When I think about what a PLN is I think that it is a way for anybody to connect to anybody else professionally or in a non professional sense. It is collaborating or connecting through technology, social networks, learning communities, etc. A PLN is starting a conversation as something small and being able to make the conversation grow into something bigger given more people or more information. Networking is key when talking about PLN's. Others define PLN's as making connections and building relationships with teachers, schools, etc in order to develop global perspectives, and taking the time to do so. A good reason to have a PLN is to share resources and information that is harder to get to for some groups or individuals.
Using a PLN in a classroom would be more challenging than not doing it, however, the students would get a lot more from using this type of instruction. For example, years ago we weren't able to just tweet to the author about a book that we were reading and it amazed me that it is possible now. Instead of writing a letter to your favorite author or singer or movie star for that matter, you can tweet them with 1 or 2 sentences and possibly get a response in no time. It's so cool that the students of today are interested in doing this although it isn't incorporated like it should be. To implement PLN's into the classroom I would use different websites such as weebly, or dipity in order to connect to parents and students outside of the classroom as well as in the classroom because it's important for constant communication. I shared a photo above that I found to show the ways to connect through PLN's.
http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/pln-challenge-1-what-the-heck-is-a-pln/
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-do-i-get-a-pln-tom-whitby
http://www.thetechclassroom.com/about/pln
http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/05/19/5-personal-learning-networks-plns-for-educators/
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