Ways+to+network

Building a learning network is easy if you use the tools effectively. If you use social networking, then you can build your own personal learning network. The first step is joining a networking site and then participating in the conversation. The video below summarizes many of the tools you can use to build a personal learning network.

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Below are some tips on getting started on some of the most popular networking sites for teachers.

Social Networks
Social networking sites are a great way to connect with others around the world. Twitter is a social networking site that limits the messages you send to 140 characters which can include attachments or links to media. Millions of people use twitter to connect with others who have similar interests, it is not like Facebook where you mainly connect with people you know. Using twitter allows teachers to connect with other teachers from around the world.



Here are some steps to get started on twitter (Morris, 2011):


 * 1) Sign up for an account at twitter.com and set up your profile. It is a brief explanation of who you are. To help you started, share that you are an educator and what subject you teach, this will allow other members to connect with you.
 * 2) Once your profile is set up, use the search to look up others by searching for topics that interest you. For example, as a science teacher I search for biology education and found some other biology teachers to follow. Here's a great site that has a list of people to follow by subject- twitter4teachers
 * 3) After you find people to follow, see who they are following to add more people to your network. It's time to "lurk" and read their tweets to get a hang of the "twitter" language. For more tips on hashtags and @mentions, visit this site for advice- Twitter Tips
 * 4) Finally, start contributing and joining the conversation. The more you participate, the more resources and ideas you are likely to find. You can organize your followers into different categories using the "lists" option so your stream doesn't get too cluttered. Learn more about curation here.

__ More networking suggestions: __

classroom 2.0- a ning page just for teachers to share resources

Facebook "Fan Pages"- A facebook user can "like" a page and the updates from that page get sent to their newsfeed. Here's an example of Free Technology for Teachers Page

Blogs
A blog is like an "online diary" where posters can share their ideas, resources, and stories with anyone who chooses to read their site. Adding blogs to your network will allow the teacher to get more detailed accounts of lessons or reflections of teaching in general. A teacher can also start their own blog to share their ideas or get feedback from others who relate to the topic being discussed. There are many free blogging sites available to use, find a list of some at mashable.


 * To find blogs to follow, start by searching for blogs with keywords that interest you, or use this list to get started- Top 100 Education Blogs.
 * To keep track of all of the blogs you follow, use an RSS feed such as google reader or bloglines. Or you can add the feed to your personal homepage such as igoogle or my.yahoo. Be sure not to subscribe to too many blogs at once or it will be hard to keep up with, 5 blogs should be a good start. (Nielson, 2008)

Social Bookmarking
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Bookmarking is a popular way to save your favorite websites. However, in the past most users of the internet just save their bookmarks or favorites to their computer. Now there are many ways to save and share your favorite resources through social bookmarking. Social bookmarking sites allow one to save websites that are useful, tag them by topic, and share them with others. The user can also connect with others to see what they are saving.

This video to the right is a good summary of how to use social bookmarking as part of your network. It explains how to use the website Delicious to share and find resources.

Diigo

media type="custom" key="13318428" height="21" align="left" Diigo is a great way to not just save and share pages, but you can also highlight sections of web pages and annotate the information to refer to it later. There are many great tools that can be used with diigo. Check out these tools from their video to the left.

For more resources for social bookmarking websites visit- http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/Social+Bookmarks

Professional Sites
Many professional teacher organizations are adding networking components to their websites such as discussion forums or interactions through twitter or facebook. This is a great way to connect with other teachers within a specific content area. For example, as a member of the National Science Teacher's Association (NSTA), I use their discussion forums to ask for suggestions on specific units I am doing in class. Or I may comment on other's ideas for specific lessons or just general science teaching pedagogy. Below are suggestions for other professional websites.
 * Mastery Connect- mastery connect is a great way to discover and share assessments that align with common core standards. You can follow teachers and their updates will show in a facebook/twitter type of newsfeed. You can also keep track of your students data through their grading tools. There is a free version or you can pay a fee for more features. The video below summarizes how to use their site-

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 * Professional Organizations Networking Resources
 * NEA- National Education Association's discussion forum
 * NSTA- National Science Teacher Association
 * NCTE- National Council of Teachers of English
 * NCSS- National Council for the Social Studies
 * NCTM- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics


 * Personal Learning Networks Navigation ||
 * Home ||
 * Introduction to Networking ||
 * Ways to network ||
 * Curation ||
 * Building a Network within your school ||


 * __References__**

Byrne, R. (Mar, 2009) Seven Ways to find Teachers on Twitter. Retrieved from []

Morris, K. (June, 2011) PLN Challenge #3: Using Twitter to Build Your PLN. Retrieved from []

Nielsen, L. (Oct, 2008) 5 Things You Can Do to Begin Developing Your Personal Learning Network. Retrieved from []