Just finished with the DEN in Second Life Leadership Council’s presentation: “Creating a Personal Learning Network in Second Life” at ISTE’s NECC 2008. It was incredible. We had over 100 education professionals in the room and another 20 or so watching via the Ustream Steve Dembo set up. We had only one hour to talk about the PLN we have created in Second Life and why we have found it beneficial.
One thing that was really awesome was the fact that this morning was the first time all six of us had ever been in the same room together. I just met three of the panel members this morning, having worked with them for over a year in the virtual world. To think back over this past year and see how much we have accomplished as a group in a relatively short period of time (we’ve gone from 0 members to nearly 600 members), without having ever shared the same breathing air, it is incredible.
I look forward to another great year with the DEN in SL Leadership Council, and I also look forward to meeting all the new avatars in Second Life who are sure to be created after this conference!
I have to admit, since joining the Discovery Educator Network, I have become a little gung-ho about establishing networks. I never understood how powerful they can be until my experiences with the DEN.
In the interest of expanding my network in the biggest possible way, I started checking out online networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others. What I found was, although they all had potential for expanding my network, they also all had the potential of being too personal. There are times that personal is good, but there are times when all you really want is for people to see what your experience is and be able to connect with you because of it.
Enter my latest interest, LinkedIN. LinkedIN is a site that allows you to enter all your past work experience and education into your profile. It displays somewhat like a resume. You have choices on who can see it, how they can contact you, etc. If you are looking for a job, you can set it so that people know you are accepting job offers.
What I like about LinkedIN is that it doesn’t have all the “add-ons” that Facebook and MySpace have, so my profile isn’t going to end up tempting me to add too much of my personal life on it. LinkedIN is strictly professional, and you can establish a network by inviting your friends as “connections.” Once you’ve established your connections, LinkedIN tells you how many people you have access to via your connections and their connections. In addition, your connections can post recommendations on your profile (don’t worry, you have to approve them in order for them to show), and you can post recommendations on theirs.
Try it! And if you want to, add me to your connections by clicking HERE.
