Personal Learning Network
A Personal Learning Network is the informal, self-curated network of people, channels, and resources from which a teacher draws ongoing professional learning. The acronym PLN became common in education circles around 2008–2010 with the rise of teacher Twitter and education blogging, and now covers a wider mix of platforms, podcasts, newsletters, communities, and direct contacts.
What sits inside a PLN
A PLN is defined by purpose rather than by platform. Typical components include practitioners followed on social media, education blogs and Substack newsletters, podcasts, an RSS reader or aggregator, online communities such as subject-specific Discord or Slack workspaces, and direct relationships maintained over messaging or video. The network also contains channels feeding the teacher's ideas back outward — a blog, social media account, or community contributions that turn the PLN from passive consumption into reciprocal exchange. The most active PLNs combine wide curation with a small inner ring of trusted contacts the teacher can ask for advice.
Distinction from formal CPD
A PLN sits beside formal Continuing Professional Development rather than replacing it. Formal CPD — INSET, courses, conferences, postgraduate study — is recognised, accredited, and often documented for compliance. A PLN provides the daily, self-directed input that fills the spaces between formal events: timely responses to current concerns, exposure to ideas outside the teacher's immediate institution, and contact with practitioners working in different contexts. It is more responsive than formal CPD, but uneven in quality, and its informality can make it harder to evidence to employers.
PLN vs Community of Practice
A PLN is broader and looser than a Communities of Practice in the Wenger sense. A Community of Practice is a bounded group with shared domain, community, and practice; a PLN is a hub-and-spoke network organised around the individual teacher and may overlap with, but does not constitute, a community of practice. A teacher's PLN often contains members of several communities of practice without being one itself.
Risks and discipline
PLN literature consistently flags two risks. Algorithmic feeds can narrow exposure to a single methodological camp, producing the appearance of consensus where none exists in the wider literature. And the steady stream of new ideas can outpace the teacher's capacity to test and integrate them, producing professional churn rather than growth. Disciplined PLN use means periodic pruning, deliberate cross-camp following, and choosing a small number of ideas to actually try.
References
- Trust, T., Krutka, D. G., & Carpenter, J. P. (2016). "Together we are better": Professional learning networks for teachers. Computers & Education, 102, 15–34.
- Edutopia. Building Your Professional Learning Network. edutopia.org/article/professional-learning-networks-teachers