How to Become a Connected Educator: Developing an Effective PLN

According to Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall, “Teachers must learn to model connectedness and enable students to develop personal learning networks, made up of people and resources from both their physical and virtual worlds---but first, teachers must become connected collaborators themselves.”  With that, in their book The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age, Nussbaum-Beach and Hall introduce the idea of the teacher-modeler of connectedness, and throughout their book, they tell educators how to become a “connected educator.”

Nussbaum-Beach and Hall begin by defining what a connected educator is. According to these authors, a connected educator has these characteristics:

• Connected educators are "do-it-yourself learners." They don't wait for someone to deliver professional development to them. They seek out professional development and learning that meets their individual needs.
• Connected educators have a "network of collective wisdom" to turn to when information and knowledge is needed. Educators who are connected have fostered and developed, over time, a network of other professionals to turn to for professional knowledge needs.
• Connected educators are "collaborative learners." They rely on others to help provide learning and they contribute to the learning of those in their personal learning network.
• Connected educators have moved away from the "paradigm of isolation and closed doors" to sharing a strong commitment with other educators to learn and understand more and more about teaching and learning. The educator who is connected no longer closes their classroom door and carries on teaching. They actively enlist the help of others and offer their help in return.
• Connected educators have leveraged online networks to solve their instructional problems through crowdsourcing and relying on the wisdom of the crowd for resources on teaching and learning. The educator who is connected does not hesitate to engage others in the face of the issues and problems of teaching. They use the crowd to learn more about the craft of teaching.

After providing a clear definition of what it means to be a connected educator, Nussbaum-Beach and Hall then provide clear guidance on how to develop this connected learning for educators, which tools to use, and how to sustain being a connected learner over time.
Nussbaum-Beach and Hall's book The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age is powerful book. For the educator and 21st century leader who is just wading in to the development of personal learning networks, it provides a clear path to making that happen. For the experienced connected educator, you walk away with a comprehensive understanding of what personal learning networks are, how they work, and how to optimize your own network. It is an excellent manual for administrators too, who want to transform educational practice in their schools or districts to capitalizes on 21st century technologies.

Stardock Fences: Free or Inexpensive Way to Organize Your Computer’s Desktop

On occasion, I’ll walk into another school administrator’s office and while we sit and talk, I look at their computer monitor, and it looks like this:

Disorganized Desktop

Perhaps that is just a bit exaggerated, but it does have the same effect. There are any number of ways for Windows 7 users to organize desktops. Stardock offers a solution to Windows users in its product called Fences.

In the past I have purchased various Stardock products that work to make the Windows environment customizable. Fences is a product that allows Windows users to create areas on the desktop called “fences” to place desktop icons for programs and files. These fences are customizable, allowing users to give them their own titles.

Fences Desktop

My own desktop is customized with “fences” entitled 1)Programs Used Most, 2)Working Docs, 3) Important Docs (Forms), and 4)Docs to Read. Users can create their own fences to organize their own desktop icons.

Stardoc Fences is currently available a “Free Version” for personal use and a “Fences Pro” version is available for a small fee. The free version allows users to completely organize their desktop in fences. Fences Pro allows users to customize and automate desktop icon placement.

Stardock Fences is an easy, effective way for administrators and other educators to organize a desktop so that programs and most commonly used files are easily accessible. To download the Free Version of Stardock Fences or to see more information about Stardock Fences Pro, check out their website at http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/.