The Essence of 21st Century Learning and Leadership - Getting Connected

The essence of 21st Century Learning and Leadership comes down to the idea of becoming connected and one way of doing this is by developing a Personal Learning Network.  Personal Learning Networks or PLNS allow individuals to connect with others to share, communicate and request.  By creating a PLN, an individual creates relationships with others who have similar interests or needs.  This relationship leads to the sharing of ideas and resources, collaboration and new learning.  Over time, the PLN grows, connecting the individual to the global community Individuals interact in a variety of ways by using social networks and other online platforms.  Networking allows individuals to connect with leaders in education who can support the individual in their own self directed professional development.

When an individual self directs their professional development it leads to greater exploration or inquiry based learning.  In the past, teachers have had little input as to what PD would best fit their needs.  With a self directed inquiry process in mind, a teacher can create a PLN and seek out leaders for support and guidance.  An example of this is being done within our own school.  Our administrator has asked for our input as to what direction each individual feels they need to develop.  As a result of the needs of the individual teachers, our administrator has created five learning teams.  In a traditional setting, our administrator would need to facilitate five groups and bring in a variety of experts to meet each groups needs.  However, with social networking (i.e. twitter) our administrator could invite a number of experts to attend discussions or chats.  These experts would share their knowledge and provide prompts for the group to have dialogues that would lead to a deeper understanding. As the group of learners continue to dialogue and share information the expert or leader takes on the role of co-learner as all members are contributing to the learning.  As the conversation grows in the network, new experts are drawn into the network leading to greater collaboration.  With a wealth of input, a sharing of resources and rich conversation, the original learning group will become leaders.  These new leaders will be encouraged by their peers and leaders to join other PLNs in order to share their knowledge and expertise.

Here is an example of our personal learning network.  As we continue to develop and grow in different areas our links with others will continue to grow. In some instances we will be leaders and in other instances we will be the learner.



Below are a number of links that describe Personal Learning Networks and tips on how to create and develop you own network:

http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/creating-a-pln/
http://gettingsmart.com/2012/01/personal-learning-networks-for-educators-10-tips/
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.ca/p/create-personal-learning-network.html

Chantelle and I were wondering if you have considered your personal learning network?  Who are the people you connect with and how do you access them when you have questions?

 

Leading by Example: Leaders Who are Connected

There are many was to lead and sharing ideas is just one example.  Here is a guest post by Chantelle Davies on Leaders who are connected.

Currently, in our school board (HWDSB) there does not appear to be any obligation for leaders to use social networking.  However, more and more of our principals, instructional coaches, consultants, and superintendents are beginning to make greater use of social networking tools.

I don't believe that leaders need to be completely transparent on everything they do.  I think some decisions or thoughts are better kept between the leader and other people involved.  For example, if a principal is working with a few staff members to make decisions regarding the class placement of some more challenging students, it may be counter productive to have this conversation over twitter where the school's entire community may feel the need to weigh in on the decision.  On the other hand, I do think it's great when leaders take to tools like twitter to enrich staff discussions around topics such as higher order thinking and inquiry based learning.  Using blogs to share information with staff, parents and the general community they are leading is also a great way to keep others informed in a timely manner, while setting an example that encourages teachers an other staff to do the same in their work settings,  It's important to lead by example.

Here are a few of the leaders in our board making significant attempts to make social networking tools a regular part of their practice:

John Malloy:  Our Director of Education is a regular user of twitter, (@malloy_john) with about 2000 followers since he joined the social networking site in 2011.  He often retweets great ideas from educators in our board and he also frequently tweets inspiring or thought provoking statements.  Malloy also maintains a blog with posts for anyone connected to our school board, both staff and the greater community:  All Students Learning

Thomas Ro:  Thomas is a former consultant for the 21st Century Fluency department of our board and now is a vice-principal.  Thomas is a perfect example of "lead by example."  Thomas is an avid user of twitter (@Mr_Ro), both as a means to share great educational information, as well as be available to ansewr questions in relation to technology.  Thomas also runs his own professional blog, sharing much of his knowledge in the area of 21st Century Fluencies:  Roflections

Mrs. Anderson:  Also known as Principal Anderson on twitter, @JanetLeeHWDSB.  Anderson is the principal of one of our primary schools and uses twitter as a tool to communicate with the students and parents of her school community about school events such a the Terry Fox run and expectations such as gentle reminders that they are a nut free school.

These leaders, along with many others in our board are setting an example of our teachers and parents about changing world of education.  They are also proving that they are available and open to discussions and questions with their community of followers.

Do you think it should be an expectation that all educational leaders be avid users of social networking tools like twitter, facebook, linkedin and blogging?

Social Networking and Leadership

Here is a guest post from my teaching partner, Chantelle Davies about the use of twitter to encourage learning within the school.  Many people are already using twitter in their personal lives so using twitter for professional discussions would be an easy what to get collaboration going in schools

Click for picture source

There are many ways to be a leader in a school.  You may be a principal, a consultant, a team or division leader, or simply (like me...hopefully) a leader in helping your staff to learn something new or work through a problem together.  Regardless of the extent of your leadership role, twitter is a tool that can be a great resource for staying connected with your staff.  In the school system, we often work in isolation and it is challenging to collaborate or plan times where everyone can come together.  With traditional methods, leaders must find a way to pull everyone together.  Using twitter keeps the doors of communication open 24/7. It encourages staff to all be contributors to the conversation and provides you (the leader) with a way sharing ideas in a format that does not require a boring staff meeting when everyone just wants to go home.  In addition, traditionally the leader does most of the sharing and the other participants listen an ask questions when prompted.  I have included a link here by Elana Lioni from Edutopia on 8 Tips to Create a Twitter-Driven School Culture.  I love number seven: Conduct a Twitter Chat.  What a great way to find out what staff want to know more about; and in addition, encourage them to learn from each other.  With twitter chat, leaders can ask prompting questions that allow all members to reflect and share their knowledge.  It also allows the opportunity to bring other experts into your conversation without requiring them to drive into your meeting as would be required in a traditional sharing setting.

Would the leader in your school be willing to consider using twitter to start a conversation at your school?  How might you help encourage staff members to support this new and innovative initiative?