TRAWLING THE NET

Hello my readers, I am happy to share with again my reflections, this time it is on TRWLING THE NET.

Looking at what  I have achieved as result of researching , going through what different educators  say  on social learning networks, blogs , wikis and websites, I feel I have got my compass clearly  pointing towards my professional development.

My Personal  learning network is steadily growing  because I have been able to actively make ties.

It’s not enough to just follow and read, you need to connect. Leave comments, reply to questions, and start your own conversations, so I have always commented on my colleagues’ views on twitter, blogs, Google+  etc to cement the ties.

I have also been able to look for useful resources on different websites, blogs and curated them on my curator site (http://www.pearltrees.com/juliusmukama) and shared them on my  learning network.

 I have discovered new people on twitter , Google+ and blogs that have helped me to develop more professionally.

My PLN has been of great help to me in fulfilling  my tasks, for through my network I have been able to get different views on certain topics I  research on and this has made it easy for me to curate useful content for professional development from different educators on the websites , blogs and wikis.

In the research group and wiki ,   collaboration, has been like fishermen   throwing  in the same basket  skills, resources , links , from different websites , blogs and wikis , this has a result increases collaborator’s knowledge on a certain topic and also widens the  network  making work easy.

However   there are also some  pitfalls  of  collaboration like moving slowly  because there is need to reach a consensus on a certain issue and members in collaboration sometimes don’t move at the same pace. Some times with collaboration one may be forced to agree and look at an issue according to others.

But it is better to collaborate in professional development to make the weight lighter  than carry the burden alone of looking for knowledge.

     Just for a thought : The most popular tools for building a PLN

       From http:// teacherchallenge.edublogs.org