, Blogs, Wikis, YouTube, Skype, Facebook, various online news networks, and many, many more connections to do my learning.

Your Personal Learning Network should consist of * n. – the entire collection of people with whom you engage and exchange information, usually online. The usually online part is the best, because you can be a passive learner -- just watching others. I read several BLOGs during the week from other Principals, and EVERY week I learn something new or get a great idea. I also subscribe to several YouTube Channels such as TED Ed and khanacademy. AND, I also have my own YouTube Channel where I post all of my favorite videos so that I can pull them up easily for professional development with our school faculty and staff – any time and any place.

Here is a perfect example of how the PLN works:

I was searching Twitter for info. about first year principals. I located someone I follow, and she had a book recommendation. So, I clicked over to Amazon and ordered the book. I tweeted that I had ordered the book, and the book’s author (sitting out there somewhere in the twittersphere) tweeted me a “thanks” for purchasing his book. Wow. That was waaaay cool!

Another time, I had prepared a presentation for our LOL Academy (leadership academy hosted by our district HR director, Sharon Michalik). I used EdCanvas to host and present my presentation. Sure enough, EdCanvas began tweeting about my presentation, and then other people who followed EdCanvas were able to look at my technology leadership tips, passively and online. It is sooo risk-free. I love my PLN.

But, I can’t forget the face-to-face elements of PLN!  I have several people with whom I engage and exchange information. I have mentioned in a previous BLOG entry the one group I refer to as Team Willis. I rely on these fellow principals to explore good ideas, dump bad ones, to master current educational research and to simply feel the empathy of the challenges we all face. The pictures here are of us digging into the current research on feedback--notice the books strewn all over the restaurant table. I truly appreciate Denise, Glenda, Susan, and Lendy.

Who is in your PLN?

* Definition credited to: onceateacher.wordpress.com/