January 19, 2011
by admin
5 Comments
me, right before a seagull pooped on me:-)
I was in Barcelona last weekend. Apart from having been robbed and as a result of some serious misguidance of the Turkish embassy, having been detained for two hours at the Istanbul airport, it was a fantastic trip.
Project aPLaNet
What I’d like to tell you about is the meeting we had there. It was the kick-off meeting of the Project aPLaNet (Autonomous ‘Personal Learning Networks’ for Language Teachers) which is funded by the European Union. The aim of the project is to enable the language teachers to use online social networks effectively and help them build their Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). It is a two-year project. During the project’s life, we aim to answer these three questions:
- What is a PLN?
- What is the added value and meaning of a PLN?
- How to introduce a new teacher to a PLN to become a full autonomous member?
By the end of two years, we aim to produce detailed guidelines, a comprehensive set of resources including a teacher methodology guide and build a sustainable system which will come alive within the project’s own online social network. The effectiveness and validity of all these resources will have been tested via an extensive piloting system which also involves a systematic process of mentors and mentees (experienced PLN members and newbies) working together.
The nature of the PLNs makes the project highly collaborative and aPLaNet has 140 Associate Partners from 33 different countries who will be contributing to the project by mentoring newbies and piloting the resources. It was memorable to have a webinar with 23 of the Associate Partners on WizIQ on the second day of the meeting.
Click here to download the recording of the webinar.
Before going to the meeting…
I was a bit nervous since I haven’t taken part in an EU project as a coordinator before. After meeting the partners, I can’t tell you how relieved I was. It was such a vibrant group of people. Meeting these great people have made the project much more real and meaningful for me. It was also very nice to find out that each group member had a unique sense of humour and this made our days and nights so much fun.
Graham, me, Dasa and Selcen
Highlights Of The Meeting
Here are some highlights that will put a smile on the faces of the team members:
Graham – “I’ve never talked to a Ning before.”
Joel’s garlic laugh (or was it pineapple?)
Dasa - “Everything is perfect”…and her fantastic laugh.
Monica’s brilliant start to Twittering.
Marisa’s flamenco show.
David’s calming presence.
Selcen’s inability to tell a lie in the “two truths and a lie” game.
Nina’s gentle and modest attitude…and her husband’s being a sculptor.
Shelly’s sweet laughter and her ability to run webinars anytime anywhere.
I’m also very happy to have met some other PLN members like Paul, Kyle and Jamie.
Follow aPLaNet
Our next meeting is in June in Athens. Until then, we all will be doing some background work. You will hear from us very soon! Stay tuned:-)
Click here to join the aPLaNet Facebook Group.
Follow the aPLaNet partners on Twitter:
David: davidjwilson1
Monica: M_Vlad
Marisa: Marisa_C
Nina: ntsvetkova
Dasa: LanguagePELIKAN
Shelly: ShellTerrell
Graham: grahamstanley
Joel: acerview54
Burcu: burcuakyol
Selcen: selcensecil
Finally, I’d like to thank Joel Josephson for bringing us together and Graham Stanley for being a great host!
Looking forward to meeting the aPLaNet team in Athens!
Having too many important dates on my calendar caused a kind of disorientation and I made a mistake about the extended deadline of the ISTEK ELT Roving Reporter Competition. I meant to write 28, January, but wrote 28, February instead.
I apologize for the mistake and the inconvenience.
This is a little reminder for the blogging ISTEK teachers. I will announce the details of the ISTEK Blogs Competition very soon on 
