Blog Assignment #5 (Part B)

A Summary of my Personal Learning Network (PLN)

Throughout the course of EDM310 I have developed a PLN. Below I have explained some of the sites and tools that I use.

Symbaloo
Symbaloo is a bookmarking website. It can be used to save sites that are frequently used or that you need to return to. I use my Symbaloo as a central site for all of my classwork. Below is a screenshot of my Symbaloo account.

In the top-center of my account, I have my blog as well as my class blog. I also have a link to Khan Academy, a website I use to help myself further understand Chemistry. However, the site offers help for a wide range of subjects. (I highly recommend it.) To the right of my page, I have my social networking sites; Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail. These sites are great for networking with professionals as well as keeping up with friends. I also use these sites to read interesting articles and share the articles I've found with my followers. In the center of my page is the Google search bar. This feature allowed me to make Symbaloo my homepage. To the left of the page is where links to shopping pages can be found. Occasionally I'll stumble on Booking.com and plan a trip I wish I could afford to take. The remaining tiles I use to temporarily save web pages that I want to come back to. Alot of times I bookmark recipes that I want to cook later or sources I need to come back to for a class.

Google Circles

Google circles is another tool I use in my PLN. Google circles is a social network that allows you to follow users. Followers can then receive updates on that person. An example of an update would be receiving a notification that someone uploaded a new blog or video. Below is a screen shot of Dr. Will Deyamport III's page and the updates that I receive by following him.

Google circles gives me an update when Dr.Deyamport posts a new blog. It also shows me who he follows, and who follows him. That means I can go through that list and find more teachers and professionals to follow.

Social Networking
My Top 3:
•Facebook
•Twitter
•Gmail

As crazy as it sounds, a good bit of what I leisurely learn comes from Facebook. I follow different newspapers and news stations on my facebook account and they post articles from all over the world. (And from credible sources!) A great thing about facebook is that the articles that I find interesting, I can instantly share with my friends and followers. This semester I have shared two articles with my classmates that I found interesting. (I used twitter to share with classmates.) Below are just a few of my tweets to my fellow EDM310er's.

One of the articles I shared was about a bakery that opened in my hometown. When the interviewer asked the owner where she learned to bake, she told them she taught herself by watching Youtube videos. Someone made a career out of a skill she taught herself using technology, amazing.

There are many other sites and tools that can be used in developing a PLN, however these are the tools I use the most often and found the most useful. The image below lists more sites that can be used in developing a PLN.