Building a PLN

For a few years now I've been hearing all about building my own Personal Learning Network. And the concept seems terrific. Even the actuality of it has been good. But it has also been a struggle.

Take this blog, for example. I know I'm not writing anything earth shattering. I'm sharing basic resources and tips. But does ANYONE read? Google tells me that I've had over 1000 page views. But I've had less than a dozen comments. So who is reading? Am I just not sharing anything worthwhile?

And then there is Twitter. I follow a bunch of folks. Good folks who share tons of great resources. And some folks follow me. But when a presenter at a conference tweets to his/her followers and suddenly dozens of responses pop up on the screen, it seems like a trick. Sure, that person is a keynote speaker day after day, has written books, is well known...so they can throw out a question and gets dozens (hundreds?) of answers. It doesn't work that way for your average guy. I can throw out a question and get one response. Or no responses. Cause I'm not so well known. And after seeing how Twitter worked for them, that feels like a failure.

So I'm still struggling to develop a better PLN. One that not only brings resources to me as a passive participant, but one where I'm more active. Where there is more conversation and collaboration.

In an effort to get there, I'm participating in the new Edublogs Challenge - 30 Days To A Whole New PLN. Let's see if this kickstarts some new learning for me and some new ideas about participating in a more effective manner.

Blogging Challenge - Tooting My Own Horn

This challenge is all about promoting my blog. And that is not something I'm very good at doing. I don't mind sharing the link with the staff at my school. I do toss it out there to them now and then. But beyond that, I've never really promoted myself until this challenge. And even then, only through the process of leaving comments on other blogs participating in the challenge.

So maybe it is time to stretch my wings.

I'm making a commitment to push myself in three new ways.

I'm going to comment much more often on blogs of other folks. I know that is a nice way to build networking and I'm going to be more active in that.

I'm going to include info and links to my blog more often in our school newsletters. That will build more of a connection to staff and parents.

And lastly, I do have a Twitter account. I never tweet...I just check other people. But I'm gonna give Twitter a real try. I'm gonna Tweet. Not to often, probably, but I'll at least give it a good try. And I'll use that as a resource for sharing a link to one of my blog posts now and then. So if you want to follow along, you can find me at  @eharden.

Hope to run into you there!