Developing and Growing Personal Learning Networks for School Leaders

Action Plan 

Developing and Growing Personal Learning Networks for School Leaders

Action Plan

1.  Project Title:  Developing and Growing Personal Learning Networks

2.  Contact Person:  Susan McSwean

3.  Project Timeline:  September, 2020 – ongoing

Executive Summary:

PLN stands for Personal Learning Network which is the entire collection of people with whom you engage and exchange information, usually online.  Educators use a PLN to connect with other administrators and school leaders to find solutions to administrative issues and to learn about new technology and how to integrate it into teaching effectively.  A PLN can help find links to relevant education news, locate classroom resources that include free websites and software and lesson plans from master teachers, and find professional development from content-area specialists.

Problem Statement:

Most administrators are overwhelmed with the amount of new technology available and sometimes find it hard to decide which technology to implement into their curriculum in order to improve the learning experience of their students.  By establishing a PLN, they can discover how other administrators and school leaders have resolved difficult issues such as implementing new technology into the curriculum, finding free classroom resources, and finding quality professional development from content-area specialists.

Project Objectives:

As a result of this project, the school district administrators will:

v subscribe to a limited number of blogs and podcasts.

v organize the subscriptions by topic/job function.

v organize folders in their aggregator based on how frequently they need to read them.

v participate in the conversation and begin commenting on the blogs that they read and podcasts that they listen to.

Project Implementation and Management Plan:

Administrators will attend at least one educational technology conference per year.  They will collaborate to identify and implement PLNs to communicate, interact, and engage with teachers, students, parents, and community leaders.  District leadership will improve by choosing team leaders to help with the development of PLNs.  Monthly meetings will be conducted to provide question and answer sessions to help with the implementation of the PLNs.

Project Monitoring and Evaluation:

Monthly meetings will be scheduled to provide a sharing time for the administrators to discuss problems and successes in developing their PLNs.  At the mid-year and at the end of the year, the administrators will complete surveys and participate in interviews in order to ensure accurate measurement of the development of their PLNs.

Documentation and Sharing Results:

There will be continuous communication between administrators as they learn to develop their PLNs.  Administrators will be asked to share what they learned as they developed their PLNs at PTO meetings and district board meetings.  This will show stakeholders the importance of developing PLNs.

Project Summary:

Web 2.0 tools provide some of the best ways to expand PLNs.  They include social networking websites, blogs, Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, wikis, twitter, podcasts, webinars, etc.  It is better to start small and limit the number of Web 2.0 tools that you choose to use to create, cultivate, and prune your PLN.  Performance goals for your PLN should be reviewed and revised annually.

Developing and Growing Personal Learning Networks for School Leaders

Session 6 Discussion Forum

1.     Reflect on how your personal learning network has changed and grown during the course of this workshop.  Discuss your plans for how you plan to continue to grow your learning network and how you hope to contribute to the professional learning of your administrative colleagues.

Before taking this course, my personal learning network consisted of the connections that I have with fellow math educators who I have met through organizations such as Alabama Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ACTM) and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), my high school colleagues, and my colleagues at Troy University.  My personal learning network was limited to experiences connected to my job and teaching math.  If I needed to find information related to my job or teaching math, I would conduct online research which would sometimes take several hours to find what I was looking for.  After taking this course, my personal learning network has increased through use of such Web 2.0 tools as:  1) the RSS feed Feedly; 2) twitter; 3) blogging; and 4) podcasting.  I have learned how these Web 2.0 tools can be utilized to build, manage, and maintain my personal learning network more effectively and efficiently. 

I plan to continue to grow my personal learning network by:

·        learning about 21^st century skills.

·        improving my own 21^st century skills.

·        modeling 21^st century skills.

·        attending at least one regional, state, or national 

     technology conference every year.

·        collaborating with other school leaders to identify, 

     develop, and implement technology to communicate 

     and engage with all stakeholders.

I hope to contribute to the professional learning network of my administrative colleagues by:

      ·       encouraging and engaging all stakeholders in 

           conversations about integrating and 

           implementing 21^st century skills.

      ·        providing a vision for developing, integrating and 

            implementing 21^st century skills in the K – 12 

            curriculums.

      ·        surveying the school district’s plan for technology 

            integration and implementation of 21^st century skills.

·        revising the school district’s plan for developing, 

      integrating, and implementing technology to address 

      emerging technology.

·        developing and implementing professional 

      development for 21^st century skills for all stakeholders.

In the conclusion to the article “Empowering the 21^st Century Superintendent”, the author stated, “Superintendents and district leadership teams must adopt the mindset that is typical in the business world:  Why would we try to achieve our goals without making intensive use of technology?”  The author emphasized that technology is essential for organizations and individuals to learn and work, to think and collaborate, to compete and succeed.  The article stressed that school districts should be in the business of preparing students to do all of these.

I want to end with the quote from U. S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in his 1975 book Fifty-Four Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States which I found very appropriate

 “Education is not the teaching of the three R’s. Education is the teaching of the overall citizenship, to learn to live together with fellow citizens, and above all to learn to obey the law.”

Learning Wrap-Ups Podcast

Please find the link to my Learning Wrap-Ups Podcast below.  Thanks!

https://voca.ro/1lH6F690FOPQ

Encouraging, Inspiring Words from Rita Pierson

 I found this Ted Talk that Rita Pierson did entitled "Every Kid Needs a Champion" on May 8, 2013 very encouraging and inspiring.  Hope you do as well.

Rita Pierson:  Every Kid Needs a Champion

Personal Reflections About Blogging

 As you read the blog above, you may have noticed that the line between professional ideas and personal opinions became blurred.  How do you think this kind of transparency affects the school community?

I think the way this kind of transparency affects the school community is positive overall.  Blogs provide a good way for administrators to be proactive in addressing issues that may be seen as controversial by the school community.  By building an atmosphere of trust and goodwill administrators open an avenue for dialogue, discussion, and feedback from the school community.  Blogs facilitate ongoing conversations between administrators and the school community in which multiple stakeholders can contribute their comments and opinions.  By having a blend of professional ideas and personal opinions on the blogs, the school community would view the administrators as more human and be more comfortable expressing their comments and opinions and probably be more likely to share their comments and opinions.

Were you more drawn to those posts with personal reflections or did you prefer to read blogs in which the author focused on the issues important to school leaders?

When reading through our assigned list of blogs, I preferred the authors who focused on the issues important to school leaders rather than the authors who used personal reflections.  This seemed to be more what I was interested in to help my school district.  I thought the personal reflections of the authors were based more on their opinions rather than their research.

What are your initial thoughts about the type of blog you would want to maintain?

I think that the type of blog that I would want to maintain should contain several elements.  My blog would be used to:  1) inform the school community of changes and reminders about school events; 2) update stakeholders on the progress of ongoing school activities;    3) facilitate interactive dialogue with the school community leaders; and 4) promote positive public relations.

How would this type of blog meet your administrator needs?

This type of blog would meet my administrative needs by:  1) providing transparency and accountability with the school community; 2) providing an efficient method for updating the school community about news and events; 3) costing less than paper communication; 4) building school community relations; and 5) updating those individuals who are advocates for the school.