PERSONAL LEARNING

ENVIROMENT- PLE
Tech Educ
Elmer Jorge Guardado MaT.
What is a Personal Learning Environment?
To understand what at PLE is, it is important to understand that a PLE is not
an application (Attwell, 2006; Wilson, 2008); it is a concept for organizing
learning. A PLE is a collection of content services organized together
(Waters, 2008). It is a collect of tools to help gather, organize, and process
learning resources (Martin, 2007). The personal learning environment is
essentially a computer-based organizing schema for self-directed learning
(van Harmelen, 2008).
Learners can create a PLE is their own vision
of what an ideal learning system should be.
Although an official definition has yet to
emerge; there are certain elements which are
common to basic PLEs.

The basic elements include the following:
A system controlled by the learner; resources that are
both digital and diverse; resources that are ideally
aggregated into one area; system integrates with
subscription services; system supports lifelong learning;
system grows and evolves as necessary (Lubensky, 2006)
A system that allows for the interaction with
others (Johnson & Brierley, 2007). According to
Downes (2007), PLE and Web 2.0 are for creating
connections, creating content, and spreading
control of resources
PLEs require two
primary actions
Maintaining organization of resources, and communicating with other
learners and communities (Johnson & Brierley, 2007).
The primary element of a PLE is learner controls.
PLEs allow a learner to control the content being presented, the look and
feel of the environment, and the interactions with other individuals and
institutions (Severance, Hardin, & Whyte, 2008)
PLEs empower self-directed learners to access and control their learning
(van Harmelen, 2008).
Another strength of PLEs are the varied resources that can be accessed and
controlled.
PLEs must be able to also support mobile communication devices (Attwell,
2007).
One of the powerful concepts of a PLE is the ability to aggregate resources.

PLEs helps bring resources to a learner; these resources may be people,
documents, or other learning tools.
PLEs are responsible for coordinating various technologies.
A key to a PLE is the social networking piece; this piece should not
discriminate between formal and informal learning objects (Waters, 2008).
Network learning activities include content authoring and delivery,
organizing and syndicating, identification and authorization,
chatting,conferencing, and phoning (Downes, 2006)

Why PLEs have Developed ?

PLEs have come into being because of two primary reasons;
learners are not satisfied with current learning management
systems, and Web 2.0 technologies have created the
environment to support personalized learning. It is important to
understand the climate that created the desire for PLEs, in
essence, institutional-centric learning.

Current learning systems are teacher- or institution-centered
learning environments (Corlett, Chan, Ting, Sharples, &
Westmancott, 2005; CETIS, 2006) based on institutions, teachers,
courses, terms, timetables, etc.; it is based on the needs of the
institution rather than the learner (Downes, 2006). Courses are
limited because they can not adapt to the rapidly changing
environments; they are developed for the average student; they
are typically isolated from other bodies of knowledge; and they
are on a timeline (Siemens, 2003)
Benefits of a Personal Learning Environment

PLEs have a number of benefits over traditional learning management
systems.
PLEs naturally create a learner-centric environment because the learner
controls the entire environment.
PLEs bring together the diverse environments of work, study, and play.
PLEs are also more robust than normal LMS environments because they can
quickly adjust to changing conditions.
Personal learning environments make learning learner-centric
rather than the current models of teacher- or institution-centric
learning (Johnson & Liber, 2008). According to Cross, 85% of
learning is informal learning (cited in Attwell, 2006); naturally,
more individuals are already controlling their own learning. In a
PLE system, more responsibility is shifted to the learner;
however, the learner can also make their own decisions about the
look, feel, and operation of the PLE (Attwell, 2007).
Learners using a PLE have to apply what they use during their day-to-day
operations to learning; on the other hand, using a LMS requires the learner
to learn how to use a new piece of technology (Johnson & Brierley, 2007)
activities encourage learning through dialogue as well as praxis or learning
by doing. (Johnson & Liber). By encouraging PLEs, learners are also taught
how to construct, regulate, and control their own learning (Johnson &
Liber); thus creating a lifelong learner. With a PLE, the learner must not only
identify the content and connections, but also, control the learning
environment(CETIS, 2006).
With a PLE, the learner must not only identify the content and connections,
but also, control the learning environment (CETIS, 2006).
PLEs support lifelong learning not just situational learning as presented in
traditional courses (Corlett et al., 2005).
Developing PLEs helps create a culture of lifelong learning where the
environment can continuously adapt to changing interests (Utecht, 2006);
old material can be discarded easily instead of waiting for an administrator
to purge the system.

Benefits of PLEs on Formal Learning
Environments
Knowledge is a unique type of economic good. With most economic goods,
if you give them away, you no longer have them. With knowledge, you can
give it away and keep it. In fact, the value of knowledge increases when you
share it with others. (Tobin, 1998)
Learning occurs through interaction between members of a learning
community; these learning interactions are considered learning activities;
and the learning activities can take the form of words, written and spoken,
images, video, multimedia, etc. (Downes, 2007).
Issues that Must be Addressed

While the benefits of PLE are significant, there are issues that must be
resolved before PLEs can be used in a formal education setting. Some of the
issues are due to the institutional climate and infrastructure, other issues are
due to training and support needs, and yet others are due to the vast array
of options available to a learner.
PLEs which desire an open system run at odds with institutional-based LMS
(Dron & Bhattacharya, 2007). There are risks with PLEs; more responsibility
is placed on the learners, technologies may not be stable, misconceptions of
informal learning, lack of confident that PLEs are effective compared to
formal LMS courses (Johnson & Liber, 2008).
Varying technologies used to develop PLEs and associated help systems
may be difficult to overcome for teachers and students who are
technophobes (Dron & Bhattacharya, 2007).
Outside the control of the institution, problems are hard to troubleshoot
(Dron & Bhattacharya).
Instructors must have a good grasp of the PLE technologies in order to
provide assistance to their students.

There are also a number of technological issues that must be addressed to
include management of passwords, variable bandwidth needs, and the vast
array of choices that must be standardized.
To use an array of technologies from different service providers, the learner
must maintain user IDs and passwords for each service (van Harmelen,
2008). Some service providers who offer an array of technologies, for
example, Google, provide a single sign-on capability (van Harmelen).
Developing a Personal Learning Environment
The Internet and especially Web 2.0 technologies have made the concept of
PLEs possible. There are vast arrays of tools that can be grouped in a myriad
So far the conversation about PLEs has been rather abstract. The best way
to understand a PLE is to build one. This section will describe how to create
a PLE and examples are provided on how to integrate a PLE into classroom
of ways to help self-directed learners.