Personal Learning Networks

So I have begun my journey into the world of personal (professional) learning networks. You may be asking, "What the heck is a PLN?" Well, a personal learning network is a collection of resources a person uses to gather information. Traditionally this network consisted of your co-workers, friends, collection of books, magazines, and and other resources you could tap into discover new information. This was/is a useful system but it tends to consist of dated information and, generally speaking, information from a relatively small geographic area. But thanks to the Internet and all it's wonderful social networking sites we can now vastly increase the size, reach, and timeliness of our resources. The social networking sites have been harnessed for educational purposes. You expand your pool of information expects and meet people from literally all over our planet who have similar questions as you. By using Twitter, Google Reader, Diigo, and many others we now have the potential of increasing our pool of information resources exponentially. Instead of hunting and pecking all over the Internet (or simple relying on Google for an answer) you now have the ability to ask a question of a very large audience and get a much more relevant and timely answer. On your pln you are also a member of a community. Not only can you get information but you get to give it as well. And, as I believe, teaching others is the best way to learn it also is the right thing to do.