Love the debate.

In the end, I think it’s a marketing advantage argument. I know several people who believe marketing should be equal and nobody should have unfair advantage in the marketplace.

We wrote an article about this on our blog – http://www.thefundraisingpln.com

Hopefully it brings more awareness about the importance of a PLN.

Thanks!

On another note, I am beginning to work on my dissertation and my topic will involve how educators are using tools such as this for personalized professional development. The entire debate on the term “PLN” is very frustrating and is something I will have to address in my study. Thank you again for your excellent post.

I’ll first echo others in saying that what you’ve built with “The Educator’s PLN” has been fantastic, and powerful for many educators. And of course, I am aware of all the other things you do that influence others in their learning (e.g., #edchat), including myself.

And I understand the arguments put forward here that people should focus on the meaning vs. the label we place upon it. That is something I’ve always supported when the PLE vs. PLN vs. OLN etc. battle rears its head on Twitter.

But in simple response to the title of the Ning ‘The Educator’s PLN’ – it hasn’t angered me (I think that’s a bit too strong of a word – I don’t know anyone that it has actually ‘angered’), but I’ve always found it a bit confusing in relation to my own understanding of the the term. A Ning (like this one), #edchat, Twitter, my workplace, etc., are all single nodes of my PLN – so the title of the Ning makes it sound like it is a PLN in and of itself. More correctly (from my perspective), it might be labeled ‘Educator’s PLN Resource’, but that just gets awkward. Do you understand what I’m saying? It’s not a PLN in itself, but rather a tremendous resource that can potentially help others construct their own PLNs (PLE, etc.).

The PLN movement (if there is such a thing) should in part help people understand that there is no ONE place to learn, as you have stated clearly in your ‘understanding of a PLN from a young age’. Any discomfort of the title is likely derived from a deep hope that others will not misinterpret what this informal learning movement is all about.

Thanks for all of your contributions, Tom.

Thank you for THE insightful post. I always enjoy reading your perspective on PLNs. I think, from a collaborative/managerial/leadership viewpoint you’ve explained the name of your Ning quite well.

Just for fun, from a linguistic perspective, I’ve been trying to deconstruct how “THE Educators’ PLN” is offensive or unclear to someone. “THE” is a determinative article that shows you are pointing at something already referenced. According to Wikipedia’s definition of these grammatical terms (my OED was far away), THE in this case is determining which PLN you are pointing to and not which Educator(s) because that word is an adjective in your title and not a noun.

The way I have always read it is that THE Educators’ PLN is something FOR educators and not for CERTAIN educators. Your THE is about a PLN for educators not for businesspeople, politicians, or stay-at-home dads.

I don’t know, I hadn’t ever thought about the THE in your title before. I don’t get any sense of singularity from it. Like you said, if someone is bent on being angry about something, then they’ll find a way to do so! Keep up THE awesome PLN!

You give so much to the educator community offline and online. I get frustrated when people argue such technicalities. Really, can’t our energies be better spent arguing the technicalities of why we have filtering in our schools or why schools are evaluating teachers based on student standardized test scores. Each of us has a choice and I’m really tired by educators not being beyond these kind of arguments. Really intelligent people I respect in our PLN frustrate me when they do this because these arguments are what turn educators away from PLNs. I believe PLNs will change our education system because only through community, collaboration, and co-creation can we create education reform. You have built the foundations with Edchat, LinkedIn groups, The Educators’ PLN Ning and more for open collaboration and community. You have given educators the gift of learning environments to collaborate, a place where ideas are birth and action inspired. Continue with your leadership. When we stir the waters of change there will always be those who try to be road blocks because they don’t see the higher vision. Eventually, their eyes will stop looking at the road blocks and begin to see the goal and wider vision then technicalities like this will seem such a trivial thing.

Love (and agree with) your take on PLNs. The bigger takeaway message for me in this post is how educators, and education discussions, can easily get off course. I wonder if that is a sign of intellectualizing things, rather than addressing them. Maybe educators as a whole just don’t like to roll up their sleeves and get to work, we prefer quibbling over the little things. Sure seems like that happens a lot at schools where I have been. I wonder why that is?

Bonita

Just keep going!