photo © 2009 Sarah | more info (via: Wylio)With one swipe of my finger (accidental you understand) I deleted a number of blogs that I follow. These blogs I discovered while doing the Teacher Blogging Challenge earlier in the year. All I intended to do was some tidying up, as I begin a new challenge about PLN's. Memo to self, do not use my ipad2 to work on my blog. I can end up doing something I don't want!!
However it isn't as bad as it seems. You see I have other links to a number of these educators. I have some of them in my Google Reader, where I quickly can see there latest posts. On my iGoogle home page I have some more. And my final port of call will be Twitter. Well, actually there is one more. I can go to the Edublogs Teacher Challenges and pick up some there. So all is not lost. I can probably restore the ones I want to keep over the weekend. However one swipe of my finger on the ipad2 will take a little more time restoring on my laptop.
I want to continue developing my PLN. I like the idea of small is good. I find if I get too large I can't interact. How does a busy teacher get the time to follow what's happening on Twitter? There is so much excellent material being shared. I think this is a place I need to work on. I still haven't got a handle on the hashtags so that needs to be mastered. I don't use Tweetdeck and I am not sure that it would be of extra value to me. However I am prepared to be open about that. I don't use a mobile phone much. However soon I will need to upgrade because I have quite an old phone. I am thinking maybe wait to the iphone5 comes out. That may keep me more connected.
I enjoy learning from teachers around the globe. I can learn things that otherwise may never cross my path. I am a person who gets easily lulled to a state of boredom attending professional development that is not engaging for me. Yes I do attend engaging PD as well, but not all the time. What I like about a PLN is that I can engage with the ideas and learning that are relevant to me at the time. I may not know I want to learn about it until I see someone share about it. I love that I don't have to 'leave home' to do it. No travel! Now that's a bonus. I am presented with a lot of quality information, guidance, and good practice. It makes me want to strive to lift my teaching practice, it opens up doors and possibilities. Through the blogging challenge I began to keep an eye out for webinars that might give me new ways of seeing things.
Attribution:
Image from the Daring Librarian.
Image: 'PLN_DimSum'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43666171@N07/4806404770
Commiserations on the accidental swipe! I am glad that you will be able to retrace your steps and this is a timely reminder about not putting all your eggs in one basket.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear you lost your links. I still remember consciously just adding you to my blogroll rather than re-create your #ksyb one (efficient, yeah?).
ReplyDeleteIt's good that you see this as an opportunity to re-visit the #ksyb challenge, re-connect ties and re-vision your PLN. That is real learning, i.e. rising above setbacks to be better and stronger.
'nuf rah-rah....
I encourage you to use TweetDeck. It's meant to be a "dashboard" so you see lots at once. This is a great way to manage the Twitter stream, DMs, mentions (a good chance someone wants to 'talk') and hashtags (saved searches and lists). Hashtags permanently on for me are #edchat and #mathchat - as well as some lists I've saved.
Great start on the post, by the way; brought back thoughts of how to write a good post (#ksyb). :) I'm not doing this PLN challenge - maybe I should. Good luck with the rest of it.
cheers,
Malyn
MsSOnline
ReplyDeleteThanks for calling and er.. thanks because now I can do a link back on my blogroll for you! And yes its true, share the eggs around!
Malyn
Thank you too because I will get an easy link for my roll back. I have just been reading Traintheteacher's post over on her blog. Between you, i am now totally convinced about Tweetdeck. Thanks for the sound advice.
See you round!
Kathryn
Hi Kathryn. Long time no see. Although it is sad that you've deleted your PLN, I agree that it is a lot better to keep things small & manageable. I only follow about 15 blogs now, and keep my Twitter followers to a few hundred.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that excellent image - it's heading straight into my next blog post on A Relief Teacher's Journey
Oh, and one tip - stay away from Twitter on the iPhone / iPod. We spend way too much time online as it is!
Hello! I'm glad to see you in this challenge, too! How is your school year going? Ours ended a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteI use Hootsuite and Tweetdeck to watch Twitter streams, but I lean more towards Hootsuite because I don't have to download anything onto a computer. But my first stop is the main twitter page, unless I'm following a hashtag.
Good luck getting your roll back!
See you,
Theresa
Hi Kathryn,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear you deleted your PLN, but glad you found the positive in it. I am pondering your post and what Michael Graffin's comment about keeping the RSS simpler, and minimizing Twitter to those who most influence me. Having a PLN is so new to me that it reminds me of moving and meeting everyone for the first time all at once... and only time will tell who I connect deeper with.
Kind regards,
Tracy Watanabe
Michael
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. Yes, I think we have to find the balance of offline online! Yes small and manageable I think needs to be my mantra!
Theresa
We are in the middle of our school year. When I did the last challenge we were in our long summer break like you are now. So I admired you people for doing it while working then, so I am going to endeavour to follow your example and do this while we are working. The school year is speeding by. I must check out Hootsuite as well as Tweetdeck and see what will work for me.
Enjoy the summer break!
Tracy
Thank you for stopping by. Yes I think as we go along we will need to decide who to follow. Like Michael I have some influential blogs in my Reader, and I have a number of groups and people on Twitter. I find I build slowly. Also while it was a pain deleting the PLN off my blog roll, (I was going to do a tidy up, but pressed wrong button) I think we have to tidy it all up, just like we do our bookcases, wardrobes etc!
Kathryn
Hi Kathryn,
ReplyDeleteMy comment on the PLN blog that has my website address is awaiting moderation. Here is what I posted.
Bill Oldham says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
June 18, 2011 at 11:16 pm
Not having much luck tonight!
My challenge blog is at http://magicalbill30daychallenge.wordpress.com/
and my class blog is at http://unit1infotech2011.wordpress.com/
Cheers, Bill
Reply
Oh no the ipad ate your PLN? I think that the great think about PLNs are that they can be as small or as big as the learner needs them to be.
ReplyDelete@traintheteacher, some very odd things happen when I am on my iPad. An unintentional swipe can do odd things, but I'm improving. Yes thePLN will be narrowed down to what is feasible.
ReplyDeleteK
I'm glad to see that you'll try TweetDeck. It really does make it easier to follow conversations. The other thing I've really taken to heart from many people's PLN posts is that you don't have to follow your PLN non-stop. Like Michael said, we've got to switch off sometime. Your PLN, once you've built it, will be there when you need it. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteKimberley
ReplyDeleteIt's true, we can take naps! I re find the people I was following from my blog roll, some of them are already popping up as well as new ones.
K
You've got me curious on how you managed to delete the blogs on your iPad? Would hate to have the same problem.
ReplyDeleteOn the iPad I use the Twitter app as that works best. While on the computer I use TweetDeck as the columns are easier to manage.
Sue
ReplyDeleteI was working on my iPad on my blog and swiped off the whole PLN blogroll I had built up during the Edublogs Teacher Challenge. I use the Twitter app on my iPad but it is only now that I am getting control and the hang of things!
Hi Kathryn, thanks for explaining how it was removed. That is sad. If you are using Google Reader and have them in a folder you can create the blogroll that way - if it makes it easier for you?
ReplyDeleteThe Twitter app on the iPad is good and has similar functionality to TweetDeck once you work out how to get the most out of it.
Sue
ReplyDeletethanks, beginning to think I don't have same app as you for twitter so I must explore further.
Hi Kathryn,
ReplyDeleteThis is Christy Berry aka Mrs. Berry. I was one of your deleted links. Oops. I am working on the newest 30 day challenge. I am starting with the first one. I have bit to catch up on. You can find me at www.berryart.wordpress.com I still follow your blog, it has good stuff.
-Mrs. Berry
Mrs Berry
ReplyDeleteYes I will add you back to my link. Actually you are one of the ones in my Google Reader - great art!
Kathryn
Hi Kathryn,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. You make a good point that our PLN is located in multiple places--Twitter, Google Reader, and finally it becomes relationships. I have been lurking about the PLN challenge because I was busy with a class. Now I'm joining late, and it's so fun to see familiar "faces." You, Theresa, Tracy, Sue, Michael...I'm loving the PLN that has been growing since the challenge we took in January.