Personal learning network

A personal learning network ( English personal learning network ) or PLN is an informal network. It consists of the caregivers with whom a learner interacts in his learning process. The connection with profiles in this network is made with the intention of being able to cope with a certain step in the learning process.

background

The term is gaining in importance in a digital learning context that enables learning as an individual process. At the same time, the Internet provides a vast amount of information that can only be processed with filters (e.g. search engines , RSS feeds, streams in social networks). Informal learning processes, in which there are no guidelines with regard to methods, content or learning objectives, are only used by learners, but not by reference persons such as B. designed a teacher. The learners look for their own teachers and thus build a PLN, but at the same time also become teachers in it.

Theoretically, PLNs take up connectivism , a learning theory of the Canadian educator George Siemens . Connectivism understands learning as networking via nodes in networks. Learning processes and meta-learning (i.e. the understanding of how learning works) are synonymous and cannot be separated.

PLNs completely individualize learning processes and enable permanent reflection on the learning processes, which lead to a continuous improvement in learning methods.

The concept of PLNs is closely related to that of Personal Learning Environments (PLE).

construction

By Howard Rheingold to build a PLN eight steps:

Rummage openly in interesting media and networks.
Search specifically for information and experts.
Follow them on their channels and consider whether it's worth it.
Constantly re-tuning and improving your own network (you don't have to follow the people who follow you).
Disseminate important information and content: with content, social or entertainment value.
Establishing relationships with other people: Don't make too bold demands, but show attention.
Asking questions, especially when the answers can be useful for others in your own PLN.
Answering questions - here too, don't speculate on reciprocity, but set a good example.

The establishment and maintenance of PLN basically consists of three activities that can be carried out efficiently with digital tools:

Gathering and processing of information
Producing and publishing content
Collaboration and exchange with other learners

Connectivist Massive Open Online Courses (cMOOCs) are examples of courses for which a PLN can be helpful.

PLN in the sociological sense

In terms of the Social Construction of Technology , a PLN or a Personal Learning Environment can be understood as a network in the sociological sense in which technical developments are given meaning through a social process. Social media would become a learning environment because they are used in the construction of PLNs. It is crucial that individuals are not solely responsible for their PLN and create it through their digital skills, but that their position in the network also determines their options for action.

In the sense of Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, PLN can also be understood as networks between people and things (e.g. smartphones , internet infrastructure , etc.) that are in a constant process of becoming and re-creating, i.e. H. Relationships must be constant for the network to last. In concrete terms, this means that a PLN disintegrates when it is no longer used and the individual actors no longer interact.

literature

Lisa Rosa (2013): Learning 2.0 - Project learning with teachers in the age of social media. In: Schumacher / Renstorf / Thomas: Project: Teaching: Project teaching and professionalization in teacher training and school practice. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Draft as PDF

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Philippe Wampfler: Facebook, blogs and wikis in school: A social media guide . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013, ISBN 978-3-525-70165-2 , pp. 102 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed February 11, 2016]).

[Wampfler:_Facebook,_Blogs_und_Wikis_in_der_Schule-1] A ^b Philippe Wampfler: Facebook, blogs and wikis in school: A social media guide . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013, ISBN 978-3-525-70165-2 , pp. 102 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed February 11, 2016]).