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Personal Learning Networks

Here is a great site by David Warlick where you can learn about creating a personal learning network

How to begin.
  • Read blogs - start with just a few. When you are ready, leave a comment
  • Join a network - There are some "nings" for teachers. One of them is Classroom 2.0
  • Join Twitter -  There are many teachers, consultants and librarians who exchange information regularly through twitter. Find someone you know, and through them you can meet other educators who will point you to interesting articles, ask questions and who support each other's learning.
  • Stay in touch with people you meet at conferences through e-mail, twitter, Skype and other online tools.

RSS

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. There are many tools that use RSS feeds to pull information to you. Create your own personal learning network by bringing the experts to you.

Video: RSS in Plain English
This video explains RSS easily. If you don't know what RSS is - this is a great place to start
http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english

RSS A Quick Guide for Educators (slightly dated)
Will Richardson has created a very helpful document on using RSS feeds in the classroom. He describes how to use Bloglines
http://static.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/gems/tech/RSSFAQ4.pdf

How Do you Bring in Information?
You will need to have an application that brings the information to you. An aggregator uses RSS to access all the blogs that interest you. You can subscribe to a variety of blogs, newsfeeds, podcasts and the aggregator, or news feed collector, will display these in your personal window. You have to register and then subscribe to any  blogs you wish to receive.
  • This can live online. Some popular online readers are iGoogle, Netvibes and Pageflakes. More are being created.
  • It can be right on your desktop. Newer browsers such as Flock have built in rss readers
RSS Readers

Netvibes
Create a personal space which harnesses the power of RSS. You can view feeds from a variety of sources - everything from news to blogs, to weather. Explore it!
http://www.netvibes.com/

Pageflakes
With Pageflakes you can design a custom space where you can read information from self-selected feeds, view photos from Flickr based on tags, pull in video from YouTube and much more.
http://www.pageflakes.com/

Create feeds through Searches

Landmark’s RSS News Feeds Generator
This is another of David Warlick’s contributions to Blogs in education. It works very nicely. “This web tool is designed to help teachers create RSS feeds for aggregating news stories from Google News, that are related to curriculum topics and issues.”
http://landmark-project.com/rssnewsfeed/index.php

Communication Tools

How can you stay in touch with your network? There are some tools that can help you make this possible.

Skype
With Skype you can text chat, speak to other Skype users and video chat. You can also create group chats so that all members of the group see the messages sent. You need to install software on your computer. Both the software and the use of Skype is free.
http://www.skype.com/

Twitter
Many educators are using Twitter to share ideas, notify others of events, share when blogposts are published as well as to socialize. Become a member and then start following others.
http://twitter.com/

Video: Twitter in Plain English
YouTube version
TeacherTube version

Second Life
Some educators are building communities within Second Life. You can find the Blogger's Café, EduIsland and other educational sections. ISTE and Discovery Channel are just two of the many educational organizations that have a presence in Second Life. This is not a place to take your students as there are inappropriate activities, places and players.
http://secondlife.com/

MeBeam
Web-based videoconferencing room
http://www.mebeam.com/