This is the third of five blogposts that I’m writing as coursework for a teacher training course on open networked learning (ONL). In my previous blogpost, I reflected on various forms of openness in higher education and the potentially negative impacts demands for constant connectivity and sharing have on our ability to do deep work. In today’s post, I want to continue this discussion by reflecting on my online presence and my Personal Learning Network (PLN).

My friends sometimes joke that I’m a digital hermit. I’ve deleted Facebook, left Snapchat, never used Instagram, and seldom use Twitter. This blog has been around for more than eight years, but only has 25 posts (does that even qualify as a blog?) At the same time, I’ve managed to develop a large and vibrant Personal Learning Network. How’s that possible when we’re constantly told how Twitter, Facebook, and blogs are the best tools to build networks?

I’ll return to that in a second, but let’s begin by defining what a PLN is and why it matters. In this video, Marc-André Lalande describes a PLN as ‘the group of people that you connect with to learn their ideas, their questions, their reflections, and their references. Your PLN is not limited to online interactions, but it is that online, global interactive part that really makes it special. It is personal because you choose who’s part of that group; you choose if you want to lurk–just check out what people are saying–or if you share; because you choose when to do so, and how to do so.’ (For a fuller definition, click here).

Your PLN matters because it makes the academic job easier and more fun. My PLN helps me in all aspects of my everyday work life, in research, teaching, departmental service. It helps me ask better research questions, directs me to useful primary sources and relevant literature, and offers useful feedback on my writing. It inspires me to try new teaching methods and helps me navigate the bureaucratic maze.

Building a deep and wide PLN takes time and in the case of a digital hermit like me, it required physical mobility. Video conferencing tools and social media are great for maintaining existing relations, but in my experience, getting bodies in the room is essential to establishing new connections. Dropping an email and getting a useful (and timely) reply is much more likely once you’ve actual met someone in person at conference or a workshop. Especially if that someone is more senior than you, which is usually the case, when you’re a PhD student or an early career scholar. Regular attendance at international meetings in your field is key to building a PLN (and for advice on how to ‘work the conference’, see Karen Kelsky’s supreme The Professor Is In). Organizing panels or your own workshops and conferences is even better. Showing up and being curious, talking to others, and considering how you can help them is a safe recipe for building a valuable PLN.

Looking back at the past decade and my development from MA student to postdoctoral researcher, the most rewarding part of my PLN has been the colleagues with whom I’ve discussed the academic craft, that is, how to organize your work, how to write, how to manage stress, how to be a good colleague, how to make difficult career choices etc. It began in 2011 when we attended the PhD training course Finish on Time. Using simple writing and stress management techniques, we learned how to ‘master effectiveness and reduce stress’ (as promised by the book behind the course). This sparked a continuous and curious conversation among me and my colleagues about how to manage a career in academia without succumbing to negative stress and excessive workloads. We learned that simple methods such as working in units (also known as the The Pomodoro Technique), the 80/20 principle, and many other knacks probably well-known to management students, but completely foreign to Humanities scholars often subscribing to unsound myths, for instance about the lone genius who writes when inspiration shows. Together we discovered a rich but often overlooked literature on how to write (e.g. Robert Boice’s classic Professors as Writers and Write No Matter What by Joli Jensen), how to do deep work (see previous post), and how to turn your PhD into a job (Karen Kelsky again). This community of learning continues to inspire my work and it is a community that I invite all early career scholars to join. Swedish readers are strongly recommended to read the blog on the academic craft by my fellow Finish on Time-alumni and historian, David Larsson Heidenblad.

References

Boice, Robert. Professors as Writers: A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing. New Forums Press, 1990.

Burman, Åsa. The Doctoral Student Handbook: Master effectiveness, reduce stress, finish on time. Finish on Time Publications, 2018.

Jensen, Joli. Write No Matter What. Advice for academics. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Kelsky, Karen. The Professor Is In: The Essential guide to turning your PhD into a job. Three Rivers Press, 2015.