Blog 7 - Professional Learning Network

The Professional Learning Network was a hard concept for me.  I'm not a teacher; I don't work in primary education or even high school.  From the lists given and through further research, higher education does not have as many options from which to choose in regards to Nings or established networks.

I did sign up for the Educator's PLN.  I tried to find relevant information or at least interesting topics/blogs/articles to read.  There were many articles regarding distance and/or online learning.  Debate about its effectiveness, when to offer these classes and if it really is the future of education were the biggest conversations.  There was a blog entitled, "Studying outside the classroom: technology shift in education" by Emily Parker, stating that online learning is beneficial to the young and old, those gaining specific skills vs learning to learn.  There is a discussion on the forums about online learning around the world and the benefits it offers to disciplined learners or those who want to learn more at their own pace.  I think the topic of online learning is very relevant for me as at the university level there has been much discussion about offering more classes online or in a hybrid form of some sort.  Having this resource is helpful in evaluating it's effectiveness amongst many educators.

Regarding the Digg and Twitter feeds, I think this area allowed me to really broaden my scope.  My current position is within hospitality education.  With Digg I am able to follow trends on the food side, such as Table Matters which discusses food related issues both serious and comical.  Topics I've enjoyed reading include the quality control of American Craft Beer, "Brownie Points" discussing the comeback of butter to replace margarine and the article "Crush Your Sugar Rush" in which the chef made savory spinoffs of traditional sweet pies.  On the more educational side I've followed Educational Technology.  Topics such as the use of Google for "virtual field trips" for classrooms to various museums and aquariums and Evernote's new features.  I just sent a great article regarding the "Differences between Pedagogy, Andragogy, and Heutagogy" from Educational Technology to one of our instructors.  The term pedagogy is used frequently around here.  Since our college/university teaches in a "hands-on learning" environment, this article really posed the question as to which approach/style we really use.   Food for thought. 

On Twitter I follow Edutopia, eLearning Guild, Inside Higher Ed, different hotel schools like Cornell Hotel School and Hilton College along with Princeton, Oxford, Stanford, Cambridge and Harvard.  I can follow the trends or even some surprising findings, like ecofriendly hotels don't make any more money than their less friendly counterparts, although guests may see them as better quality, in an article published by Travel Weekly and retweeted by The Cornell Hotel School.

By using all three, Educator's PLN, Digg and Twitter, I am able to gain a better insight into the industries in which I work, education and Restaurants/Hotels.  It does take some time to sift through everything that is available, but there is a lot of great information out there.  I can see myself continuing to use these tools even after this class is over.