Wow
It’s fascinating to realize the depth of the definition of a Personal Learning Network. As mentioned by Rajagopal et al. (2011), a PLN “is a network set up by an individual specifically in the context of her professional activities through online platforms to support her professional non–formal learning needs” (sec. 5). It was especially insightful to hear about the personal learning network model (see Figure 1), as there are a lot of factors that influence the process of building our personal professional network which I was unaware of. I realized that the model does in fact strongly resemble how individuals network. Drawing from my own experience, I’ve been invested in LinkedIn where I’ve been building my connections around a specific area of interest that I may eventually transition to after graduation. My intention was to build a network of individuals who are already in the field so that I could potentially learn from their knowledge. Little did I know that I was in fact building my own personal learning network!
Wonder
Rajagopal et al. (2011) concluded that our current technology does not yet fully support developing ties in a meaningful way, but rather only facilitates the many aspects of networking. I’m curious if in the future technology will be able to accomplish this. I do think virtual reality and augmented reality has plenty of potential. It would be amazing if we would be able to attend remote networking events from the comfort of our home while still being able to interact with others on a virtual basis. Definitely something to look forward to!
