Understanding personal learning networks: Their structure, content and the networking skills needed to optimally use them | Rajagopal | First Monday

we present a model of personal professional networking for creating a personal learning network, based on an investigation through a literature study, semi–structured interviews and a survey.

We define the activity of professional networking as the act of making connections with other professionals, with or without the intention of making long–term ties with them (Compton, 2009; Tempest and Starkey, 2004). In our understanding, the skills at the centre of networking involve an ability to identify and understand other people’s work in relation to one’s own, and to assess the value of the connection with these others for potential future work. The result of networking is a personal professional network, i.e., an egocentric, personally and intentionally created network of people set up by an individual specifically in the context of her professional activities. This network gathers a heterogeneous circle of people, distributed across different groups and places, and connected to the individual with connections of varying degrees of strengths (Granovetter, 1983; Nardi, et al., 2000).

From the organisation’s perspective, networking and networks are vital in innovation and crucial in linking to new trusted partners when dealing with changing business priorities (Birkinshaw, et al., 2007; Pulley and Wakefield, 2001; Vervest, et al., 2009)

Professional networking can also be used as a means to continuously support professionals’ life–long learning in practice (Johnson, 2008).

the ability to make conversations possible between people when needed is recognised as a key enabler of knowledge creation in organisational settings (Von Krogh, et al., 2000).

Both strong and weak connections contribute to the individual’s learning: strong ties allow for active collaboration on knowledge creation, whereas weak ties are sources for new information, knowledge and ideas

For personal networks, Grabher and Ibert (2008) proposed a three–layered approach, consisting of a communality layer (strong ties), a sociality layer (weak ties) and a connectivity layer (very weak ties).

An individual can therefore create and orchestrate ties to effectively support learning needs and potentially use technology to support this network, effectively making it a personal learning network (PLN).

They need to perform three important (primary) tasks that form the basis for all other further activities within the network: building connections (adding new people to the network so that there are resources available when a learning need arises); maintaining connections (keeping in touch with relevant persons); and activating connections with selected persons for the purpose of learning

specific attitude of a professional that lies at the root of this type of learning.

A clear value for professionals emerged: they design and navigate their network to bring them the most professional and educational benefit at each stage of their career

They undertake specific activities for networking, such as joining (online and face–to–face) professional associations, participating in conferences, workshops, seminars or networking events to meet new people or to reconfirm existing ties

the key factor that emerged from the survey is the suitability of that person’s experience or expertise for the particular topic or need sought (cf., experts, zone of proximal development, etc.). The personal attachment between the individual and the person also plays an undeniable role. The location where new connections are created is also important: a trusted, known environment is often chosen to expand networks (P

the results show that benevolence, like–mindedness and real potential for collaboration and learning play an important role in the building phase

networking itself is linked to a deeper metacognitive level, namely, the attitude of the learner

interviewees displayed clear differences in the way they interact with contacts in their personal networks and the way they learn from these interactions.

Interviewees with a seemingly further evolved networking skill use the informational and knowledge building benefits of their personal learning network almost on a daily basis, affecting all aspects of their professional life. Each contact is seen as a potential person to learn from or to collaborate with. In this sense, networking can be viewed as an attitude to learning and working, i.e., the position taken towards learning and the role that their networks and networking plays in that learning.

These two observations allow us to conclude that networking for networked learning is not only a skill to be developed, but also an attitude towards learning to be cultivated.

Proficient networkers use dedicated events and environments where networking has the prime focus (such as professional conferences, seminars and, more recently, online social networking sites) to trigger their mind into making valuable associations.

this attitude emerges with people who a) experience the value of their network at first hand (Hamm, 2007) and/or people who b) reflect on their work and learning in a broader perspective than their day–to–day practice (Margaryan, et al., 2009).

A personal learning network (PLN) is a network set up by an individual specifically in the context of her professional activities through online platforms to support her professional non–formal learning needs. Therefore, a professional who intentionally builds, maintains and activates her strong, weak and very weak ties with contacts within her personal network for the purpose of improving her learning — and uses technology to support this activity — is creating a personal learning network. The learner at the centre orchestrates the whole environment, browsing, selecting and choosing the most relevant information resources (Conole, et al., 2008; Schaffert and Hilzensauer, 2008; Wilson, et al., 2006). To support orchestration, learners need to have a high level of control on tools they use and the way they use them.

Although technological solutions facilitate many aspects of networking, it is unclear if technology supports or, indeed, affects the networking attitude of professionals and/or the related intention to build, maintain and activate the strong and weak ties in their personal network for the purpose of learning.