My personal learning network suddenly and unexpectedly became exclusively digital due to the pandemic and this must be a fairly common experience. This got me wondering – how has my personal learning network been affected by a year of covid restrictions?

For me, this switch to the digital hasn’t posed a problem in terms of technical ability, but it has meant a change in how I interact online. Normally, I would be in visitor mode rather than actively interacting in resident mode (White 2014).

What is a PNL?

A personal learning network (PLN) is resources curated by an individual for professional development and learning more broadly. My understanding and thoughts around PLNs are strongly influenced by Kay Oddone’s Linking Learning (2018).

Building In-Person Networks

Normally, interactive communication within my personal learning network is strongly built off in-person networks. I am a person who enjoys meeting new people, making connections between people, actively participating in organizations, and organizing in-person events in both my profession and personal life. Frankly, I may be a bit extreme in how much I enjoy meeting and connecting with people and groups.

In-person networks do not necessarily translate into digital connections. Many of my former colleagues, classmates, and collaborators don’t have active digital identities. Many I never connected with online because I would catch up with them regularly at events, which I see now as a mistake. This absence has become increasingly noticeable as time passes and has resulted in much less diversity in my personal learning network.

When I do connect digitally with these people, we tend to continue to interact using in-person patterns. For example, interacting via a conversation in direct messages rather than including a digital network in the discussion through tweets or posts visible to others.

In-Person Connection Skills at Digital Events

Unless they are specifically designed to do so, digital events are not great for building connections between people. Information flows in digital events tend to be more unidirectional with minimal interaction and there is rarely room for informal talk. Interaction is often limited to a written chat and sometimes even a chat function is missing or disabled between participants.

In addition to removing these small and informal interactions, digital events tend to make speaking up higher stakes. Only one person can speak and be understood at a time in a digital meeting. Every time you speak you are monopolizing the event’s time.

And ONL digital meetings?

ONL’s problem based learning groups are designed to build connections. For me, it feels more like an in-person event because interactions are in real time, are spoken rather than written, and we made to get to know each other and for informal talk. It’s been great. yes, ONL is a logical first step for finding others interested in pedagogy, designing better online course, and edtech.

Still, I wonder how others approach developing and participating in digital networks.

How PLN People Build Digital Networks

Kay Oddone put together a gorgeous infographic on how to develop a PLN and writes a lot about the positive side of a digital network and digital interaction. Her plan starts in the same place a non-digital plan would: “Consider your professional goals and interests” (2020). Then, she recommends creating a twitter account to start listening and connecting to people, build a blog to have a place of your own, and to begin interacting slowly at first. My first reaction was to note that the ONL course has already gotten us to do all of these things.

Through participating in ONL, we all now have a strong foundation for developing our (digital) PLNs as well as a tribe of people interested in digital learning through ONL & PBL connections. As the ONL course winds down, it’s time to reconsider professional goals and interests to decide where to start.

References

Oddone, Kay (2020) “Develop Your PNL” Linking Learning. https://www.linkinglearning.com.au/develop-your-pln/

Oddone, Kay (2018) “PNLs Theory & Practice” Linking Learning. https://www.linkinglearning.com.au/plns-theory-and-practice/

White, David (2014): Visitors and residents (part 1)