Is Personal Learning Network a new term??? 

A tweet from Chris Brogan (who I now know is a part of my own personal learning network) led me to this podcast

Clearly this podcast is geared toward universities and educators, but it made me question. 

Why aren’t we using this more in our businesses and personal development?  

I searched YouTube for other videos of the same subject.  Most were posted from 1 to 8 months ago with a few listed from over a year ago so clearly not an age old concept. 

I needed a good description and history quickly so I searched Wikipedia for a definition:

Personal Learning Network: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Learning_Networks

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal Learning Networks consist of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a Personal Learning Environment. An important part of this concept is the theory of connectivism developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes. Learners create connections and develop a network that contributes to their professional development and knowledge.^[1] The learner does not have to know these people personally or ever meet them in person.^[2] The following is an excerpt from Dryden’s and Vos’ book on learning networks:^[3]

“For the first time in history, we know now how to store virtually all humanity’s most important information and make it available, almost instantly, in almost any form, to almost anyone on earth. We also know how to do that in great new ways so that people can interact with it , and learn from it.”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal Learning Environment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_learning_environments

“Personal Learning Environments are systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning. This includes providing support for learners to

• set their own learning goals
• manage their learning; managing both content and process
• communicate with others in the process of learning

and thereby achieve learning goals.

A PLE may be composed of one or more subsystems: As such it may be a desktop application, or composed of one or more web-based services.”^[1]

Important concepts in PLEs include the integration of both formal and informal learning episodes into a single experience, the use of social networks that can cross institutional boundaries, and the use of networking protocols (Peer-to-Peer, web services, syndication) to connect a range of resources and systems within a personally-managed space.

While PLE is a very new term, the concept represents the latest step in an alternative approach to e-learning which can trace its origins to early systems such as Colloquia, the first peer-to-peer learning system, and in more recent phenomena such as the Epsilen Environment developed by Ali Jafari and the Elgg system developed by Dave Tosh and Ben Werdmuller and PebblePAD developed by UK-based Pebble Learning. This alternative approach developed in parallel to that of Learning Management Systems, which unlike the PLE take an institution-centric (or course-centric) view of learning . . .

SOoo - PLN seems to be a new learning style that is fast developing based on our full access to social media tools and open access to information important to us individually.  We get to decide what we learn!!  Brilliant!  Just what had happened to me as I researched a subject I didn’t understand.  I experienced the above described learning style and loved it.  It is very close to the learning experience of online education.  The Wiki definition corresponds with the information offered in my recent Certified Distance Education Recertification Course.

Is Personal Learning Network a new term???  It seems to be relatively new; however some of us have been learning like this for a lifetime. It just wasn’t as cool and we didn’t have access to as much information.  Maybe our time has come

This is what I want Real Estate Success Center and Social Web Learning to be.  One focused on real estate learning and the other focused on social media tools, tips and etiquette. 

Upon discovery that we are encouraged and free to develop our own learning environment and network, I’m off to organize my Personal Learning Network with the intention of using this “new” style to share information through my school and blog. 

Please feel free to join, learn and contribute.  Would love to hear your comments about your Personal Learning Network.

Certified Distance Education Instructor

I’ve passed the Certified Distance Education Instructor’s re-certification course.  This reporting is for my student’s, specifically, to share an experience we may have in common.

Since online instruction is my business/income, this CDEI certification is without argument the most important certification of my career.  It is, in fact, the only certification available for online instructors and conferred by Association of License Law Officials.  ARELLO is an extremely respected organization. Members are made up of regulators of each state.  They set the bar for state education regulators in all states.  Our TN real estate commissioners look to ARELLO for standards in all education whether classroom or online. Know it or not, we as licensees are influence by what ARELLO does each year to improve our education experience.

Not having my certification would be the end of my online instructor status at National Association of Realtors, Seller Representative Specialist, LLP and my ability to continue my school at all.  My credentials for maintaining my business would have been adversely affected to say the least.  The pressure was entirely self-imposed; however, very real if I wanted to continue my business they way I had chosen to work.

Here’s the skinny – you may have experienced a similar situation –

Beta-testing: I was one of a chosen few to take the course the first time so designers and regulators could study my responses and activity (seat time) and work through all the videos, podcasts, field trips, formative unit quizzes and summative (final) exam question and answers.  This is done, we are taught in the course, so the course content can be tweaked and the technology tested before offering it to other certified instructors.  Of course time is of the essence since the projected release date is fast approaching.

First re-cert course: For a young course like the CDEI to advance and maintain credibility, annual or bi-annual testing of certified instructors and course developers must be done to make sure the credentials have validity in future to:

1)      Confirm people certified continue to update their information

2)      Maintain credibility of the certification

Pressures: Mine was the first CDEI issued, ever.  I reviewed the original CDEI, 16 hour course so I had a reputation to uphold.  Just so you’ll know, I past that final exam on the first try.

I had three days set aside – plenty of time allocated for an 8 hour online course.

19 hours (actually in the course), 22 pages of hand written plus typed notes, hours of review outside the course and 5 attempted final exams later, I still was not re-certified!

Wait . . . What . . . this is impossible.  My dear friend Allyson Avera said I was the smartest person she knew on Facebook.  What am I doing wrong?  What will she think of me now?

Excuses:

1)      I was looking for problems, capturing pages where there were problems and making notes during the first run through.  Ok, that could have me kept me from passing the final exam the first time.

2)      After attempting the final exam the 2^nd, 3rd and 4^rth time (none were the same test);

“WELL, there must be – and I reported same – that there are obvious problems with the test questions.  ARELLO ignored me.  Could there have been technological problems? Yes, but I had to finish before we knew to what extent.

3)      Start over . . . you know how to do this!  OK, I’ll start at the beginning, complete the course again and retake the test in real time after review.  Failed it again even though I changed my approach.

4)      I’m too old and can’t get the content anymore

5)      Life won’t let me concentrate

6)      My husband (fill in the blank)

7)      My dogs (fill in the blank)

8)      It was the holiday, I couldn’t concentrate

9)      It gets more and more silly, so I won’t bore you with the next 20 excuses

This is an actual email to the course administrator after the 4^th attempt to pass the final exam.  Blue italics is a quote from the content of the course!

I really hate to be the subject of the course

“Learners often view assessment as a very personal, critical, intimidating process. The grades that they receive as a result of the assessment are often personally internalized and can substantially influence their perceived self-worth.”

I continue on . . . with forced confidence.

Sheila

Bottom line is that it was difficult, Period.  The content was strong, questions not giveaways and, as it should have been, constructed at a level that insisted I think at a higher level of learning than I was used to.  It created an uncomfortable equilibrium which is where real learning takes place in adult education (from course content).  I hated it by now and the more I tried to change my approach so I could pass the exam, the more frustrated I became and the more I failed.

I took a two day break, came back with appropriate time allotted for review, set up an atmosphere conducive to concentration and began again.   I failed the test again.

Did I mention the required 90% passing grade?  My scores were 87, 84, 85, 87, don’t remember 5^th score and finally, finally the most anticipated 98% passing grade.  I had passed!

Note: On the 5^th failure I’d made up my mind that I would not take the test again … ever.  Judging that I was unable to withstand another failure!

Moral of the story: Had I maintained that judgment, I would not be a CDEI today.  Don’t give up.  Try harder until you accomplish your goals … especially when it is the most important thing in your life at the time.

To students who’ve taken online courses at my school, I feel your pain.  I have been through my worst possible scenario and continued until I accomplished the goal – no matter how painful.

Now I can say with authority … I understand.

This course did more than teach me how to design, develop, implement and instruct an online class or teach me how to help adults learn using their respective styles.  It also gave me a renewed sense of what students go through as they progress through online class content at my school.

Worth every painful minute!  It helped me be a better school owner and instructor.

Thanks to Joe McClary, Director of Education at ARELLO, Dr. Mac Adkins, Course Facilitator, ARELLO and International Distance Education Certification Center for developing the CDEI certification and for upholding the integrity with a gut wrenching re-certification course.

A record number of TN licensees are taking the TREC Core Course online.  Tennessee Real Estate Commission requires 16 hours of continuing education credit and 4 must be the TREC Core Course. 

Reason for popularity:

• You have 16 hours CE – then you realize that you have not included the 4 hr core course. 
• You’re license renewal date is within the next two weeks and you can’t find a TREC core class scheduled to meet your renewal deadline.
• You simply forgot and must have it in tomorrow!

These and many other reasons are valid and what I hear from agents weekly.  It happens and the online course solves the problem.  Real Estate Success Center submits your CE credit to TREC electronically within hours of receiving your completion email during normal working hours.  If you need it to go up on the weekend, all you need do is call to let me know and I’ll handle it personally.

Don’t panic if you find yourself in this position.  We’re here to help.

Please call if you have questions or visit our school site for this and other offerings.

I’ve been wondering for a while about job and human productivity versus social media in the work place.  I wondered while observing the service manager at my auto dealership scream with frustration about the owner encouraging employees to check out their dealership Facebook Fan page but blocked Facebook from employee computers.  I wondered as my husband removed all social media tools from 46 employee computers to avoid a further drop in productivity. 

Today I read Anita Bruzzese, Gannett’s USA Today article “Procrastinators can limit social-media time with resolve, tech tools“!  So now we have tools to keep us from wasting time on Facebook, Twitter and Google???  I knew this was coming

Most interesting was an automated time tracking, management productivity tool which promises to help. RescueTime.com will recover 4 hours per week of my time.  I’m watching the video now and wondering what is the cost to recover those 4 hours.  Ah, Rescue Time Solo is free … cool!  Check it out.

Thanks for a great article, Anita and thanks for your suggestions to save time and be more productive.  Also thanks to Twitter_Tips r/t Using Twitter to procrastinate? You need to read this: http://j.mp/aitl4A [USAToday] for this tweet … which began my sharing of original information.

This is a great example of the power of social media tools - Twitter and blog posts -to spread information.  Just be sure to ask yourself how much time you’re wasting and how much time using social media tools is productive. 

Please leave a comment if you think your time on Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools is productive or if you think you should use your time more wisely.

Brian Solis has written a great post (Ten Ways to Become a Social Media Expert ) that grabs the attention of anyone trying to figure out where they are in social mediadum (just made that up so, yes, it is a silly word). 

He is without a doubt one of our deepest thinkers. No matter what your industry, you should be reading his book Engage and his blog posts at briansolis.com and following him @briansolis. 

This excellent post tells me to be rely less on experts and more on myself. It suggests that it might be more valuable to answer my own questions rather than relying totally on others (experts).  I needed that today. 

Headings like “It’s Time to Write Your Own Success Stories” and “Self Empowerment Leads to Self Actualization” makes one realize where the power actually is … within ourselves.

Thanks Brian!  Ten Ways to Become a Social Media Expert is priceless and a must read.

This is the current view from my balcony in my adopted home in Biloxi, MS.  I show this not to say how beautiful it is or how fortunate I am – both true.  I post it here because this could be the last time we see it this way.

Mid-day while watching CNN I was shocked when I realized they are broadcasting just to the right of this picture.  A clear reminder that no matter how beautiful, disaster is still looms a few miles out in the Gulf.  The background is Deer Island which was devasted by Katrina and will not return to its previous beauty and full growth for more than a decade.  It may soon be covered in oil.

I hope I never see CNN outside my window again.  But, I’m betting this is not over and I may see them again. 

Last night as police escort a trailer filled with booms to protect us from the oil, we all wondered if those orange things will keep the oil at bay.  We’re pretty sure they won’t if the wind changes  or picks up.  Veterans of this area laugh at the efforts but are helpless to come up with another solution.

Surviving disaster is in the local’s nature, but this is not something with which they can easily deal.  A whole way of life is coming to an end if the waters become so poluted they can’t make a living.  Somber thoughts and my prayers go out to all affected.

Note:  TN licensees must include the 4 HR TREC Core Course for license renewal each term.  Many licensees are forgetting to include this course in their 16 hours then have to quickly get it in before their deadline.  The online version is perfect for last minute inclusion or to get it out of the way sooner rather than later.  The live link above will take you to my school website where you can sign up.  We’ll report it quickly so you’ll be up to date.

Don’t forget!  Go to Real Estate Success Center and sign up today.

A client of  New Marketing Labs writes about twitter management in the post listed below.  Good information  if you are planning to  use Twitter as a communication or customer service tool for business.  Twitter can be overwhelming at first but we’re finally getting good advice  to handle the constant chatter.  For those who know it well, Twitter is their favorite tool.  Beginners are having a hard time discovering the “whys” of twitter. 

David Baeza from Work Shifting.com offers “10 Tips for Social Media Listening“  here that are worthy of your consideration. 

Source:  @chrisbrogan

How long does it take to research all the possibilities of FaceBook apps and widgets?  Answer:   Two full days to filter through all the salespeople, charlatans and non-working links or expired pages.  Then you find some answers.  You get excited – the site you stumbled upon has valuable information which relates to what you want.  And no where is there a word about “for only $39.95 I can make you a star”.  Excellent!

But wait; can you trust this information.   You must try it - then see if it works as the expert says it will.  It does.  Fabulous.  Let’s try another widget – it works, yes.  I’m on my way. 

Then you think …  oh, dear … will it look the same when I login tomorrow.  And if it doesn’t, will I be able to fix what I’ve done.

It seems there are thousands of applications and widgets to help you build your profile page into something you can take pride in. One should not go head strong into the development of the page without caution.

Chris Brogan and Julian Smith’s book Trust Agents was interesting when I read it.  I have a great deal of respect for both.  However, when you experience that feeling of trust after disappointment and misinformation, you really understood what being able to trust the information and/or opinion means. 

I am so appreciative of the information and help to accomplish my goals.  Once I complete the research, I’ll share – once I’ve made sure my applications and widgets are dependable. 

My trust is building along with my FB page

This information was more than I could handle.  I was not prepared for what was being said.  My reason for attending was to learn the basics of twitter and build confidence.  Ok, my expectations and reality were worlds apart and it took me a while to get over it. 

There is so much more to twitter than answering the question:  ”What are your doing” which has recently been changed to “What’s happening”.  If you plan to incorporate twitter in your business and want your followers to read your tweets because you have something to say that is important to them, you really have to know more than I wanted to know.  That’s a fact and it takes many hours of research on your own to get there.  Or does it?

I still believe that a group can gather, start with the basics, become familiar with terms and build confidence within a group workshop.  I am confident a beginner group workshop will result in saving lots of time and research for all.  To date one does not exist.  The knowledge you need is online in twitter manuals and YouTube videos but time management is the problem for most of us. 

With full-time jobs – whatever field – how do you “get up to speed”, as Joe Spake says, before you jump in and test the water.  I don’t think we have the luxury of testing the waters in business.  Our reputation is too important to make mistakes or tweet something that draws a lot of negative comments to our business.  Worse yet, our message might be ignored totally and we won’t be able to figure out why.  We need to know the whys first so we can target, be effective and manage our time.

If you have the money, you can hire a consulting firm to do all this for you.  Some of my business associates have this budget.  Most do not.  Small businesses, start-ups and sole proprietors along with mid-level corporate employees and managers – even upper-level management and owners of large firms – need a fast track to get them started.  Hands on participation to get there is essential.  The need for this is simply because of the urgency to get the information then quickly become productive without hours and hours of research or trial and error.

My goal is to stop everything, read the user manuals, find the answers and then share them in a logical, step by step manner that will bring a group up to speed all at the same time.  Learn together, build together and grow together is on my blog banner.  This is the example I need to follow. 

If you are advanced and want to know about searching twitter, management applications like TweetDeck and Seesmic or search statical data from TweetGrid, Klout and TweetBeep, (this was just the first quarter of the outline!)  Social Web Learning has a training class that will blow you away.  There is so much information in the outline that  Joe couldn’t get through it in two hours.  We will be extending it to four hours next time.  Fabulous outline for experienced users who want to take their twitter experience to the next level.  I was blown away.  He lost me in the first half hour.   I was in over my head and I hate it when that happens. 

I don’t want to feel that uninformed ever again.  I pledge to do my research, read the manuals and outline a group workshop that beginners can enjoy.  If you think this is a good idea, thank Joe Spake for showing me the way and forcing me to do my homework.  I’m hoping it will benefit many and that  Joe will agree to teach those of us who are at my level.  I know he will – he always agrees to help anyone who wants to learn about social media.  We just have to tell him what we need.

There will be a new descriptive name for the existing, advanced course and it will be scheduled again soon for those who are at that level.  Email or comment if you want to be notified for this “blow you away” session.  Beginners – hold on, your class is coming.