Creating Personal Learning Networks with Twitter and Diigo

Personal Learning Networks

Personal Learning Networks are a collection of resources and people from whom you want to learn about something.  Most educators create digital PLN's to share and find resources.  I am going to discuss two ways you can build a digital Personal Learning Network: Twitter and Diigo.

Twitter

I've always thought of Twitter as a social media site where you can connect with your friends and follow celebrities' accounts.  Now, I realize that Twitter can be a powerful resource for educators.  There are Twitter chats that are geared specifically toward educators.  There's an Official Twitter Education Chat Schedule.  I perused a past chat for 2nd-grade teachers (#2ndchat) and found this fantastic resource: 

Here is a link to the full resource in Google Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GLbLQwEsfMRb4PjvVFn5Bdp7GMsg1luolL0p7gdvZNQ/edit?usp=sharing

There are so many fantastic resources an educator can find on Twitter.  Educators can search twitter and find new ideas to try in their classrooms.  For example, I've wanted to incorporate number talks into my math lessons, and I was able to find ideas from a ton of teachers who have already implemented them into their own classrooms.  I was also able to follow Sherry Parrish, the creator of number talks.  You can find all kinds of education-related groups to follow too and you can bookmark specific tweets.

Here is an excellent video that introduces educators to Twitter and Twitter Chats:

Diigo

Diigo is a free social bookmarking website.  With Diigo, you can bookmark webpages and share them with your colleagues or students.  When you bookmark the website, you can highlight important pieces of information or add sticky notes for comments.  These bookmarks can be retrieved from any computer.  Also, users can share bookmarks on social media such as Twitter or Facebook.  Diigo also provides users with the option of creating or joining groups.  Teachers can create groups for their students or colleagues.  Tags can be used to easily locate information.  Members of the group can participate in forum discussions.  All teachers will want to use the website for education.  You will need to go to this link: http://www.diigo.com/education to complete the form.  It takes 24 to 48 hours to be approved.  You can download the Diigo toolbar here: http://www.diigo.com/tools/toolbar

Here is a video I found that allows teachers to put their bookmarks into an organizer and share it with students via Google Classroom: 

 

I hope you can use one or both of these resources to help you create your own Personal Learning Network.