1 00:00:00,089 --> 00:00:04,600 Welcome to the video series explaining some of the basic concepts and tools 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:06,570 of the aPlaNet project. 3 00:00:06,570 --> 00:00:08,869 One of the main goals of the project 4 00:00:08,869 --> 00:00:13,448 is to show teachers how to keep up with that professional development 5 00:00:13,448 --> 00:00:16,289 through the use of social networks. 6 00:00:16,289 --> 00:00:21,569 Social networking as a tool for learning is relatively new but today 7 00:00:21,569 --> 00:00:25,122 hundreds of thousands of educators are connected 8 00:00:25,122 --> 00:00:28,309 through various social networking sites 9 00:00:28,309 --> 00:00:31,310 and hundreds are joining everyday. 10 00:00:31,765 --> 00:00:34,452 What is a social network? 11 00:00:34,452 --> 00:00:38,648 It's a website which allows you to connect with other users 12 00:00:39,010 --> 00:00:47,935 and share information, activities, interests, news, phtographs, and ideas or viewpoints. 13 00:00:47,935 --> 00:00:51,017 Chances are, you already belong to one. 14 00:00:51,194 --> 00:00:56,388 According to wikipedia, at the time of creating this video, 15 00:00:56,490 --> 00:01:04,237 46% of the world population belonged to some social network or other. 16 00:01:04,310 --> 00:01:08,909 But why should we use social networks for professional development? 17 00:01:09,678 --> 00:01:14,175 How do social networks respond to the way we learn 18 00:01:14,175 --> 00:01:18,830 and the way we hope to develop as foreign language educators? 19 00:01:18,830 --> 00:01:23,615 Perhaps the answer lies in social groups theory which tells us 20 00:01:23,819 --> 00:01:27,260 that people learn best in social groups, 21 00:01:27,260 --> 00:01:32,130 beginning with the family as the first social unit or group we belong to; 22 00:01:32,130 --> 00:01:37,097 school later, university, teachers' assosciations. 23 00:01:37,097 --> 00:01:42,082 This is an idea that was carried forward into the digital age 24 00:01:42,082 --> 00:01:48,327 and expressed by George Siemens in his theory of connectivism. 25 00:01:48,346 --> 00:01:51,848 All this points to networked learning 26 00:01:51,848 --> 00:01:56,210 as a great way to keep up with our professional development 27 00:01:56,210 --> 00:01:58,584 in a free and autonomous way. 28 00:01:58,584 --> 00:02:02,450 And this is where social networks can help you. 29 00:02:02,450 --> 00:02:08,435 Language teachers, always amongst the first to embrace innovative ideas, 30 00:02:08,435 --> 00:02:11,359 have started using these social networks 31 00:02:11,359 --> 00:02:14,426 to communicate with colleagues all over the world 32 00:02:14,426 --> 00:02:21,082 creating their own personal learning networks, PLNs for short, 33 00:02:21,113 --> 00:02:28,815 exchanging ideas and resources as well as discussing issues of interest to educators, 34 00:02:28,815 --> 00:02:33,408 putting connectivist theory into their daily lives. 35 00:02:33,995 --> 00:02:38,221 Let us begin with Facebook, which is perhaps 36 00:02:38,321 --> 00:02:43,859 the most popular social networking site amongst teachers. 37 00:02:43,859 --> 00:02:49,156 Many have started using it already to connect with friends and family. 38 00:02:49,156 --> 00:02:55,107 It's very easy to join and use, and perhaps that's why it's so popular. 39 00:02:55,459 --> 00:03:02,202 Once you get started, it's very easy to share links, photographs, videos, 40 00:03:02,208 --> 00:03:06,019 and even documents with your friends. 41 00:03:06,019 --> 00:03:13,425 You can also join facebook groups created by other teachers, by educational institutions 42 00:03:13,456 --> 00:03:17,424 or any other group you share a common interest with. 43 00:03:17,424 --> 00:03:21,339 And of course you can create your own pages and groups 44 00:03:21,339 --> 00:03:26,442 for your own students or for sharing ideas with your colleagues. 45 00:03:26,688 --> 00:03:32,875 On Facebook, teachers can join open as well as closed or even secret groups: 46 00:03:32,875 --> 00:03:39,049 something which is very popular amongst educators who use it with their students. 47 00:03:39,664 --> 00:03:43,049 One suggestion we would make is that 48 00:03:43,049 --> 00:03:48,230 if you plan to use Facebook as a teacher for your professional development, 49 00:03:48,248 --> 00:03:53,577 it is a very good idea to create a separate teacher account 50 00:03:53,577 --> 00:03:58,370 and keep your personal account only for family and friends 51 00:03:58,430 --> 00:04:02,083 private and separate from your teacher account. 52 00:04:03,079 --> 00:04:07,167 Nings are also very popular amongst educators 53 00:04:07,767 --> 00:04:11,494 especially because they are standalone networks, 54 00:04:11,494 --> 00:04:17,214 with a very sharp focus on a common goal within each online community. 55 00:04:17,214 --> 00:04:20,684 Nings are also highly user-friendly. 56 00:04:21,075 --> 00:04:26,658 They are professional-looking platforms that allow sharing resources 57 00:04:26,719 --> 00:04:30,777 and organizing online content and events. 58 00:04:31,100 --> 00:04:37,079 Each Ning is separate and it can be made public or private, 59 00:04:37,079 --> 00:04:43,300 allowing anyone or just invited individuals access to its content. 60 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:47,340 Once you are a member you get your own personal page 61 00:04:47,340 --> 00:04:52,669 where you can upload documents, photographs and videos, write blog posts, 62 00:04:52,669 --> 00:04:55,529 organize or participate in events, 63 00:04:55,529 --> 00:04:57,879 take part in forum discussions 64 00:04:57,879 --> 00:05:00,830 and easily invite your contacts. 65 00:05:00,830 --> 00:05:04,777 You can even create special interest groups within the Ning, 66 00:05:04,807 --> 00:05:08,565 or join existing ones created by colleagues 67 00:05:08,595 --> 00:05:13,015 and share ideas and content or specific interests with them. 68 00:05:13,559 --> 00:05:21,559 Last but not least: twitter, a major tool for continuous professional development 69 00:05:22,052 --> 00:05:26,860 Twitter is excellent for the immediate sharing of ideas and opinions 70 00:05:26,860 --> 00:05:30,639 as well as links to interesting resources. 71 00:05:30,639 --> 00:05:38,581 Since it's only allows you 140 characters per tweet, as status updates are called, 72 00:05:39,229 --> 00:05:43,028 what you write has to be brief and to the point. 73 00:05:43,189 --> 00:05:46,926 This is what makes it ideal for the busy professional. 74 00:05:46,926 --> 00:05:53,585 You can ask your colleagues a brief question and get a dozen answers within minutes. 75 00:05:53,634 --> 00:05:57,320 Many users follow twitter in their browser 76 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,110 and you can also follow it on your mobile phone 77 00:06:01,110 --> 00:06:04,289 but by using an application like tweetdeck 78 00:06:04,289 --> 00:06:08,119 you can easily monitor different threads of discussion 79 00:06:08,119 --> 00:06:10,449 usually beginning with the hashtag. 80 00:06:10,449 --> 00:06:12,569 You can check your direct messages 81 00:06:12,569 --> 00:06:19,412 and even share photographs, videos and documents with just a couple of clicks. 82 00:06:19,445 --> 00:06:22,745 All you have to do is find teachers to follow - 83 00:06:23,207 --> 00:06:29,860 something which will be an important focus of the mentoring process of the aPlaNet project. 84 00:06:30,389 --> 00:06:35,534 Through participating in one or more of these social networks, 85 00:06:35,534 --> 00:06:42,562 you will be able to learn when and where free online events are happening, 86 00:06:42,588 --> 00:06:49,702 access useful links on language teaching, find great resources for your lessons 87 00:06:49,719 --> 00:06:52,389 which are tweeted around the clock, 88 00:06:52,389 --> 00:06:57,146 follow blog posts written by teachers for teachers 89 00:06:57,219 --> 00:07:03,014 connect with inspiring and passionate educators who are keen on sharing, 90 00:07:03,619 --> 00:07:07,434 find out about the latest web tools, 91 00:07:07,849 --> 00:07:10,740 make your lessons more motivating, 92 00:07:10,740 --> 00:07:14,918 connect your classes with students from around the world, 93 00:07:15,550 --> 00:07:20,139 manage your professional development in an autonomous way. 94 00:07:20,555 --> 00:07:24,430 To be in charge of your and professional development 95 00:07:24,430 --> 00:07:31,051 is the major goal of aPlaNet, an EU-funded project whose ambition 96 00:07:31,110 --> 00:07:39,162 is to give you the tools and knowledge to participate in all these exciting and informative conversations, 97 00:07:39,662 --> 00:07:43,339 in order to become a connected teacher 98 00:07:43,339 --> 00:07:49,830 It is up to each individual teacher to decide whether to use 1, 2 99 00:07:49,830 --> 00:07:53,286 or all these social networking tools, 100 00:07:53,802 --> 00:07:59,129 exercising choice and autonomy in their own development. 101 00:07:59,129 --> 00:08:06,538 You can find more information about all three social networks in our teacher guide 102 00:08:06,777 --> 00:08:12,851 as well as through joining our Ning and connecting with a mentor 103 00:08:12,907 --> 00:08:18,012 who will help and guide you on hpw to use each tool. 104 00:08:18,159 --> 00:08:21,099 both for your own professional development 105 00:08:21,099 --> 00:08:27,001 as well as a teaching tool with your own foreign language students. 106 00:08:28,069 --> 00:08:35,852 Thank you very much for listening and we look forward to meeting you in the aPlaNet Ning.