VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • About
    • About VSTE
    • Leadership
    • Awards
    • Get Involved
  • Conference
    • Upcoming Conference
    • Conference Archives
    • VSTE Events Video
  • Events
    • Brainstorm 2020: Limitless Learning
    • 2019 Conference
    • Live Events
    • Online Events
  • Diversity & Equity
  • Virtual Virginia
  • Blog
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us

Connected Educators: Keep the #CE16 Momentum Going

November 13, 2016

Many of us spent the month of October celebrating Connected Educator Month.  Over the last four years, the grassroots push for educators to engage in professional learning opportunities on their own – outside of school requirements – has increased. Last month, many organizations organized and sponsored professional learning opportunities including webinars, virtual conferences, book studies, virtual field trips  and twitter chats. All were designed to help educators learn from each other and engage in collaborative activities that have the potential to transform teaching practice and change what education looks like in classrooms around the world. Now that October's flurry of activity is over, you may be asking "what next?" Or "how do those who have just begun connecting continue to move forward?"

Here are a few tips inspired by the book The Relevant Educator by Tom Whitby and Steven W. Anderson. I read the book with a group of teachers last month as part of the TeachersFirst #CE16 celebration:

  • Get in the habit of reflection. Consider starting an online journal where you can reflect on your learning experiences. Penzu is a great tool for this. With a free account you can make an unlimited number of entries and share selected entries by creating a public link. Use the public link when you want to share your reflection via twitter, Facebook or Google+.
  • Envision your PLN. Use a drawing program (such as Google draw) to create an image of what you would like your PLN to look like. Include as many details as you can – names of blogs or podcasts, communities, twitter chats, people or hashtags to follow, etc. Once you've mapped out what you have or would like to have, you'll have a better idea of how to move forward making connections and building out your PLN.
  • Find and attend an Edcamp near you. Edcamps are a great place to get involved in teacher-to- teacher collaboration. There is no pressure to remain in a session that doesn't meet your needs, and best of all you can attend for free.
  • Join an educator community. There are a number of free professional learning communities you can join. The EdWeb platform has a number of free communities where educators actively share with each other. Classroom 2.0, English Companion, and Flipped Learning Community are a few free communities that you can find on the NING platform. In addition, a number of  professional organizations, including NSTA and ISTE, now sponsor free educator communities on their websites.
  • Create a plan. Recognize that building a PLN is a process and not a race. Decide when and how you will continue the process. Plan to spend 15-20 minutes a day engaged in reading blogs, listening to podcasts, or searching twitter. Create a schedule of activities for the next month, and see how it works out for you.  You can always revamp as needed.

As you continue your connected educator journey, be sure to follow @SFLOK2Ask to learn about free  professional learning opportunities sponsored by The Source for Learning.

Ruth Okoye
[email protected]

sfl-tf-logos-300x277

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Join Us

VSTE membership is always free, so why not become a part of our community?

Click here to join us.

Already a member? You can support VSTE by making a donation to Friends of VSTE.

Click here to donate.

Advertisement

VSTE on Twitter

  • Nominations for Board of Directors Open January 25, 2021 https://t.co/OKku0sT611

    2 days ago
  • Hear from VSTE's Executive Director @witchyrichy https://t.co/8rKAWZiAci

    2 days ago
  • Join VSTE and @theVAESP this Sunday at 8:00pm to chat about Innovative Uses of Technology in a Virtual/Hybrid Model… https://t.co/fZz83xN0zp

    2 days ago

VSTE Partners

Big Deal Media

VSTE Big Book Deal, January 15, 2021

VSTE partners with Big Deal Media to bring you carefully curated resources designed for K-12 … Continue Reading

VSTE Big Book Deal, January 1st, 2021

  VSTE partners with Big Deal Media to bring you carefully curated resources designed for … Continue Reading

See More from Big Deal

VE PLN News

Celebrate Fall with VE PLN

The Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network is hosting several fall activities for fun … Continue Reading

Minecraft Monday: Fireworks!

Monday, July 6, 2020, 8 PM NEW VSTE Minecraft Server This week we will learn how to build … Continue Reading

More From the VE PLN

Learning Keeps Going Coalition


VSTE Affiliations

 

Non Discrimination Statement

VSTE is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment in all of our endeavors for all members, participants, volunteers, partners, staff, contractors, and Board members. VSTE recognizes that its success requires certain commitments to principles of non-discrimination from all of our business partners and event participants.

Copyright © 2021 Virginia Society for Technology in Education · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.