This evening I participated in my first large-scale Twitter chat as part of #etmooc, (which, if you haven’t been following, is a great online educational technology professional development experience).

The conversation summarized some of the topics we’ve been talking about for the last week, such as introducing ourselves, acknowledging our PLN (professional learning network), how/what we share, and how we contribute to the learning of others.

That’s a lot of stuff to digest!

The key, though, is that you can’t digest any of it if you don’t take any of it in. As educators, we all have our own networks – whether they’re in an individual school or part of a larger community – and therefore, we all contribute in some way. I consider myself a pretty social person, and I like taking opportunities to grow professionally. In short, I sign up for a ton of stuff. My wife calls me crazy because my proverbial plate always ends up having a few things heaped up to keep from spilling over the side. It makes for potential indigestion.

But that’s where my network comes in; they’re like the Pepto-Bismol to my indigestion.

Rather than fret about stuff, I use my network to farm stuff out. If I have questions, I turn to my network. This is the beauty of Twitter, because a huge audience is there listening. In return, I try and offer responses as others ask questions. This is important because a networking is a notworking if people don’t participate.

The best reward for participation is the growth of your network. If all of the topics of tonight’s #etmchat (ETMOOC chat) was the main course, then watching my network grow during the cat was dessert. And now when I need something, I have more people to turn to, which is awesome! That makes everything else just down-right delicious.

I encourage everyone to take a few minutes to sketch our your network. How do you contribute? Who’s there to turn to when you’re in need? Create a menu of the people around you so that next time you’re hungry, what you want is right there.