Why you need a personal learning network (PLN)

I had great fun last week hanging out, so to speak, with a global community of occupational therapists and supporting my colleague Merrolee Penman with the virtual OT conference.

Different but the same
As a midwife I have never had anything to do with occupational therapists, so it was very interesting going to a few of the sessions and learning what they get up to. Whilst their work is very different to mine as a midwife, we have the same professional issues around professional development, professional identity and networking online. I especially enjoyed the session by Bronnie Thompson in which she talked about her professional blog which focuses on chronic pain - it is an excellent example of a health blog - here is the Elluminate recording of her session.

Sharing and learning together
It has been lovely to see how Merrolee and her team have taken the idea of the Virtual International Day of the Midwife and developed it further. I was very pleased that Merrolee was able to take a lot of the material we developed and re-mashed it for the OTs. At the same time, I will be learning from Merrolee's experiences which I will use next year to improve the VIDM, such as making our websites look a lot more professional and further develop the VIDM brand. It was even nicer to have Merrolee's acknowledgement of my work with the VIDM in our local paper.

Outcomes
As a result of my involvement in the virtual OT day I have made new friends and am learning heaps about a health profession that often slips under the radar. And the icing on the cake is that I have been invited to submit an article to the journal WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation.

My presentation
Here is the Elluminate recording of my presentation about why health professionals need a PLN.

Why you need a PLN!

View more presentations from Sarah Stewart.

http://www.slideshare.net/sarahs/why-you-need-a-pln