WEBVTT 00:00:00.089 --> 00:00:04.600 Welcome to the video series explaining some of the basic concepts and tools 00:00:04.600 --> 00:00:06.570 of the aPlaNet project. 00:00:06.570 --> 00:00:08.869 One of the main goals of the project 00:00:08.869 --> 00:00:13.448 is to show teachers how to keep up with that professional development 00:00:13.448 --> 00:00:16.289 through the use of social networks. 00:00:16.289 --> 00:00:21.569 Social networking as a tool for learning is relatively new but today 00:00:21.569 --> 00:00:25.122 hundreds of thousands of educators are connected 00:00:25.122 --> 00:00:28.309 through various social networking sites 00:00:28.309 --> 00:00:31.310 and hundreds are joining everyday. 00:00:31.765 --> 00:00:34.452 What is a social network? 00:00:34.452 --> 00:00:38.648 It's a website which allows you to connect with other users 00:00:39.010 --> 00:00:47.935 and share information, activities, interests, news, phtographs, and ideas or viewpoints. 00:00:47.935 --> 00:00:51.017 Chances are, you already belong to one. 00:00:51.194 --> 00:00:56.388 According to wikipedia, at the time of creating this video, 00:00:56.490 --> 00:01:04.237 46% of the world population belonged to some social network or other. 00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:08.909 But why should we use social networks for professional development? 00:01:09.678 --> 00:01:14.175 How do social networks respond to the way we learn 00:01:14.175 --> 00:01:18.830 and the way we hope to develop as foreign language educators? 00:01:18.830 --> 00:01:23.615 Perhaps the answer lies in social groups theory which tells us 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:27.260 that people learn best in social groups, 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:32.130 beginning with the family as the first social unit or group we belong to; 00:01:32.130 --> 00:01:37.097 school later, university, teachers' assosciations. 00:01:37.097 --> 00:01:42.082 This is an idea that was carried forward into the digital age 00:01:42.082 --> 00:01:48.327 and expressed by George Siemens in his theory of connectivism. 00:01:48.346 --> 00:01:51.848 All this points to networked learning 00:01:51.848 --> 00:01:56.210 as a great way to keep up with our professional development 00:01:56.210 --> 00:01:58.584 in a free and autonomous way. 00:01:58.584 --> 00:02:02.450 And this is where social networks can help you. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:02.450 --> 00:02:08.435 Language teachers, always amongst the first to embrace innovative ideas, 00:02:08.435 --> 00:02:11.359 have started using these social networks 00:02:11.359 --> 00:02:14.426 to communicate with colleagues all over the world 00:02:14.426 --> 00:02:21.082 creating their own personal learning networks, PLNs for short, 00:02:21.113 --> 00:02:28.815 exchanging ideas and resources as well as discussing issues of interest to educators, 00:02:28.815 --> 00:02:33.408 putting connectivist theory into their daily lives. 00:02:33.995 --> 00:02:38.221 Let us begin with Facebook, which is perhaps 00:02:38.321 --> 00:02:43.859 the most popular social networking site amongst teachers. 00:02:43.859 --> 00:02:49.156 Many have started using it already to connect with friends and family. 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. 00:02:55.459 --> 00:03:02.202 Once you get started, it's very easy to share links, photographs, videos, 00:03:02.208 --> 00:03:06.019 and even documents with your friends. 00:03:06.019 --> 00:03:13.425 You can also join facebook groups created by other teachers, by educational institutions 00:03:13.456 --> 00:03:17.424 or any other group you share a common interest with. 00:03:17.424 --> 00:03:21.339 And of course you can create your own pages and groups 00:03:21.339 --> 00:03:26.442 for your own students or for sharing ideas with your colleagues. 00:03:26.688 --> 00:03:32.875 On Facebook, teachers can join open as well as closed or even secret groups: 00:03:32.875 --> 00:03:39.049 something which is very popular amongst educators who use it with their students. 00:03:39.664 --> 00:03:43.049 One suggestion we would make is that 00:03:43.049 --> 00:03:48.230 if you plan to use Facebook as a teacher for your professional development, 00:03:48.248 --> 00:03:53.577 it is a very good idea to create a separate teacher account 00:03:53.577 --> 00:03:58.370 and keep your personal account only for family and friends 00:03:58.430 --> 00:04:02.083 private and separate from your teacher account. 00:04:03.079 --> 00:04:07.167 Nings are also very popular amongst educators 00:04:07.767 --> 00:04:11.494 especially because they are standalone networks, 00:04:11.494 --> 00:04:17.214 with a very sharp focus on a common goal within each online community. 00:04:17.214 --> 00:04:20.684 Nings are also highly user-friendly. 00:04:21.075 --> 00:04:26.658 They are professional-looking platforms that allow sharing resources 00:04:26.719 --> 00:04:30.777 and organizing online content and events. 00:04:31.100 --> 00:04:37.079 Each Ning is separate and it can be made public or private, 00:04:37.079 --> 00:04:43.300 allowing anyone or just invited individuals access to its content. 00:04:43.320 --> 00:04:47.340 Once you are a member you get your own personal page 00:04:47.340 --> 00:04:52.669 where you can upload documents, photographs and videos, write blog posts, 00:04:52.669 --> 00:04:55.529 organize or participate in events, 00:04:55.529 --> 00:04:57.879 take part in forum discussions 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:00.830 and easily invite your contacts. 00:05:00.830 --> 00:05:04.777 You can even create special interest groups within the Ning, 00:05:04.807 --> 00:05:08.565 or join existing ones created by colleagues 00:05:08.595 --> 00:05:13.015 and share ideas and content or specific interests with them. 00:05:13.559 --> 00:05:21.559 Last but not least: twitter, a major tool for continuous professional development 00:05:22.052 --> 00:05:26.860 Twitter is excellent for the immediate sharing of ideas and opinions 00:05:26.860 --> 00:05:30.639 as well as links to interesting resources. 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:38.581 Since it's only allows you 140 characters per tweet, as status updates are called, 00:05:39.229 --> 00:05:43.028 what you write has to be brief and to the point. 00:05:43.189 --> 00:05:46.926 This is what makes it ideal for the busy professional. 00:05:46.926 --> 00:05:53.585 You can ask your colleagues a brief question and get a dozen answers within minutes. 00:05:53.634 --> 00:05:57.320 Many users follow twitter in their browser 00:05:57.320 --> 00:06:01.110 and you can also follow it on your mobile phone 00:06:01.110 --> 00:06:04.289 but by using an application like tweetdeck 00:06:04.289 --> 00:06:08.119 you can easily monitor different threads of discussion 00:06:08.119 --> 00:06:10.449 usually beginning with the hashtag. 00:06:10.449 --> 00:06:12.569 You can check your direct messages 00:06:12.569 --> 00:06:19.412 and even share photographs, videos and documents with just a couple of clicks. 00:06:19.445 --> 00:06:22.745 All you have to do is find teachers to follow - 00:06:23.207 --> 00:06:29.860 something which will be an important focus of the mentoring process of the aPlaNet project. 00:06:30.389 --> 00:06:35.534 Through participating in one or more of these social networks, 00:06:35.534 --> 00:06:42.562 you will be able to learn when and where free online events are happening, 00:06:42.588 --> 00:06:49.702 access useful links on language teaching, find great resources for your lessons 00:06:49.719 --> 00:06:52.389 which are tweeted around the clock, 00:06:52.389 --> 00:06:57.146 follow blog posts written by teachers for teachers 00:06:57.219 --> 00:07:03.014 connect with inspiring and passionate educators who are keen on sharing, 00:07:03.619 --> 00:07:07.434 find out about the latest web tools, 00:07:07.849 --> 00:07:10.740 make your lessons more motivating, 00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:14.918 connect your classes with students from around the world, 00:07:15.550 --> 00:07:20.139 manage your professional development in an autonomous way. 00:07:20.555 --> 00:07:24.430 To be in charge of your and professional development 00:07:24.430 --> 00:07:31.051 is the major goal of aPlaNet, an EU-funded project whose ambition 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, 00:07:39.662 --> 00:07:43.339 in order to become a connected teacher 00:07:43.339 --> 00:07:49.830 It is up to each individual teacher to decide whether to use 1, 2 00:07:49.830 --> 00:07:53.286 or all these social networking tools, 00:07:53.802 --> 00:07:59.129 exercising choice and autonomy in their own development. 00:07:59.129 --> 00:08:06.538 You can find more information about all three social networks in our teacher guide 00:08:06.777 --> 00:08:12.851 as well as through joining our Ning and connecting with a mentor 00:08:12.907 --> 00:08:18.012 who will help and guide you on hpw to use each tool. 00:08:18.159 --> 00:08:21.099 both for your own professional development 00:08:21.099 --> 00:08:27.001 as well as a teaching tool with your own foreign language students. 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.