aPLaNet The Power of PLNs

[Heike Philp]

Recording: http://lancelot.adobeconnect.com/p85015599/ (1min 30min)

 

Panelists are

• Burcu Akyol
• Graham Stanley
• Marisa Constantinides
• Shelly Terrell
• Joel Josephson
• Ann Foreman

Moderation: Cornelia Kreis-Meyer

European funded language project aPLaNet Autonomous "Personal Learning Networks" for Language Teachers is a European Union funded project to help language educators who are not yet using social networks to understand:

•        What are social networks for language educators?
•        Why they should use them?
•        How they can get involved?

The project will help them join and use Internet Personal Learning Network (PLN) on social networks (SNs)

The three questions will be answered by showing language educators:

1. What and how to use identified SNs (technical & teacher guides, videos)
2. What resources and support is available within a PLN (resource templates workshops, guides, diaries)
3. How they can build their own PLN through a mentoring system, provided by existing expert users who are language educators just like themselves (Websites, mentoring system, workshops, guides).

Burcu Akyol has been teaching English for eleven years. Currently she works at ISTEK Schools in Turkey as the Foreign Languages Department Coordinator. She is interested using web technologies in ELT and teacher training. She describes herself as a passionate and dedicated teacher.

Graham Stanley spends half of his working life as a teacher of English at the British Council Young Learner Centre in Barcelona, Spain and the other half working as social media consultant on projects for the British Council such as aPLaNet (personal learning networks for teachers) and ITiLT (interactive whiteboards). He has a M.Ed. (University of Manchester, UK) in ELT & Educational Technology, and is also coordinator of the IATEFL Learning Technologies Special Interest Group.

Joel Josephson has been involved in Internet and high tech for 14 yrs. He founded 3 Internet companies. Founder of the Kindersite Project website in 2003, an educational resource used by 18,100 schools in 157 countries. Keynote speaker at European Conferences on using the Internet to disseminate to educators. His primary expertise is in Internet communications and research and disseminating over the Internet using Web 2.0 and Web 1.0 channels.He is a well-known member of over 80 social networks for educators and founded and runs the Facebook group EU_Educators.

Ann Foreman is a classroom teacher and teacher trainer based in Bilbao, Spain. The issues that most fire her are finding the best ways of using new technology in the classroom and coming to terms with the changing the needs and aspirations of learners in today’s digital world. She belongs to the British Council’s English Language Innovation team, which gives her the opportunity to make regular contributions to its Teaching English Facebook page, Twitter and to work on developing new teaching and learning applications.