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.