1. How I developed my Professional/PersonalLearning Environment in order to extend my professional learning network Liz Diamond

2. My PLE was fragmented before I set about to think about it and organize it. The new digital desk top environment that I have created allows me to easily access the tools I have decided to use to further develop and extend my Professional Learning Network, communicate and collaborate with people in my network and also have other information readily available to me. Most importantly this is available to be from any computer, anywhere as long as I can get internet connection. Following are some screenshots from my iGoogle page

3. From the MAIL tag I can access my Gmail account. This is where messages come in from my Communities of Practice.

4. On the RandC tag I have placed some Reflect and Connect blogs. I also have blog feeds coming into my feed reader for these blogs. This tag was experimental and will be probably renamed and used to store varied visual links.

5. Here from the Lizzyslinks tag I could access my Twitter account, Del.icio.us account, my Lizzy Learning links blog and GoogleReader. I have since changed this by simply Dragging the apps to other tag pages.

6. The Lizzyslinks tag now gives me access to facebook, GoogleReader and Twitter. That is the beauty of the apps on these pages – they are easily manipulated and moved.

7. Within the Home tag I have embedded 3 apps – Calendar, Clock and Google Tip of the Day

8. I also have a fun and games tag which I have embedded a birthday book app and a Hangman game. I intend to continue to develop and rearrange my iGoogle pages to suit my needs. I also intend to review and think about how my digital PLE can be improved to keep me both informed and connected. I am going to make links within my PLE to Communities of Practice (CoPs) to assist me as I work to extend my Professional Learning Network.

9. Strengthening and extending my professional learning network (PLN) This developing PLE will help me stay connected with the PLN I am trying to extend and strengthen. My PLE will also incidentally help me keep connected to my social network as well.

10. Before I undertook this course I did not have a structured online professional learning network (PLN). To find information I used RSS feeds to read blog posts from people I liked to follow and I surfed the net and saved things I was interested in to my Del.cio.us account. This was a solitary pursuit. My research was rather ad hoc and I was just a looker. I did not participate in any dialogue. This course has taught me that to learn and grow I need to be more participatory both online and offline. It is dialogue, feedback and reflection that is combined with prior knowledge to create new learning.

11. In an effort to develop my PLN I am creating and working on strengthening my participation in:- I am using Classroom2.0 to connect and share with teachers globally http://www.classroom20.com/profile/LizDiamond149

12. I intend to use Learn Central to practice in a Vroom I will also explore further and connect with other members. http://www.learncentral.org/

13. I have joined this CoP because it is more sector specific and regional. I think that there is good opportunity to create close relationships and connection with other members in this group http://gippslandregion.spruz.com/

14. LizzysLearning links I have created several avenues of networking for gathering, storing and sharing information and also sharing thoughts and giving and receiving feedback. Twitter account - @lizzyslinks My blog - http://mslizzy.global2.vic.edu.au/ Del.icio.ushttp://del.icio.us/lizdnomaid Diigo - http://www.diigo.com/user/lizzyslinks

15. To continue to further strengthen my connections and my PLN I need to give it the time it deserves but I also need to ensure that I am getting adequate benefits for the effort I put in. I may have to change some contacts over time as I work to make the network ideally suitable for my interests and purposes.