For this assignment, we were asked to look at some educator communities and join one that best supports our PLN goals. Since I am in a Microsoft district, I looked into the Microsoft Educator Centre, as well as various ISTE Professional Learning Networks.
For the Microsoft network, I found a huge number of online courses, resources, and lesson plans across a variety of products, age groups, and subject areas. I imagine that this will be a good resource for me moving forward when I’m looking for ideas and I’ve bookmarked some choice courses of interest. However, given one of my key goals was networking with other educators, the lack of platform for communicating with others was a disadvantage.
The ISTE professional networks were more what I was looking for: focused on specific areas, with a forum for reaching out to other educators. I joined networks for Arts and Technology, Computer Science, Librarians, and STEM. Some of the forums aren’t exactly buzzing with activity, unfortunately, with a lot of “zero replies”, but the STEM network seems to be very active. There is also a $75 membership fee to join ISTE. However, there are other benefits that come with membership, including various webinars. I’d like to try them out to see if they are worthwhile and if I make good use of them.
Overall, both of these are useful in their own ways, but neither has quite the same appeal of more active communities on other platforms. I can see myself using these on an as-needed basis and checking in every so often for interesting posts, but the lack of activity in some of the ISTE networks definitely has me worried about how useful they will be.
Sources
Cook, R. J., Jones-Bromenshenkel, M., Huisinga, S., & Mullins, F. (2017). Online professional learning networks: A viable solution to the professional development dilemma. Journal of Special Education Technology, 32(2), 109-118. doi:10.1177/0162643417696930
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (n.d.). Professional learning networks. Retrieved April 17, 2021, from http://connect.iste.org/community/learningnetworks
Microsoft. (n.d.). Microsoft Educator Center. Retrieved April 17, 2021, from https://education.microsoft.com/en-us
Victoria Y. – Hi Jessica,
My stance on Microsoft Educator and ISTE are similar to yours. The communities on ISTE look very active and the variety is appealing, but the $75 fee is a commitment that I am not yet ready to make. Meanwhile, Microsoft educator has many resources and courses available, but a lack of opportunity for connection. I investigated a bit more on Microsoft Educator and I found that they have a blog and Instagram. I suppose you could comment on blog posts to communicate every so often or get connected on Instagram to view their posts. Microsoft Educator’s Instagram does promote an annual connect event, which may be of interest, but since it is only once a year, it also does not meet your needs of networking.
I wonder if you would be interested in Google Educator Groups? They have a Global group where educators from all over the world can ask questions and share resources. They have events regularly as well, so that might have more opportunities for networking.