Thing 16: Professional Learning Networks

I had enrolled at the Michigan LearnPort site a number of years ago.  Our district used it for us to take the OSHA Safety Review Course. Since then, I have occasionally visited the site, but haven't taken any course through it.  I might have, however, if I hadn't run into this course.

I also have already signed up with Facebook and Twitter.  I joined Facebook primarily so I could communicate with students I had in class about class matters.  I am VERY CAREFUL about what I post.  I NEVER "friend" a student.  They should never be put in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether or not to accept my request.  I almost always accept a "friend" request from a student and to date have only "defriended" on former student.  Once one Facebook, however, I discovered that most of my out-of-school friends and my family on using it.  It is a great way to keep track of their day-to-day happenings; especially those of my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. 

Twitter is something I signed on to, but really don't have the ego to just tweet a grocery list and believe anyone cares.  I do have a couple of students following me as well as my sister-in-law in Boston, but I don't use it much.  I see it as an educational tool.  It could be used as a quick one question quiz tool for kids to respond to.  It also would be very useful for any emergency changes in class work or a schedule.  One of the problems of using Twitter in my school is the iffy nature of cell phone connections.  We are far enough away from a tower at Eastern so that connectivity with some service providers is dependent on weather conditions and location in the building. However, I am connected to a Twitter "newspaper" created by Kelly Kermode called Kelly Kermode's Daily Tweetpaper.  

I have also a member of MACUL Space. Again, I have to admit that I don't take advantage of all the resources and information sources I could use.  I could claim I don't have time, but I what I really mean is that I have not allocated my time to educate myself and use these tools and information sources.

I 

I am presently a member of MACUL.  I have been a member on and off for a few years and I am back on because of the encouragement of Kelly Kermode, a MACUL board member and friend.  Really, I should always have been a member given my job as media specialist and my interests in educational technology.  Part of my problem is that I am not much of a joiner of organizations.  Generally, I will join one, spend the money and think a year later what did I get for the investment.  This happened years ago with ISTE ($39-$212), American Library Association ($65-$130 plus associate group membership fees) and MAME ($50). For the money, I think that MACUL gives me the biggest bang.
If I were to be more active in MACUL, I believe that I would demonstrate a willingness to try new technologies and ideas to get kids to learn whether it is formal content or reading, writing, thinking and technology skills.  Kelly is trying to get me to participate more, share more and learn more from other members.