10 Ways to Keep your PLN from Running Amok!
Does your Personal Learning Network feel like this (right)? Chances are that it does, at least some of the time. We’re hearing about PLN more and more at ed tech conferences with increasing enthusiasm (evangelism) — and this is good. We can no long rely on a broadcast/publish information environment as the only source for answers to brand new problems — especially in education. We need to rely on each other, our combined knowledge and experience to discover and even invent solutions to brand new problems. [photo1]
However, it is easy to feel that your personal learning network/social network is becoming a NASA Control Center. For that matter, we can easily come to feel that we’re trying to land our students on the moon. It’s not that much of an exaggeration. But it is essential that we learn not only to grow our personal learning networks, but also to control them.
Controlling my PLN is not something that I’ve learned to do, but it is something that I’ve been thinking about. Here are a few ideas that occur to me.
- Try to hold yourself to a limit of bloggers you are subscribing to. It may be 10, 20, or 30 — whatever feels comfortable. But don’t make it an uncrossable line. You may discover, with experience, that you can follow more than 10 bloggers.
- Set up folders in your aggregator based on frequency of reading. Call one folder, “Everyday,” and in it, place blogs and other RSS feeds that you need to follow every day. Call another one, “Once a Week” and load it with less critical postings.
- It’s OK to switch Twitter off every once in a while. We’re actually pretty smart as individual, and sometimes we just have to sift through what we’ve learned and what we believe and make it work for us. Sometimes we have to just do it ourselves. While Twitter is still off, take a break, go for a walk or a bicycle ride. Go visit a neighbor, or just walk around in your garden for a few minutes.
-
I connect with nine Flickr users, who connect to others.It’s OK to ignore other parts of your PLN when you need to. Your aggregator will wait for you. It may start to burst at the seams, but it won’t explode (at least no one’s ever been physically injured).
- Scan! It is possible that you may only actually read one in 10 of the blogs that come through, depending on who you are aggregating. I am subscribed to 78 RSS feeds with my Google Reader. Many of them only periodically write something of interest to me, but when they do, it is something that needs to be available to me.
- Your aggregator can grow temporary limbs. If you are teaching a brand new unit, or have been asked to deliver a presentation you have not done before, find people whose writings will help you prepare and subscribe to them. When you’ve learned what you need, then sever the lines.
- Realize that your network is much larger than it seems, much larger than the ones you’ve directly connected to. Because you are not just reading me, you are reading all of the mes that I’m reading, and they’re reading. We’re like a giant sieve, each of us sifting through information and ideas, adding to them, reshaping them, and each of us judging their relevance and usefulness. It’s bigger than you think. It’s more valuable than you think. Limit your network with this in mind!
- Another way to gauge the practicality of your PLN is to set for yourself the amount of time you can give up to scanning your aggregator. David Jakes said, during a virtual presentation the other day, “Are you willing to spend 15 minutes a day learning?” If you find that after 15 minutes you are still not getting to all of the connections you need, then you can consider a different strategy.
- You do not need to subscribe to dozens of educators to learn how they are using VoiceThread. Instead, conduct a Google Blog Search for voicethread and then subscribe to the search RSS feed. If anyone blogs about Voicethread, their blog comes to your aggregator. Another search tool you might use in the same way is Technorati.
- Some bloggers are very good connectors and filters. They read lots of information, and then blog the gems. An excellent example is SEGA Tech, by Jeff Giddens, Daniel Rivera, and Michael Stokes, of Georgia’s Southeast Regional Educational Service Agency. Another excellent example is Stephen Downes’ OLDaily.
- Galvan, David. “STS-108 Orbit Team 2.” Davidagaivan’s Photostream. 25 Oct 2005. 18 Mar 2008. http://flickr.com/photos/dgalvan/55978852/. [↩]
Please suggest other strategies by commenting here.
Technorati Tags: warlick education elearning pln
The 10 Ways to Keep your PLN from Running Amok! by 2¢ Worth, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Such great practical pointers for managing your PLN, thanks Dave! I had completely forgotten about growing temporary limbs in my google reader when looking a something more specific. I’ve been toying around with the idea of google reader for my class but not quite sure about it’s best possible use - now I will use it as a “research limb”. At a workshop you did in Rotorua,NZ you showed us how to have feeds coming into a wiki using some code - I can’t find this anywhere anymore - can you help? Happy Easter! NZChrissy
Reply to teachingsagittarianDavid - Another way is to periodically (I try once a month and put it on your calendar or todo list) to review my Google Reader to see which blogs, I still find interesting or necessary and mercilessly delete those that no I no longer need.
I figure that of the 82 feeds I have now, I try to stay around 50, so I really have my work cut out for this weekend. But I found if I don’t actively delete to purge the system, my feeds just seem to grow by themselves.
Harold
Reply to Harold ShawIt’s okay to declare “RSS feed bankruptcy” from time to time. I just did that today. :)
My RSS feed had become horribly backlogged while I have been on maternity leave and the “clutter” in my feed reader of unread posts was acting like physical clutter in my living/working space — I just couldn’t think clearly.
Let the “mark all read” button be your friend every once in a while.
Reply to Stephanie SandiferI institute a self-imposed one-to-one trade on my feeds in Google Reader. I don’t add a new feed until I delete a feed. Usually, I find a feed in my reader that hasn’t been updated in a while, which makes the decision easier. I keep the feeds I deleted in my Google Reader saved in my Technorati Favorites in case I decide to go back at a later date.
Good suggestions. Thanks.
Reply to DavidGreat reminders! I find myself feeling guilty if I have neglected my PLN for a day. It can get overwhelming but the scan method has done wonders for me…not feeling that I have to read every word of every blogger I follow every day.
Reply to KellySome good strategies here, David, thank you. One that you have not mentioned, perhaps because it is politically incorrect to even think such a thing, is to ignore your WHOLE learning network for a while. I have found that when I am under a lot of pressure to meet very tight deadlines, working 17 or more hours a day, connecting with my PLN is a bit of a luxury. I don’t like doing that, but I do find from time to time that it’s necessary for a while.
On the scanning idea, there are efficient reading techniques (similar to speed reading but not quite the same) that people can try, such as:
* starting at the end, to see what the conclusion is.
* If the piece is well-structured, like a newspaper article, you can get all the info u need from the first paragraph.
* Read only the first sentence in each paragraph.
I know it sounds like there would be no enjoyment reading like this, but if you are ina hurry and are looking for information, as opposed to an enjoyable read, those techniques and others like them definitely work.
Reply to Terry FreedmanGood tips about using Google Blog search and technorati however with the size of my twitter network it’s faster and usually more time effective to ask for links of how/why to use a particular application. So that I don’t have to keep an eye on the responses I set up the RSS feed from TweetScan for my twitter name to feed into my Google Reader. Also sometimes you can find really good links if you do a TweetScan search of twitter using the search term.
Reply to Sue WatersDavid,
I have been recently using Google Alerts to notify me of web activity of an upcoming topic that I will teach with my students or use in a professional development seminar.
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. I choose to receive them as one digest. It is similar to your RSS idea.
I also like the idea of refreshing which blogs you read. I arrange my feeds by folders (must reads, under consideration, last chance, topical, or local friends). I don’t have time to read them all but I do like mixing up who is currently in my must read or under consideration folder (obviously you are!).
Thanks for the reminders.
Reply to Colette CassinelliColette
David thanks for this. I do have a limit on my pln. In some ways I see running rampant for many people it can be a distraction from contribution a cerebral exploration that limits application to the learning community with which we are most intimately involved. Of late I am attempting to engage more with that network comment and blog.
It makes me think to the balance between a wider network of say “international educators” perhaps with interest but no specific programme they are working on together AND a learning community that share learners with a specific goal for those learners on center stage.
Reply to dave winteron that note better get back to it
Kia Kaha
(maori for be strong)
These were great suggestions. I admit to subscribing to about 150 blogs but I do skim over them. Since I put them in folders, I don’t feel the need to look at some of them right away or I just skim over the titles. Sometimes the topic just doesn’t interest me at that time so I don’t waste time reading it that day but tomorrow there might be something I want to read. I also make myself get away from the computer and exercise otherwise my brain feels fried.
Reply to PatGreat tips David. As Terry points out above sometimes it’s a good idea to ignore the whole network for some time. Two years ago, and even last year a little, I dreaded “Screen Free Week” http://www.tvturnoff.org/ my wife is an elementary school counselor so we along with the kids at school turn the screens off for a week. This year I find myself looking forward to being able to ignore the network for awhile. I’ve even starting lining up books that I might finish reading.
I have found it very healthy to disconnect once in awhile. Going on vacation where you do not have a choice does not count. It’s making the active choice to not connect that allows you to reflect and put the network into prospectives.
As for the other 51 weeks….you’ve created a great starter list!
Reply to Jeff UtechtMy strategy for Twitter is to use Twitbin. (Firefox plugin.)
With Twitbin, I can limit the Tweets just to the folks I’m following so I don’t see all the excess. It’s been working well for me.
Bonus: Twitter is blocked at my district, but Twitbin lets me see my friends tweets.
Reply to Dave SolonDavid,
Thanks for the pointers. I constantly wrestle with juggling the components of my life and the sense of information overload is hard to avoid from time-to-time.
I like Jeff Utecht’s comments, however the thing that I still need to address is the anxiety of the week following a “…choice to not connect…”.
Reply to Bud DeihlYes … but I like to time waste … it keeps me fresh and allows me to feel good when I focus back in !!
My tip is to have Google Alert for the things I am currently really interested in and to try not to read all my feeds all the time.
David’s idea of ‘folderising’ so that you only go to certain feeds periodically works for me.
Reply to Doug Dickinson“It?s OK to switch Twitter off every once in a while”?? You must certainly be referring to the three hours each night you sleep :) I don’t mind though…You are my entire reason to remain connected to Twitter. Thanks for another great post. My network is my life.
Reply to CraigI’ve been coming across a number of “information overload” type entries on blogs lately. You have some great strategies. I’ll have to check out the Google Blog Search. Two other methods I use are Google Shared Feeds and delicious search.
I search delicious when I’m looking for something before I use another tool like Google. I figure if a real person took the time to tag a resource, it might be quite worthwhile. I just typed voicethread into the box and in addition to the 62 I have tagged (surprised me) there are an additional 1455 entries. Now if only everyone could start getting in the habit of changing the name to something more useful and adding notes we’d really have a system.
I have six people sharing feeds with me in Google Reader. It’s how your post bubbled to the top today. I look at those first. If someone found something really good, they’ll mark it as shared. I won’t miss it in the bigger mix of unread items. Sometimes the feeds are already in my reader, but I haven’t gotten to them yet. Other times, they subscribe to someone I do not.
Thanks for the post.
Reply to Ann OroGoogle Reader’s shared items is another way to manage RSS overload. I’ve found some great posts that have been shared by others (from blogs to I don’t subscribe). I only get what they think is worth sharing. Then again, I only get what they think is worth sharing. I’m okay with this.
Reply to JackieBAs Ana has observed a number of bloggers have mentioned overload of late and have taken twitter and blog free weeks despite the anxiety.
It seems that some of the edubloggers out there are almost obsessed with their blogging art. Some teachers are emulating their edublogging heroes yet forgetting that these edubloggers have the time to blog and comment both frequently and widely as they are full time consultants. They have the time to network and blog as often as they do. Teachers that attempt to copy that networking effort will burn out if they fail to manage their time wisely.
I am considering halving the number of blogs I read. It is overkill. Your advice is timely David.
Filtering blogs so that you are fed only the topics that interest you is a good way to begin in reducing the work load. AideRSS is a tool that is worth a look in that respect.
Cheers, John
Reply to John LarkinDavid, this is great. I was just thinking about some of this stuff in a recent blog entry I wrote. You take it so much further and really give me some great ideas. I probably have way too many blogs I subscribe to, but some of your tips will speed things up for me. I do like to quickly skim them, marking the ones I want to go back and read again at a later time. This has helped me.
I do need to learn about to filter things better and use RSS in a more efficient way.
Reply to Chad L.Great advice and suggestions from David and all the commenters. Of course, now I need to spend some time checking out the tools that caught my eye: Google Blog Search, Tweet Scan, and TwitBin :).
One tool I’ve only recently started using is Feed Digest. When I don’t get into Google Reader regularly, I still want to know what are the timely topics of the day. I’ve been able to combine multiple unrelated RSS feeds easily in Feed Digest and then show that combined feed in an iGoogle gadget that I see it every time I hit my browser’s home page.
Reply to Bill Campbell