Chapter 6
Building your connected learning community through a three-pronged approach using a personal learning network, professional learning community and community of practice will help to gain professional development. In chapter six of the Connected Educator, there is in depth analysis of this three-pronged approach.
A personal learning network is used for a one’s personal gain and should reflect your goals and experiences. Using multiple tools such as blogs, note-taking applications, photo sharing websites, twitter, etc. can help to aid in the growth of a personal learning network. It is important to remember that these tools each bring a different aspect to the continued growth of network. Being an engaging member of these networks through continued conversations in an ethical way will help to expand the possibilities of learning.
In a career path such as event planning, building a personal learning network would be beneficial in many areas, considering that an event planner needs to collaborate with many different professionals in order to bring an event to fruition. Focusing on weddings, an event planner needs to be in contact with an entertainment team, florist, caterer, officiant, and sometimes more professionals than the basics depending on the needs of the bride and groom. Creating a personal learning network with all of these professionals will help an event planner to gain a more well rounded idea of the work that all fits together to create one event. It is discussed in chapter six that through building a personal learning network it will provide sources of new information that will help to create new ideas and bring those back to your local community to create more depth. I feel that branching out to these other professionals will definitely result in creating new ideas for an event planner that can be applied to their future events.
It is important when creating a personal learning community that a healthy community is made. This can be achieved through being open to diversity, having a good design for learning, creating content on co-creation, and building trust. A man named David Lee came up with the 4L model which represents 4 different roles that community members participate in. The first one, Linking, is a person that is interested in joining the community and visit occasionally. The second one, Lurking, is a person that does not want to share their own ideas but is willing to listen to others ideas and watch from the sidelines. The third, Learning, is a person that participates on a frequent basis and will take from the experience as much as they give to it. The fourth is leading, which is a person that commits time and energy to the community and is identified as a leader at the launch of the community. These four roles are evolving and people can go from one role to the next.
As an event planner, following the 4L model, it would be important to at least participate in the learning role. This would create better opportunity to be an active member of the community and not only gain personal knowledge but help others through sharing personal experiences as well.
Question to the reader:
How can you apply these same principles to your career/future career?
Question to the reader:
How can you apply these same principles to your career/future career?
Works Cited
Nussbaum-Beach, S., & Hall, L. R. (2012). The connected educator: Learning and leading in a digital age. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
Hi Cara! Building a personal learning network will be incredibly beneficial for your future career as an event planner. By having connections in the industry, it will inspire new ideas and create more depth in your personal brand. By communicating with professionals in the industry, it will allow you to hear their experiences and learn new things about the event planning business. In my future career in marketing, a personal learning network will be incredibly beneficial in growing my knowledge about the marketing industry and business world. One day, I wish to own my own business and create my individual brand. I am currently understanding the importance of following individuals who are inspiring, motivating and could be potential mentors. As a marketing professional, it will be important to be in the learning or leading role based on the 4L model. Contribution to discussion is crucial in the formation of marketing plans, public relations campaigns, etc. Are you following individuals that you align with in the event planning industry as inspiration? Great post!
ReplyDeleteHaving a strong personal learning network is essential for your career in helping to strengthen your reputation and bring in new clients. My cousin recently got married and I blown away by how much website posting and social media was involved in the whole process. Almost every process of the wedding was documented and or posted on social media. This is possibly an example of how advantageous growing and developing a personal learning network could be for your career. One principle I will always apply is "learning", as I plan to never stop learning.
ReplyDeleteHi Cara!!
ReplyDeleteWith event planning I believe the 4L model you mentioned would work great! In event planning connections is everything. The people you event plan for give you their connections so your network can grow immensely. I used to do birthday parties, and we had a birthday party event planner. It was a very hard job, but she had to be super friendly to the parents so she could grow our connections, and keep up with the social media online! committing time and energy will help you evolve and grow connections!
Hey Cara,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very well written blog and the picture is perfect. I feel that as an event planner this chapter applies to you in more ways that other careers. A career that is as social as an event planner needs to have a connected community and network. Dealing with clients face to face and talking to people non stop requires that your network expands further than just clients. When planning events it would also be extremely important to have businesses that would provide services, (food, music, etc.) for these events in your personal network as well.
Hello Cara,
ReplyDeleteYour summary for chapter 6 is on point and I liked how you used event planning as a great example of a future career requiring a healthy community. If there is a lack of communication with other professionals, there would be a bit of a chaos. With everyone putting in their effort, everything falls into place. That is why is very important to understand who make be a "lurker" or a "leader." With an organized system, the community reaps the benefits. Your role as a leader and with others taking your instruction or even putting in a good amount of commitment in time and energy, the event itself will be successful. In the same way, I am looking to become a physician in the future. I would be a leader in my local community and I would be giving instructions for nurses to follow through. What would help me become a better physician is getting in touch with other physicians and learning from them. Stepping down as a teacher for once and to be a learner will help not only myself but also my workplace.
Do you plan on connecting with other event planners? Do you think by doing that, future events could potentially fall "better" into place?