PLN

I had never heard of the term Personal Learning Network before starting this course, and apparently I have been making some (very limited) use of it for a while now. The idea of Personal Learning Networks is that one has a group of people one can consult who are always available, and willing to share. I guess all the different Facebook groups I belong to form part of my PLN. However, I must admit I'm not an avid PLN user. I belong to these groups, but threads are so difficult to follow because so many people comment on them all the time, that I only use them every once in a while, when I need help. But I am not contributing to it myself. 

Something similar happens to me with the Internet in general. I use the Internet constantly, and get everything I need from it: information, pictures, ideas, tools, music, videos, books. But I very seldom contribute to it. I guess this blog (together with the blogs I use for my lessons) is the biggest contribution I have made. Sad and selfish, isn't it? The thing is, it is so time consuming... 

Anyways... a great thing I have learned in this subject is how easy it is to be "in contact" (one way at least) with experts around the world. And it is not a matter of being constantly checking what they are up to, but it is more about knowing who to consult on specific things and having them available at the tip of our fingers. I have now joined FB groups of people interested in linguistics, and history, I'm following different university graduate programs on twitter and I've subscribed to various blogs on Sociolinguistics and Psycholinguistics. And I have realized I have been doing many of the things Nik Peachey proposes in the British Council Roadshow:
• Join or ‘Like’ a page or group on Facebook
• Go to a conference
• Take an online course
• Follow educators on Twitter
• Collect and curate online resources
• Attend an online webinar
• Subscribe to teaching websites
• Do peer observation
• Do action research
• Read blogs by other teachers
• Write my own teaching blog
• Do a face to face course
• Video my lessons and watch them

I guess now all I have left is to start producing and sharing knowledge myself...