Myedna will be a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) - a term that is gathering lots of currency with the rise of Web2.0 tools. A PLE is an online space where one gathers all their professional ’stuff’, categorises, tags, and manipulates it, then discusses, shares and learns with others. It is based on the notion that learning is a social process, where we float ideas, glean from others and put our ideas and products to the test. All of this has been possible on the web for some time, but now there is a wide array of tools that make it a very manageable process.
A PLE is built from so-called Web2.0 tools: collection and sharing like Flickr and YouTube, feed aggregators like Google Reader, social bookmarking like del.icio.us, blogs and wikis and more. One of the signature functions is tags, which once attached to a resource - a reference, comment, lesson plan or whatever, become powerful hooks to bring linked items together.
There is huge interest in PLEs around the world, particularly in the UK. Some useful introductions: Wikipedia, Ron Lubensky. A recent report for the VET sector on social software is typical of responses to the topic: they love it.
Many writers make the distinction between PLEs and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) and Learner Management Systems (LMS) which like Blackboard, have been used for some time by universities, VET and other learning organisations to deliver an online learning environment. PLEs are based on a quite different learning model. They foster personally instigated and managed learning as opposed to the generally teacher dominated learning that VLE and LMS provide. That is the big advantage of the PLE - that it is under the control of the owner. But that is its big challenge too. How do we create a setting where adult learners will interact with colleagues of like mind to learn together?
Watch this space, and give us your ideas.
PS The original of the image is worth a visit: it includes notes on each of the logos and their addresses
Post a Comment