grow your librarianship: cultivating the personal learning network

presented by buffy hamilton || january 2010 || north star library consortium

a personal learning network is a collection of resources to go to when you want to learn new ideas, strategies, and information

personal learning networks: traditional tools for learning

• f2f staff development workshops

• graduate school courses

• books• journals

• list servs• face to face

conferences• usually involves

spending money on fees/purchases/tuition.

personal learning networks: contemporary tools

• podcasts• rss feeds• rssfeed aggregators

(iGoogle)• twitter• social bookmarking• social networks

• wikis • blogs• flickr• ning• video/web

streaming• free

how has a pln helped me grow as a librarian?

anytime, anywhere learning

build and customize your network and content

gain multiple perspectives from many diverse voices

share and discover ideas while networking with others

stay on the cutting edge of future trends for today’s libraries

collective construction of knowledge

stages of pln adoption

stage 1 immersion: • immerse yourself into networks. • create any and all networks you can find

where there are people and ideas to connect to.

• collaboration and connections take off

courtesy of jeff utecht

stages of pln adoption

stage 2 evaluation: • evaluate your networks and start to focus in

on which networks you really want to focus your time on

• you begin feeling a sense of urgency and try to figure out a way to “know it all”

courtesy of jeff utecht

stages of pln adoptionstage 3 “know it all”: • find that you are spending many hours trying to learn

everything you can• realize there is much you do not know and feel like you

can’t disconnect• this usually comes with spending every waking minutes

trying to be connected to the point that you give up sleep and contact with others around you to be connected to your networks of knowledge

courtesy of jeff utecht

stages of pln adoptionstage 4 perspective:

• start to put your life into perspective • usually comes when you are forced to

leave the network for awhile and spend time with family and friends who are not connected

courtesy of jeff utecht

stages of pln adoptionstage 5 balance: • try and find that balance between learning and

living• understanding that you can not know it all, and

begin to understand that you can rely on your network to learn and store knowledge for you

• a sense of calm begins as you understand that you can learn when you need to learn and you do not need to know it all right now

courtesy of jeff utecht

plug into your pln with an information portal like iGoogle

feed your pln portal with rss and widgets/gadgets

grow and blossom through your pln

participate

cc licensed flickr photo by domesticat: http://flickr.com/photos/domesticat/2538309841/

cc licensed photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/larimdame/3630728238/sizes/l/in/set-72157619795765502/

nurture creativity and playful learning experiences

cc licensed photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandoncripps/3156373103/sizes/o/

cultivate conversations

cc licensed photo by The Shifted Librarian: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shifted/3360687295/

works citedUtecht, Jeff. “Stages of PLN Adoption.” Weblog post. The Thinking Stick. 3 Apr. 2008. 13 Oct. 2008 <http://www.thethinkingstick.com/ ?p=652>.

presentation resources

http://www.theunquietlibrary.libguides.com/pln

http://delicious.com/theunquietlibrary/fight-the-filter

contact information

buffy.hamilton@gmail.com http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com http://theunquietlibrarian.wikispaces.com