When you completed the survey in section 4.2, you were matched with an adorable animal (turtle, fox, penguin, or tiger) that represented your general level of participation, or role, in your PLN. In the next activity, you are going to take a closer look at your level of participation in specific spaces in your PLN and determine which role(s) you enact in these spaces. But, before you do that, you need to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each of these roles so you can determine how you might improve your engagement with your PLN.
Let’s learn more about each of the four animals roles:
Turtle
You read, evaluate, and consider the information that is shared in a space (aka you “lurk and learn”).
- Pros: You keep yourself private and safe in the online spaces. You can learn a lot from others in a short amount of time.
- Cons: You cannot make connections and show your level of expertise if you do not communicate with your peers and mentors.
Penguin
In addition to reading and considering information that is shared in a space, you make yourself known by liking, favoring, up/down voting, or retweeting posts after reading them. However, you do not volunteer resources or respond to posts.
- Pros: By interacting with posts, you show your interests, which may encourage other people in your PLN to connect with you.
- Cons: You do not actively seek help, which means that your learning is limited to what others post or share.
Fox
You request the assistance, advice, and resources from others in online or face-to-face spaces.
- Pros: You are able to get help, ideas, and feedback for improving your teaching and learning.
- Cons: You are only “taking” from your PLN. You need to give back as well.
Tiger
You share your professional knowledge and expertise by replying to posts. You create your own posts to share your insights, experiences, and ideas (e.g., How I Blog for Professional Development: You Can Do it Too).
- Pros: You are able to establish your expertise as an educator and help others in your PLN, which will support the growth of your network.
- Cons: It takes time to thoughtfully reply to, post, and help others. Also, since you are actively posting and sharing, you will need to make sure that you are building a strong digital reputation (which we will cover during this week’s activities).
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