RSS & Twitter as Professional Development

I've been doing a lot of reading on blogs and Twitter. I've really started seeing it as my own Personal Learning Network (PLN). There has been so much that I've taken away and implemented or new websites that I can use.

Then I started looking at other teachers in my building and wondering, "How much time do you spend each day or week seeing what other people are doing with specific topics in education?" I would guess that it's not much.

Today, one of the people I follow on Twitter posted this tweet:

just got done talking to bldg admin. about using RSS as quasi-PLN for some of next year's PD (from Twitter user mctownsly)

First, a few definitions: RSS=Real Simple Syndication, RSS readers pull headlines from websites to one spot. PD=Professional Development. And we already know what PLN is.

Second, there are so many positives to this. Let's make a list:

• Individualized learning, pick feeds that interest you
  
• Group learning, follow the same feeds
• Current, extremely current information
• The ability to create a discussion using comments with educators around the world.
• Possibly strike interest in teachers to do their own blogging.
• Anytime, anywhere learning and reflecting

Here's a screen shot of the resulting twitter posts from concretekax, mctownsly, and me, learnteachtech.

I'm very excited about this possibility and where it can go. mctownsly has inspired me to connect with our professional development committee and TAP Leadership Team to see what we can do for next year.