Newsgroups
The Oz-Teachers
Newsgroup is a collection of educators who help teachers
use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
in the classroom. There is an amazing wealth of knowledge
and experience in this group. If you have a question
about ICT and education you simply email your request
to the group and someone will help you out. Or, if they
cant help out they will point you towards someone
who can.
Again
there are many, many newsgroups out there and once you
get your PLN happening you can ask people what other
groups they belong to.
So
there is just a snapshot of some of the growing and
evolving tools that are available online at the moment
that can be harnessed to help you build your own quality
PLN. It needs to be said though, that the tools outlined
here are merely the ones that work for me today. As
Ive been putting together this article new tools
are being developed and rather then lament the passing
of older tools we need to embrace the constant improvement
in these technologies as it is a fact of life. In the
end it is not the tool itself that is of importance,
it is how we use these tools to aid the learning of
ourselves and that of our students. It is how we demonstrate
to students what it is to be a lifelong learner and
most importantly, how we transfer our learning into
the classroom.
Now
if youve made it this far through the article
you probably feel like your brain is about to explode
and it probably will if you try and digest this all
in one sitting. What you need to do is to set yourself
one goal that is achievable. This term I will
investigate (insert name of tool) and implement it into
my classroom and my teaching. If you break any
task down to small achievable tasks it will not overwhelm
you. If you try and do it all at once you will probably
just give up. Once that goal is achieved you need to
reflect on weather you bit off too much or too little
and then set your next professional development goal.
Before you know it your Teacher Toolbox will be brimming
with new useful stuff.
Reflection
- So to all those who speak the rhetoric of lifelong
learning, do your actions betray you? Are you an advocate
of professionals developing or are you an obstacle?
Are you an agent of change or on closer examination
are you a saboteur?
If
you are a classroom teacher you need to work out how
you will use and espouse the virtues of these tools.
If you are an executive you need to be encouraging the
professional development of your staff and working out
strategies for introducing these tools to your staff.
If you are a systems administrator worth your salt you
already know that the network exists to serve education
and that you too will be making educators aware of new
and exciting tools.
So
in closing, always remember that you are preparing your
students for their now and their future, not your past.
How will you rise to the challenge?
Adrian
Bruce
http://www.adrianbruce.com
PS
A huge thank you has to go to all the people in my PLN.
Without you I could have never amassed the knowledge
I currently have that has enabled me to write this article.
See you online soon.