I admire so many educators and influencers. I don't need to look very far for inspiration because I'm surrounded by amazing colleagues that inspire me everyday – I couldn't possibly add every single one of them to my 'Influential Educators' PLN map.
I ended up grouping my PLN Map into clusters based on 'location'. Influential educators surround me at Cambrian College. I have some personal connections to elementary and high school influencers because I used to teach in that sector (both people that I've worked with or people that I've come to know on the web through word on the street). I follow over 2000 people on Twitter; most of them influential educators from across the globe. And finally, I included conferences as it's own node because I have met so many amazing people at conferences over the past 5 years.
The arrows flowing out from the purple nodes mean that I've learned from those people. If the line from the purple node is flat with no arrowhead, that means that I learn from them and they learn from me.
Disclaimer: I should have also added eCampus Ontario's TESS to my conference node because I learned so much there and met amazing colleagues — sorry eCampus, I really didn't forget about you!
I didn't add any of the people's titles or roles because I feel that most of us are 'jack-of-all-trades'. We may know more about some areas than others but we know a lot of great stuff – the purpose of our PLN is to help us expand that knowledge. My colleagues Jessica O'Reilly and Sarah Wendorf have taught me so much about instructional design! I knew nothing of it a couple years ago. Our Moodle experts have taught me a great deal about our LMS and the functions that it has to support student learning.
PLN Marigolds – so pretty!
I am inspired by new faculty that come into teaching with such enthusiasm and natural teaching ability AND put in hours & hours & hours of work, like Mel and Sidney and Pam. I am happy to have these new faculty as part of my PLN. My Cambrian marigolds!
I love seeing new stuff from Jennifer Gonzalez from Cult of Pedagogy. She has great ideas, her podcasts are great to listen to in the car, and her downloadable resources are fantastically well-crafted.
My PLN includes people that influence me and teach me without them knowing me personally and people who know me and the learning is reciprocal. I intend to continue growing my PLN to influence others and find more influencers!
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Honoured to be one of your marigolds!