OPLN’s

This semester is the first time I’ve heard of OPLN’s (online personal learning networks). Really, developing OPLN’s seems like something people have always done, except they weren’t called OPLN’s.  It makes perfect sense that if you are interested a certain topic then you would  try to collect resources on the topic. It is interesting, however, how systematically one can go about developing their OPLN when they actually think of it as such.  In Learning Everywhere… the author gave some really serious thought about her own goals and therefore the requirements of her OPLN.  This, I imagine, is probably a more efficient way of collecting resources that suits your needs or interests than unsystematically or arbitrarily collecting resources. The author outlined her career goals and her academic goals and then identified her specific information needs in light of those goal. She then began collecting appropriate resources to fulfill those information needs. Again, while the practice itself does not seem to be entirely new, I do think that it is a great way of thinking about it.