Embracing Grass Roots PLN's for Change

 

Photo Credit: www.cru.org

Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are more than just a list of contacts sitting in your email account.  PLN's if administered correctly are a rich ecosystem of content curators, content consumers and collaborators for the good of the group. It is meant to be a purposely built network in which the users maintain, build and activate on each others ideas. The PLN  is the perfect environment in which to activate bottom up changes for positive grass roots impacts. 

Affordances of PLN's

Consider if you will this list of benefits that could be provide to your business if you choose to start a company based PLN:

• Increased Engagement and Ownership:  You employees will be empowered to identify their own needs,  explore solutions  and contribute to collective knowledge. 
• Tailored and Relevant Learning: Due to the construction of PLN's, now two groups are exactly alike.  And no two groups will see information and perspectives exactly the same.  PLN's ensure learning directly address personal and professional goals
• Faster Innovation: PLN's are constructed for employees on the front lines who interact with the processes on a daily basis. In a rapidly changing word, PLN's foster agility in change.
• Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement:  Creating change is not an overnight success.  The organization is a system, and as a system the organization needs practice to develop the  culture of how to change. 

By empowering your employees with PLN bottom up change practices, you are going to unlock a powerful engine for growth, innovation and lasting impact. 

The AI Crutch: Are New Teachers Leaning Too Hard on Bots for Lesson Plans? (Part 2)

 photo credit: www.theage.com.au

In the previous blog we went over three of the topics to consider when advising new educators on the use of Ai when choosing lesson plans. In that blog we discussed outdated approaches that could be used by Ai, context awareness of Ai, and the potential for reduced professional development for teachers. 

Diminished Critical Thinking and Evaluation Skills

New educators will need to develop a skeptical mindset when analyzing Ai outputs and critically examining the outputs. This could pose to be a challenging dilemma as this newest generation termed as "Digital Natives" have not known a non-digital world.  Their whole lives have been immersed in the digital age and may feel overly confident in Ai's ability to generate content as evident in the 2024 article from Dilara Can. (Click here for article) 

The illusion of Efficiency

The initial drafting of lesson plans through Ai may seem like a time savings at first.  however, when the need for rigorous examination of the lesson plans to ensure the right topics at the right levels in the right contexts are factored in, the illusion of efficiency starts to fall suspect. New educators overwhelmed in the first place, when the added task of verifying rigor and accuracy is applied to their workload, this leads to poorly executed lessons or stress when implementation does not go as planned. 

Ai as a Tool for Support 

The research and data is consistent and indicates that Ai tools should be viewed as supportive instruments to ENHANCE and supplement teachers work, not replace them. Geesje Van Den Berg and Elize du Plessis in their 2023 article (click here for article) recommend cation for new educators in saying, 

"it is crucial to approach these models with caution and critically evaluate their limitations and potential biases, understanding that they are tools to support teaching and learning. Lesson plans and related materials should be cautiously used and critiqued and adapted where needed"

As a district or project leader, you will be wise to recommend new educators delay their investigations into Ai generated content for the classroom. The new educators will however, need a community to ask question to in relative "judgment free" online forums. This new generation of educators are truly immersed in the digital communities as producers and curators of content, as a leader, embrace their digital proficiency and build on it. 

It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, it take many communities and experiences to raise a proficient educator. 

The AI Crutch: Are New Teachers Leaning Too Hard on Bots for Lesson Plans? (Part 1)

 

photo credit: showme.missouri.edu 

As the advancements in Ai and Web 2.0 become more and more sophisticated, we must pause and reflect on what is right for our new educators who are new the the profession. No matter if the rookie educator is in the classroom or a corporate trainer, is Ai and Web 2.0 right for them?  Or, are we doing more harm than good? 

Much of the blog, CTRL+ALT+Learn,  has been devoted to the benefits of incorporating Web 2.0 and by extension Ai into pedagogy.   I must be transparent on my bias however.  I am not new to the game.  I have been a corporate trainer for leadership skills and I am a veteran teacher who has the testing data to back up my opinions and classroom strategies. My tool belt is full of tricks and strategies that are easily incorporated on the fly if something doesn't work in the classroom or in front of the PD group.  

Without touching on the legalities and pitfalls of creating "rogue" lesson plans not associated with an adopted curriculum/ textbook, what does the research data say about Ai/ Web 2.0 curated lesson plans?

This 2 part blog will look at 6 topics that mentors and rookie educators alike need to grapple with as we head into a new era in pedagogy: (Part 1) Pedological Bias, Context issues, Reduced Professional Development, (Part 2) Diminished Critical Thinking Skills, Time vs Quality, Ai as a Tool. 

Risk of Pedagogical Bias and Outdated Approaches

Both the rookie educator and the mentor educator alike need to understand the context in which Ai are "trained" in order to offer responses to inquiry.  Ai at this moment is not creative as humans understand creativity.  Ai have to be "trained" on existing data. This data may be outdated, perpetuate myths (ie learning styles) and may not align with current best practices in education for the district/corporate entity. For example, a study in 2025 by Bodong Chen et al. (click here for article)  

"found that AI-generated content predominantly promotes teacher-centered classrooms with limited opportunities for student choice, goal-setting, and meaningful dialogue"

Lack of Contextual Awareness and Accuracy Issues

Ai does not understand who your learners are, the context in which you are requesting the plans, the adopted text book, or even the culture of the district/company you work for.  A study done in 2023 by  Jeff Goodman out of Appalachian State University (click here for article)  highlights the inaccuracies of Ai in creating science curriculum and the lessons not being suitable for grade level, student needs, and local curriculum standards. 

Potential for Reduced Teacher Professional Development

The struggle is real for new educators.  However, it is in that struggle that new educators must grapple with complexities of the craft. The act of lesson planning itself is a critical cognitive exercise that helps educators connect with the content deeply, while at the same time anticipate learner challenges to the instructional strategies. Kathleen Kennedy's article (click here for article) quantifies the potential for diminished teacher agency and the need for proper training. 

More Than Textbooks: Engaging Students with Blogs & Vlogs

 Reflecting on the Experience

As this 12 week blogging experience winds down, I pause to reflect on this experience and how blogging can be a benefit to the secondary and higher education classroom. The experience has been a journey to say the least. The journey did have its rewards tough. I once took a Microsoft Educator certification years before the pandemic, and in that set of courses it spoke of the benefits to discourse and discussion:  

"Group discussions build community, increase knowledge construction and sharing, and develop valuable communication skills for students. Unfortunately, traditional live discussions can also leave voices unheard. Traditional discussion can also create anxiety for students who need more time to consider responses or who struggle to participate in fast-paced, in-class discussions. Modifying group discussions to better meet the needs of all students increases engagement and breadth of contribution." www.learn.microsoft.com 2025 (click here for website) 

Key Take Aways

• Meet students where they are:  Whether you understand it or not, your students are already immersed in content creation and consumption, you might as well leverage their strengths. 
• Empower the Student Voice: Allow your students to move past being passive consumers of information. Give them a platform in which to authentically and safely share their ideas. 
• Motivation Through Authentic Audiences:  Unlike assignments only read by the teacher, blog and vlogs increase student motivation and the relevance of their work

While it is unlikely that a district will support an open forum blog such as the one you are reading, there are lots of classroom safe alternatives.  So, where do you start?

Start Small:  Start with a low stakes project that allows the student to acclimate themselves to the idea of blogs or vlogs.  Something that is 1 to 2 minutes long and can be posted on Canvas or Blackboard but still allows for other students to view each others work. 

• Scaffold the process
• Focus on Content over Production
• Ensure Safety and Digital Citizenship
• Feedback:  make sure you are responding and encouraging the students in a timely manner.  
• Facilitate don't Dictate
• Assess what you Expect 

Digital Citizenship Curriculum: A Reflection on Perspective

 Photo Credit: www.alternative.partnership.co.uk

Reflection

Kahyne and Bowyer in their 2019 article titled "Can media literacy increase digital engagement in politics?" (click here for article) bring up a great question to reflect on, can classroom level digital engagements lead to increased political engagements? 

It really does depend on the perspective in which we are teaching digital citizenship in the classroom. Are we teaching Web 2.0 in a positive light with emphasis on the benefits or are we making social media out to be the big bad wolf of the teen age world.  

Digital Citizenship Curriculum. 

The question of perspective really does warrant a bit of research.  How are we as teachers portraying social media to our students.  For the answer, lets look at a few of the titles associated with the accepted curriculum per the State of Florida via their third party vendor. (Click here for website) 

Here are a few of the curriculum topics per the web site CommonSense.Org.

• Digital Media and your Brain
• Social Media Digital Footprints
• Sexting and Relationships
• Responding to Online Hate Speech
• Being Aware of what you Share
• Big Big Data

This is the whole list of the required 8th grade curriculum.   Keeping in mind that this curriculum comes a year after Florida students take their state required Civics class in 7th grade. So essentially our Florida students are educated and encouraged to be Civically active in their community in 7th grade but in 8th grade when they start to want to dip their toes in the pool of online civic interactions, we in no uncertain terms go to great lengths to reinforce how horrible social media can be. 

In reflection of Kahyne and Bowyer's question of increased political engagements... the answer in the State of Florida maybe be a sad... no

Back to School, Back to the World: Google Earth for Global Learners A Teacher's Guide to Virtual Exploration

 

Photo Credit: icon-library.com

Post Summer Slump & the Promise of Google Earth

Since its inception in 1998, Google Earth has always been a spectacle of curiosity. With a new teaching year quickly coming up on teachers, maybe its time to revisit Google Earth to see what the most updated version can do for the secondary classroom.

Adventure Awaits: Subject-Specific Explorations with Google Earth

With the advent of the 1 to 1 classroom and in some classrooms the introduction of VR to the classroom tool belt its time to check out Google earth and its Virtual Adventures or Digital Field Trips. 

• Geography/Social Studies:

Virtual Expeditions: How to use Google Earth for virtual field trips to ancient civilizations (e.g., Rome, Machu Picchu), historical battlefields, or current event hot zones.

"Time Travel" with Timelapse: Showcase the Timelapse feature to observe environmental changes (e.g., urban growth, glacier melt) or historical shifts over decades.

• Science:

Ecosystem Exploration: Dive into diverse biomes and geological formations.

Environmental Impact: Visualize human impact on the environment from a global perspective.

• English/Literature:

Literary Journeys: Tracking character journeys in novels (e.g., Around the World in 80 Days, The Odyssey) or visualizing the settings of famous stories.

Setting the Scene: How Street View can immerse students in the atmosphere of a story's location.

• Mathematics:

Real-World Measurements: Using the ruler tool to calculate distances and areas, connecting geometry to real places.

Coordinate Games: Fun ways to practice latitude and longitude.

• Arts/Architecture:

Global Galleries: Touring famous architectural wonders or exploring art installations around the world.

Your Tool Kit for Success: Getting Started This Fall

Student-Led Projects:

Encourage students to build their own "stories" or "tours" using placemarks, custom paths, and embedded media (photos, videos, text).

Examples: "My Family's Heritage Journey," "A Tour of World Landmarks," "Mapping Our Local Ecosystem."

Collaborative Learning: Discuss how students can work together on shared Google Earth projects.

• Start Small: Don't feel overwhelmed; begin with one virtual field trip or a simple coordinate activity.

• Utilize Voyager: Point out Google Earth's Voyager feature for pre-made lessons and inspiration.

• Explore Google Earth Education Resources: Mention the availability of lesson plans and tutorials.

Share Your Success: Take the challenge! Try one out in the beginning of school! 

The Unofficial PD: Why Teachers Can't Get Enough of Pinterest

Photo Credit: www.gettingsmart.com

 Beginning teachers are flocking to Pinterest for classroom ideas...but why Pinterest? Pinterest is  a visual search engine that allows for users to quickly browse hundreds of pins at a glance.  Many times new teachers know what they want but struggle locating the resources in their district resources. 

Pinterest as a PLN (Professional Learning Network)

Above the realm of  Pinterest being a visual search engine, Pinterest is able to provide for the beginning teacher a hold harmless networking group that the teacher can freely ask question to and received advice from other veteran teachers. 

Downloader Beware

In a recent study by Sihua Hu (click her for article) the researchers found that early career teachers (ECT) are curating articles and lesson plans at very high rates.  However, the quality and rigor of the lesson plans had a tendency to be lower level cognitive engagements. "74% of the tasks curated in lesson plans, according to Blooms Taxonomy. fell into the Remember and Understand Categories."