What is Community - Social Media & PLN's

790 EDU continues on for it's second week. This week we have been focusing on what an online community is and how I can use it to contribute to my professional and personal growth. It turns out that there are four benefits that come from participating in PLN's.  They are:

Social - Teachers can often feel isolated but by connecting with other teachers throughout the country and even the world, they can feel part of a bigger picture and have a much larger circle of relationships. 

Affective - Teachers can find support from other teachers which may help them be willing to take risks and get feedback from others.

Cognitive - Teachers can identify new resources, tools, and teaching strategies.  Plus, they can get a peek into other teachers classrooms to see how they do things.

Identity - Through PLN's teachers can change their perspective of their role from the teacher in front of the classroom to becoming co-learners with the students. 

So what benefit(s) do I feel I gain from my PLN you ask?  Well, I most identify with the Cognitive benefit.  I enjoy and get inspired most by what I see other teachers are doing in their classrooms.  I enjoy learning and being exposed to new tools, strategies, and ideas. 

This week I also created a Symbaloo and shared it with my PLN.  Symbaloo is an interface that lets you collect all of your bookmarks and favorite websites into one place that can be accessed anywhere.  Below is a video giving an overview of how it works.

My Symbaloo - personal screenshot

Here is a screenshot of me sharing my Symbaloo on my PLN.

Personal Screenshot 

I found building my Symbaloo a little challenging.  It took more time than I would have liked it too.  The end result is pretty cool though.

Here is a link to my personal Symbaloo.......        My Symbaloo