Exploring Learning

"You must leave digital footprints so people know you’re treading among them and part of the community." Vicki Davis, ' Global Education by Design ' The final part of Professional Learning in the Digital Age concerns contribution and how it is our duty to give as much as we take from our Personal Learning Networks (PLN), if not more. We all have something to give, we all have something to share - whether it is anecdote or expertise - and we can all learn from each other. Kristen Swanson advocates multi-layered contribution ranging from Tweeting (or even more basically, Re-Tweeting) to speaking at conferences. I think I can narrow my contributions to:- Tweeting  Blogging Collaborative planning at work Leading or presenting PL sessions at school Speaking at a conference TWEETING Tweeting is easiest - stuff just comes to me and I Tweet and ReTweet what I think might be useful to others. I also Tweet quotes from books I read via my Kindle and links I st...

Following on from my post about taking up the Ten Tool Challenge , I have just started reading and taking part in a virtual book club for a fabulous book, 'Professional Learning in the Digital Age' by Kristen Swanson . From the start, this is a book that resonates with me on many levels and builds on approaches I was beginning to develop in my own practice. Its exploration of the ways adults learn and how educators can approach professional learning confirms and expands on many of my current beliefs - that we need to collect, consider and evaluate and share. One of my pet hates has always been professional learning that is outdated, repetitive, not relevant and a waste of my very precious time. Swanson states that "for adult learning experiences to be successful, learners should be aware of the intention of the activity. Instruction should be problem-based instead of content-based, and planning should be collaborative. Succinctly, adults must be engaged with the content...