@Alan But we gotta have some kind of word to indicate what we’re talking about, even if the boundaries of that word are fuzzy (all of them are). There’s no substitute for Being There or for Actually Doing It, but the words help us generalize from our own experiences and share the idea. Problematic and annoying things, these words, but what else we got? Like you, I don’t want to wrangle about the words–but I do want to use them like miners’ flashlights to help me go exploring.

@Debbie I understand completely how “network” starts to sound like wires and switches and such. We could substitute “community,” but the word “network” emphasizes that all-important activity of building connections, and thinking about “connectivity,” both literally and as a metaphor. Me, I view the Internet as a metaphor for civilization–and a map for it–and a platform on which to build it–just like the neural network inside our heads (and here I think of Jon Udell’s idea of the Internet as a global nervous system). It may be that PLNs can be more inclusive because the word “network” suggests looser or more flexible affiliations than “community”–but I’m just speculating here.

@Jim Not for the first time do I find that Chris Lott has gotten there way ahead of me. Great post, and thanks for that link. You know me: I’m all about the models and metaphors and “conceptual frameworks” a la Engelbart.

@sleslie I agree that the flexibility (maddening ambiguity?) of the term PLN is useful as a pointer and as a framework for all sorts of emergent behaviors. I’d say it’s suggestive, not descriptive or prescriptive–though I also think it’s important. Maybe even an imperative. The ethical component to all of this, especially while Rome is burning (as it certainly is), makes me walk the tightrope between suggestive and urgent. I love the amplitude of discussion and consideration (until the snark piles up as we all snack on each other–snark is the faeces of conversation, or at least I’ll try that aphorism out today). But I also insist that some actions are better than others, especially at times of crisis. If I were a better polemicist or a truer evangelist, I wouldn’t walk the tightrope, I guess…. Maybe I’d feel better too. Who knows?

@Britt Thanks for that tip. Cogdog is a very clever dog. You should see the way he regularly thrashes me in Words With Friends (WWF–sounds like wrestling, now that I give it a TLA). That blissful unawareness is exactly what I’m trying to get at and get around. On my cynical days I wonder how much of the blissful unawareness is a deliberate strategy. Time for another cup of coffee….

That said, your analysis is spot on and a reason you are part of my PLN. There may come a day when we no longer need to label it, but most faculty are blissfully unaware of the power that networked learning enables…for them and their students. So this conversation remains important.

http://chrislott.org/story/tired-of-the-ple-flak/

A wise man, and the PLE certainly has its limits, and I agree with Alan and D’Arcy on that to some degree, but conceptual thinking around a model can have its uses, even if limited.

The interesting thing for me about a PLN is just how open individuals are to non-colleagues, for lack of a less winceworthy term, joining in. I observe inclusion versus exclusion. I read a lot. I listen a lot. And sometimes I tap on the sides of the glass. Patience is my best ally. I figure that people will figure out my value, colleague or not. I figure it’s lopsided. Other people are probably more value to me than I am to them, and that inequality is not so bad.

I am uncertain where I fit into a PLN. I am a bat among educators. I am neither beast nor bird. It is easier for me to fit people into my PLN than for people to fit me into theirs. Does it matter? Not a whole lot. I think my personal learning is more organic than the term network would imply. The term “network” may be exact enough, but I prefer something cozier. What if I just think in terms of valued teachers? I like that and it doesn’t make me all twitchy like “network” does.

People can consider me part of a PLN, but, no, I do not have a network. I sit at the feet of people who inspire me, and hope that I can give them something in return.

And while a learning network is something we form around our education experiences, do we leave it for a Personal Work Network? A Personal Bowling Network? I just don;t see anything uniquely different about a learning network than any other kind we may form.

But those are morsels.

I don’t care WTF we call it, I am more interested in the *doing* of the ______, the process of it, than talking about abstract constructs.

For me, it is just a plain “N”, but I dont begrudge people calling it whatever they want.

PS I make up stuff all the time

If so, I don’t see much detriment to that goal in using this (admittedly annoying) acronym, and we have to talk about “it” (whatever it is) somehow.

I still say “web 2.0″ because, generally speaking, people know what I’m talking about. When they don’t, or if they misunderstand, I can clarify, and that is often the basis for a constructive conversation. Same for PLE/PLN.