Week 3 - Wrapping Up and Thinking Ahead

This week was a productive one for me in this class. The first few weeks of a semester always feel kind of aimless, everyone is getting a feel for how the teacher conducts things and who their peers will be for the next several weeks. Few people it seems are focused entirely on the subject matter and instead prioritize getting settled and comfortable. That's the way it is for me, anyway. Now though, I feel settled and excited to dig in to the material and ideas.

Reading the material this week about online communities, networks, and PLNs got me thinking about my work on a couple of levels. The first level is how those concepts apply to the people I write for: child care professionals. Like any professional field, they have professional networks with other educators and share knowledge and experience with each other. At our center we encourage early childhood educators to build their networks and always reach out for advice to other child care professionals. With what I learned this week, I feel inspired to teach my course participants more about PLNs and the value they provide for people in their careers, and how to not only build but evaluate and enhance their PLNs.

The other level I began thinking about this week with networks and PLNs goes beyond my work with early childhood professionals, but my work and career in general. I've never evaluated my own PLN even though it is growing faster than I realize. Throughout my 8 years at FCIM and my three semesters here in the ISLT program, my PLN is expanding and becoming a great resource for growing my career. Now, I'll work to examine my PLN and enhance it by adding people who can help me become more of an instructional design insider, and maybe remove those who can no longer offer relevant advice. It sounds harsh, but I hope no one takes anything personally! 

Overall, it was a fun and inspiring week in this course and am looking forward to the long weekend! 😎

Comments

  1. Omer ArslanMay 30, 2021 at 7:27 PM

    Great to see that you're making some connections with what you're learning here and how you're applying them to your work environment and your everyday life! :)

    ReplyDelete

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