Personal and Professional Learning Network Work

As stated in the last blog post, I talked about the concern expressed by me and my fellow undergraduate researcher, Dana, about how to gain professional development skills as an undergraduate. Dr. Kameko Halfmann, our mentor, had some great advice for us: make a personal and professional learning network (PLN).

• What is a PLN? Many professionals (especially teachers) create PLN's in order to communicate, collaborate, and create with their colleagues and other professionals. However, the purpose of my PLN is to evaluate where I can possibly connect further with my field of interest.

• Note: the professional and personal exist to separate what is used in a more professional/academic manner and what other sources are used for personal enjoyment or connection. Visitor indicates that the person (me) simply visits the site and takes in media without posting anything themselves. The resident position signifies the presence of the person (again, me in this case) on social media in the form of their own creations, posts, etc.

Thus, to the drawing board (literally) I went. I crafted my PLN on a whiteboard, writing in the main sources I used on a regular basis.

Although the proportions may not be perfect, I attempted to accurately adjust the sizes of the boxes with how much I felt I currently used each. Additionally, those sources that I used mostly as a visitor but occasionally posted on were drawn slightly going over the mid line.

This activity was a great chance to take a look at the possible networks I could access to more deeply immerse myself in psychology. Thus, I can follow more psychology or Ph.D. student related accounts on my favorite sites (i.e. Instagram) and learn more as I casually browse my social media.

I have already starting adding more academic and career related content to my favorite media sources and I am loving all of the new content!

#research #undergraduateresearch #SUSP #PEDL