A PLC begins when a group of teachers get together to share resources, issues, set goals and brainstorm the best ways to reach their students, and when I was at my country, I have experienced PLC and actively participated in brainstorming and exchanging of goals and issues at King Saud University in computer department. We had weekly meeting to discuss students’ issues and new technology we have applied and explain our experience with it, and how it influences students’ engagement and enthusiasm, and we post all these techniques in a Gmail group between us. A PLN is another way for teachers to collaborate, but it is done mostly online. In fact, many technological channels support this concept, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs, or Telegram. Recently, I joined a Telegram group, which is specialized on all new technologies, and it contains all people who have similar interests to exchange knowledge and experiences, and every member in the group can participated and shared his own knowledge and experience. In fact, PLN and PLC is a great opportunity to exchange ideas and information with others, and smartphones and tablets ease and facilitate the ability to reach those channels.
In fact, PLN/PLC has many strength and weaknesses. PLN/PLC is a great opportunity to meet new people who share the same interest with you. It is a fast and effective way to reach information and exchange ideas easily and quickly. PLN and PLC is a great opportunity to exchange ideas and information with colleagues. Bakhtin (1973) mentions that “an idea does not live in one person’s isolated consciousness- it remains there it dies. And idea begins to live, to shape, to develop, to find, and renew its verbal expression, and to give birth to new ideas only when it enters into genuine dialogical relation” (Ravitch and Carl, 2016). Therefore, participating on PLN and PLC is a perfect way to develop an idea and support its growth. some project might not be grown with out working and participating with others. I believe in this saying ” We believe in an approach that situates everyone involved as “experts of their own experiences” everyone involved brings wisdom and knowledge(Jacoby&Gonzales,1991; Van Manen, 1990), so PLN and PLC help everyone to be an experts of his own experiences and bring new knowledge to the rest of the group. Besides, it saves you time because instead of reading and searching a lot about a specific topic, you will find extremely beneficial information in PLN channels and from experts. You will be able to access information any time and anywhere. It is a great chance to meet people who have similar interests. It is a great space to exchange knowledge and experiences. PLN/PLC give people the chance to know how to use technology and participate with others. PLN facilitate communications with others. PLN has great channels, like Twitter, YouTube, and blogs to find old friends and discuss topics with colleagues or create new relationships with the same interests. Creating blogs and publishing your own ideas is a great chance to keep that information available forever, which give the opportunity to other generations to benefit from it.
One of the weaknesses is that I need to commit with all meetings and attend them all, besides, I sometimes don’t have any new issues or ideas to share. However, all people who follow you on Twitter or Blogs need new information and new concepts, so you need to update your website or blog constantly, which might consider time consuming, and people who are not advanced with technology might struggle or face some challenges. sharing your thoughts with others might make you face some critical responses.
I will continue to participate in PLN/PLC because it paved the way for me to get the information I want easily. It gave me the opportunity to connect with new people who share the same interests. It encourages me to keep in touch with my colleagues and friends and catch up with new technologies.
:Reference
Ravitch, S. M., & Carl, N. M. (2016). Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological. Los Angeles: SAGE.
https://theinspiredclassroom.com/2010/05/plcs-and-plns-go-us/
ReemAlmazyad 
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