Learning Activities
Building Networks…..of scholarship, practice, and who’s who in public policy;
Building Networks…. of authenticity;
Building Networks…. of friendship
Read: The radical political power of friendship
Now that we have each honed in with a focus to our emergent practice, and where we could best apply our personal competencies, it’s time to build out our networks, both in quantity and quality. While Twitter (X) and LinkedIn may not brand themselves as Personal Learning Networks (PLNs), we will use this PLN nomenclature as we begin to build out our networks in digital spaces.
Personal learning networks build upon the notions of collective knowledge, communities of practice and provide guidance to actually form such learning communities. Built upon the theories of social learning and connectivism, PLNs consist of a learner and the contacts and colleagues with whom they surround themselves. These networks need not occur face-to-face or in real time, nor does the learner have to personally know their knowledge collaborators. PLNs are often specifically devoted to professional learning and development, and by applying technology, PLNs can be local or global – ideally, they will be both. ‘Including technology and connection-making as learning activities begins to move learning theories into a digital age. We can no longer personally experience and acquire learning that we need to act. We derive our competence from forming connections’ (Siemens, 2005).
Personal Learning Networks – Defining and Building a PLN
Here are some resources for defining and building a Personal Learning Network:
Read: Personal Learning Networks: Defining and Building a PLN
Watch this video, (which is a bit dated (pre-X) but you will get the gist:
Video: How To Build Your PLN (Professional Learning Network)
Building a PLN is not just about collecting contacts and information. It’s about building relationships and contributing value. To do that, you need to engage actively and authentically with your PLN. That means sharing your insights, opinions, questions, and resources with others. It means participating in webinars on topics of interest to you, and making yourself visible in the interactions of the webinar (comments, slido or mentimeter polls). It also means commenting, liking, retweeting, endorsing, or recommending others’ posts and content. And it means responding to feedback, requests, or invitations from others. A PLN needs to move from the general world of posts and webinars into frequent one-on-one conversations and engagements that may evolve into unique projects. Be respectful, supportive, and curious, and show your personality and passion.
Read this article and begin to develop your own “to-do-list” for building out your PLN:
What’s your strategy for building a personal learning network in your field?
In the field of climate action leadership, it is critical to create PLNs at both the professional and the local community level. By understanding the dynamics of “local” we can be better informed with practices and actions that resonate within professional circles.
How to do this?
Make sure you know who your provincial Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) or federal Member of Parliament (MP) is, and ideally, make sure that person knows who you are; explore who on your municipal council is an advocate for addressing climate issues (you can figure this out by reading the minutes of Council meetings where mitigation or adaptation issues are being discussed); attend municipal meetings when climate-related issues and policies and related bylaws are being discussed at council meetings; volunteer on a community committee or with an activist group which may be putting pressure on municipal, provincial or federal policy analysts and/or decision-makers. Your volunteer activities in your community, whether it be with a local streamkeepers society or a municipal committee evaluating wildfire risk or watershed protection helps to build your (1) “policy vocabulary”, (2) network, and (3) deeper understanding of the connected issues that need to be considered in climate action leadership.
There are historical examples of building networks of authenticity and friendship to envision a better world, and to address wicked societal problems. Here is an example:
“Hannah Arendt (14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was an American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. She is also remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase “the banality of evil.”
See Wikipedia – Hannah Arendt
“Arendt sees friendship as allied to politics: not as a substitute for politics, nor as a way of doing politics, but as a condition necessary for the survival of politics as she understood it,” writes Jon Nixon in his book Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Friendship. “Friendship is what lies between the private world of the familial, tribal, and religious affiliation, and the political world of institutional and association affiliation based not on family, tribe, or religion but on equality.”
Vox – The Radical Power of Friendship
Download Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Friendship, an Open Access book. Set aside 60-90 minutes to do some skim reading of this text. This course does not have time to dive deep into the work of Hannah Arendt, but we do have both time and purpose in gaining some historical familiarity with the notion of building networks of authenticity and friendship to envision a better world, and to address wicked societal problems.
Assessment each week can be found under the site’s Assessment Menu: Assessment Week 4