By: Shawn Cox
Submitted: 2010-11-22 13:57:25 | Word Count: 762
Creating a lifelong learning network is essential for adults who pursue continuing education as means to advance their professional career or improve their personal life. Regardless of the reason for continuing one’s education, an adult’s knowledge needs to continually grow. The changing nature of today’s society demands the necessity for gaining new skills, new understandings, and new intellectual orientations throughout a person’s life.
The need for lifelong learning network is based on the premise that formal education is confined to the first two decades of a person's life. This initial education most people experience may appear to prepare them for the future; however, this knowledge is limited in its ability to prepare someone for all the coming changes in their professional and personal lives. The best approach for these life altering changes through continuing education.
Professional Learning: Developing a Network of Online Learning Resources
Related to the above there are subsequent changes in business and industry and the need for frequent career training and retraining. Many people face several different careers in a lifetime because of changing interests or certain occupations becoming obsolete. In addition, many professionals such as those in medical health areas must constantly study and learn to remain proficient.
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The following are tools for creating a professional learning network:
LinkedIn – is an online tool for making professional connections, building a professional knowledge base, and finding jobs. This website provides a great opportunity to learn from others and allow others on the network to be aware of your knowledge.
Ning – is a social network for accessing information, knowledge, and resources in professional communities.
Google Reader – use the RSS feeds from blogs or websites that post information related to a potential or current career field. This helps with remaining current with information, ideas, and theories to remain current on the latest trends in a career field.
Google Alerts – provides a means for searching the Internet for websites, blogs, major news outlets, and Google groups. The results are then sent to the selected e-mailed address of choice.
Personal Network: Using Online Tools for Learning and Sharing
Developing a personal learning network is essential. Many people consider themselves to be lifelong learners and are always seeking new ways to learn something new or share their knowledge with others. Lifelong learners can take advantage of Internet resources for building a personal learning network.
Once learning opportunities present themselves it is essential to begin to collect information and retain it in a specific location(s) for future review and use. Because this is the age of technology, establishing a personal learning network is easier than in previous times.
The following are tools for creating a personal learning network:
Diigo - is an online tool for saving online resources of interest by searching for people by name or user name, import friends, invite friends via emails, and make friend lists to build a personal learning network. People can highlight information in articles or blogs for sharing with other members of their network.
Blogging – use the free versions of WordPress or Blogger to create a blog for sharing information and communicating with others. Blogs are great for learning from others, reflection, story sharing, facilitating connections among people, philosophizing, and much more.
Open Course Ware – is a term applied to course materials in an online learning environment created by universities and shared freely with the world via the Internet. These free courses are ideal for lifelong learners and are offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale, Tufts University, and other universities in over 20 countries.
Ning – is a social network for accessing information, knowledge, and resources in learning communities.
Google Books - allows viewing of public-domain books and out-of-copyright books that can be downloaded in PDF format.
Google Reader – use the RSS feeds from blogs or websites that post information related to topics or issues of interest. This ensures that information is readily available for learning about these topics or issues.
Developing a professional or personal learning network can begin anywhere; however it often begins in the work place or during college education years. Regardless of where it begins, it is important for adults to recognize that making connections and taking advantage of training or education is essential for continuing education opportunities.
Besides the tools listed above there are many other tools available for adults to use for developing their learning networks. The important feature of all these tools is that they are free and readily accessed without the need for any special software programs. These online tools also ensure access compatibility for those in pursuit of lifelong learning.
