Personal Learning Environments
Have you heard of PLEs? Me neither. But, while doing a little research, I read about Personal Learning Environments and really like the concept. Traditionally, educational environments have used Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Blackboard, WebCT, and Moodle for a way for students, teachers, and community members to “congregate” on the web. (I speak of LMSs as traditional… Yet, most K-12 schools have barely heard of them – look at how quickly technology changes.)
PLEs, as Stephen Downes explains, can be places where teacher and learner are peers. They are lifelong learning environments that *belong* to the learner. So what does this mean?
In current LMSs, users use tools such as “chat” and collaborative environments to communicate. Such a system would look like this:
PLEs would change the way in which we structure our teaching, learning, and communication. According to James Farmer, [traditionally] “users would ‘re-invent’ themselves in each new online context they work in.” Other than the occasional photo or email addresses, users lacked a presence or persona. Their files were deleted at the end of the term. There was no “real” ownership. PLEs change this – users are able to represent themselves. Communication used to be centralized around discussion, rather than the individual. PLEs afford communication between individuals and make that communication centered around them.
So what does this have to do with WCS? Maybe nothing today. But as you begin to explore blogging, Moodle, and other educational technologies (LMSs, PLEs or others…), please be aware of the user. Think about your students, who they are in class, and who they are online.
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