Connectivism

Like others, my closest professional learning community were those on my team, colleagues. We would hold in-house professional learning weekly, during lunch. These could be as simple as a book group, others reporting out about things they have discovered elsewhere, or just conversations about what we are up to, the good, bad, and funny.

Working in Adult Education, programs also pulled together a Denver area cohort of stakeholders who would meet monthly at different service providers locations as a “show and tell” and act like a union to discuss issues affecting programs. This was one of a couple of local cohorts of program networks.

Now, these groups have mostly dissolved as almost all the programs participating have been defunded. I am one of many who are unemployed and adapting from the funding shift. However, I still find support from those I connected with. For now, I have chosen to focus on LDT Masters coursework - which I selected and applied to with support from my network - and continue volunteering.

Currently, I preside as president for the state association on Adult Education in Colorado (CAEPA), a volunteer-run organization. The organization supports professional learning. Interestingly, network and community are aspects that I am designing into a new program for the organization, in LDT 5100. I guess I am on a good path with that design!

As I am looking at a career shift, I am definitely looking to add to my network.

External networking suggestions:

I have been attending the Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology (COLTT) conference for several years. Great professional learning and an opportunity to connect with professionals.
I also find the Cult of Pedagogy a good resource with podcasts and articles about, well, pedagogy.
If you are looking at building out a business, Mi Casa Resource Center is a great network to tap into.
Of course, LinkedIn can be a professional network, if used as one, and I do.
I'm also bombarded with professional learning from all sorts of publishers and professional organizations.

eLearning in a pandemic is likely a worthy topic. Early on I saw an abundance of job postings to move training virtually, but I have been seeing fewer postings for this recently.