Personal Learning Network

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Personal Learning Networks  

Personal learning networks can bring a great deal of value to business professionals. As technology and trends evolve rapidly, professionals need to stay current on the latest changes and best practices. The best way to stay current is to collaborate with others in the same industry. Personal learning networks provide a platform to connect with others, share ideas, and learn about nuances in an accessible, easy-to-use way. This paper will provide three personal learning networks that I intend to become active in, goals for why I choose to join, and how I plan to participate in these networks. Each of the networks provides a unique opportunity to enhance my knowledge, and skills and add to my network of professionals to collaborate. 

Twitter- www.twitter.com Twitter allows for real-time sharing of content that could promote learning, engagement, or conversations with others. Recently there was research done around using Twitter in the medical field during conferences to promote the sharing of content and promotion of lifelong learning (Kind & Evans, 2018). The platform provides a constant steady stream of material that is available at your fingertips. Twitter users quickly share content using hashtags. Hashtags are ways to link together like concepts. Users can search for a hashtag and immediately get a steady stream of content that is all similar or connected to one topic. I have yet to create a Twitter account because I was unaware that it could be used for knowledge sharing to build a skill. I believe that, like most social media platforms, it all depends on how it is used. Studies have shown that overall there is an increase in the number of academics who have in recent years started utilizing social media platforms as a regular professional pursuit (Forbes, 2017). This research shows that there is a greater acceptance of social media being used for more than just sharing pictures or personal content, but rather it being used to drive skill building, learning, and personal or professional growth. I intend to create a Twitter account and start to look for content in the eLearning or instructional design areas of study. Through my research, I want to share my learnings with my team of peers at work. I feel that sharing ideas with groups begins to build accountability and makes the use of social media intentional. 

Podcast- eLearning & Instructional Design for Beginners              Recently I have found a love for podcasting. I have kept my podcasting hobby targeted at personal entertainment content. Through this course and understanding the need to branch out to learn from other learning networks I started to search for podcasts that could be beneficial to building my instructional design skills. eLearning & Instructional Design for Beginners provides over 90 episodes of content. This content is centered around building a skillset in the instructional design field. I have a goal of trying to listen to one podcast each month moving forward and trying to apply the learnings from the podcast in my work. Not only are ideas shared in these podcasts, but podcasts can serve to promote additional benefits. The research shows that podcasts can help to build the listening skills set while also building knowledge on a topic (Yildirim & Hoffman, 2010). 

Learning Guild www.learningguild.com As I began exploring additional professional networks, I encountered one called, Learning Guild. This network is specifically geared towards professionals in the field of learning and development. There is no cost to join, and I plan to become a member. Through my membership, my goal is to identify one article each month to read and share on another platform that I am a member of, like LinkedIn. I want to build my knowledge and also focus on sharing my knowledge with others to get a conversation going that we can both learn from. 

Conclusion             

After joining three new professional learning networks and looking to fulfill the goals set forth for each goal, I plan to reflect after 6 months on how this engagement has felt for me as a professional and as a learner. I think that many times goals are put in place but we as a collective community forget to check in on progress or evaluate how the goal has changed our lives. These learning networks are available for anyone to use and drive their own progress, I feel empowered after taking the time to further explore some of these communities and put a plan in place for how I intent to engage with them..