The role of personal learning networks in teachers' professional development

Abstract

Knowing how to exploit social media for professional development is one of the hallmarks of the connected teacher. According to Buzzetto-More (2012) "Today's change agents ... have a particular talent for launching and promoting new sub-networks by fostering introductions and connections between people" (p. 8). Social media are increasingly playing a pivotal role in education and are bound to continue shaping the practices of teachers for the foreseeable future. Teachers' ability to harness the potential of social media for professional development purposes is crucial. Knowing how to create a PLN involves a set of skills that can be developed by means of appropriate training that targets not only teachers' competences but also their attitude towards the contribution that social media can make to their CPD. By means of the results of a small-scale study involving a group of teachers who participated in a training workshop on the use of social media, this chapter seeks to show that teachers can be encouraged to appreciate that the tools they use routinely for personal reasons also have latent qualities that make them ideal for achieving professional growth.