Do You Have a PLN?

The last couple of weeks I have had some technology issues that I had either forgotten about or had never heard of before. I started to think of what my resources were to try and find the answers to these issues. My first issue was with flash items no longer working on a SMART Board. In the past, I would call SMART tech support and I could be on hold for a long time. So, I just kept thinking about how I could find out how to fix this problem. Then it hit me, ask my PLN (Personal Learning Network). One of my favorite PLN's is Twitter. I posted the question about flash not working anymore in SMART Notebook and asked how to fix it. I then remembered that I was following @SMART_Tech (SMART Technologies), so I went to their twitter feed. What do you think I found? That's right! I found the answer to my question. In less than 10 minutes, I had a solution to the issue. Here is a link to the solution: http://knowledgebase.force.com/articles/Troubleshooting/You-re-unable-to-interact-with-Adobe-Flash-Player-objects-in-SMART-Notebook-software-after-updating-to-Adobe-Flash-Player-11-9-X?utm_content=Active+X+issue+in+11.9&utm_campaign=Software+Updates+EDU&utm_source=Twitter%3A+SMART_Tech&utm_medium=post&WT.mc_id=Twitter%3A+SMART_Tech_Software+Updates+EDU_Active+X+issue+in+11.9.

My next technology issue was how to import a document into SMART Notebook. This time I went straight to Twitter and posted the question directly to @SMART_Tech. I also am a member of a SMART Notebook Users Group in Edmodo, so I posted the question there. Within 5 minutes I had the answer to my question. As soon as I saw what the solution was, it was a head-smack moment. I remember that from when I first learned how to use SMART Notebook but I had forgotten about it. The answer was open your document (pdf, word, etc.), click on File, click on Print, and print to SMART Notebook. Simple, right! 

My point in sharing all of this is how awesome having a PLN is. My main go-to's for learning is Twitter and Edmodo (after my awesome co-workers and boss of course). If you are not a member of either, I encourage you to join. They are both free and have great educators that are willing to help.

Image was created using Wordle.