Faculty Lounge of the 21st Century

     I am taking a MOOC (That is a: Massive Open Online Course) on Coaching Digital Learning (check it out here).  Recently they held a twitter chat and I said that the PLN's--Personal Learning Networks--are like the faculty lounge for the 21st century (see tweet here).  This tweet got a lot of retweets and favorites; a lot of people seemed to agree with this comment.

     I know that a lot of educators are on Twitter and I've heard (read) many say that they learn a lot from others on Twitter.  But, it is not just Twitter.  I believe that professional learning today and in the future will come from sources outside of our schools and school districts.  And many of these sources will be regular teachers with full class loads who also happen to be very well connected.  These are the teachers who tweet and blog and write books and speak at conferences and are always very willing to share their experiences.

     Back in August (2014) I planned a Professional Development session on digit learning and all of the speakers came to us via Google Hangout.  From the comfort of their own homes or offices, four companies spoke and interacted with 250 teachers.  We could see them and they could see us.  We spoke to them and they spoke to us.  But it was done without them having to board a plane and come to our school district.

     I am going to do it again in December as I plan a meeting with all of the Mathematics Supervisors in Maryland.  This time the topic is Using Technology in the Classroom.  The speakers will be influential people that I have discovered via their tweets and blogs.

     This is how we learn in the 21st century.