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A great leaping off (or summarizing) video on what a PLE is and its connection to connectivism. This apparently was a high school class production. My only qualm might be that their concept of a PLE is a bit web-centric, but this is really well done. I particularly like the end portion about the role of the instructor in a connectivist world. A definitely worthwhile five minute investment.

At my institution we were just involved in developing a student learning outcome to meet our assessment plan. We made sure that information and technology literacy went past the Internet and would include professional networks that were F2F and also be able to pick up a phone and call someone.

Lots of tools for creating a PLE, as well as all things PLE. *note - this is info from the 2010 PLE World Conference

As PLEs are often positioned as the antithesis (or antidote) to closed institutional based learning management systems, this article title struck me as an oxymoron. The article sets forth several plans for making the existing VLEs (think LMS) systems more like a PLE. This includes a widget store, significant options for customizing appearance and perhaps most interesting, a mechanism for making system data available back to users (where confidentiality is not an issue). Did not see whether or not, post-graduation access to institutional PLE resources will be provided or not, as this is a key issue in my mind.

This articles debates what constitutes a personal learning environment and how PLEs have emerged as a reaction to closed LMS evironments. The authors argue that a collection of resources does not alone constitute a PLE; it must also be associated with intentional learning practices such as blogging. Not my favorite, but certainly on topic.

SUMMARY: MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are designed to take advantage of social networks and track the learning of specific topics and specific users across tools, sites, apps, and more. MOOCs can be a part of your PLE, or your PLE can be an integral part of your MOOCs. Either way, Connectivism is at the heart of every MOOC.

Cate - After watching this video, I found MOOC to be very similar to what we are doing in this class. Engaging in the learning process and connecting/collaborating with one another. However, there are differences, such as - we do pay for this course! Overall, great social networking tool for learners. Thanks for sharing.

Cate, I liked this post. It was nice to get to listen instead of read, read, read. I found the information interesting. I had never heard of a MOOC or at least not identified as one. It fit perfectly with the connectivism. I found his comment about promoting life long network learning valuable. We are there, might as well take advantage of the opportunities.

A very easy to read and follow article written by Mark van Harmelen. Great overview of what Personal Learning Environments are and how they may impact learning theories.

This article attempts to define personal learning environments by offering multiple definitions and distinguishing PLE's from related terms. Three PLE system examples are provided.

This paper argues that using Personal Learning Environments (PLE-these are functionally equivalent to PLNs) self regulation is important. Because the use of PLEs are based on individual goals and actions the use of behavior which proves effective at reaching goals is important. They then suggest a framework for self regulated learning when using PLEs.

The article discusses the concept of PLEs and social media, including the perceived thought that PLEs could be considered a pedagogy or a form of technology. The article further discusses that PLEs have the advantage of making the learning specific to each student.

This blog post discusses what a PLN is and how educators can create a PLN to support meaningful and relevant learning. It describes a PLN as an aspect of a PLE (personal learning environment) and then compares and contrasts the two. The author also provides examples of PLNs and discusses how to use MOOCs (massive online open course) and cMOOCs (connectivist massive open online course) to help build a PLN.

In this blog from Debbie Morrison it looks at creating a PLN. However, what make it interesting is her discussion of the difference between PLE's and PLN's which she states are often used interchangeably but shouldn't be.

This article has some interesting points about personal responsibility in creating a PLN.

This article really helped to define knowledge in the Connectivist theory. To know something, means that you are able to organize and connect ideas together. The author makes a brilliant point that the more connections you have to the idea, the stronger your knowledge of it is. It also states that it is more important to continue to search for more knowledge and connections than it is to be satisfied with what is currently known.

This article discusses different learning theories. One of the theories was network semantics and connective learning. This section describes what it means to be a network. Then it connects networks to what it means to be connective.

After reading this article I can get my head around how important PLN are and I applied it to my corporate job. Both my peers and the people who report to me connect in many ways.

The authors review the literature over the last 10 years of Personal Learning Environments (PLE) to come up with an idea or the roles that teachers play within these environments as well as the skills needed to be successful in these roles. They have put forth 5 broad areas that teachers must take on in order to be successful in facilitating student PLEs: Planning and Design, Instruction and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Management and Administration, Use of Technology.

By Loertscher, David V. and Koechlin, Carol (2011). Check out the library at BSU for full text! Discusses each component of digital PLEs in greater details and provides a model that divides the PLE intro three distinct stages of development (each phase empowers the learner to manage specific aspects of his/her learning potential.)

This article proposes the infrastructure of a next generation "context-aware" PLE environment that would automatically filter content using a Bayesian prediction engine. The guts of this are over my head, but it does address one of the key issues with PLEs and Connectivist pedagogies which is information overload and significant time wasted exploring the "wrong" links and resources.

The author of this article, Ilona Buchem, is a co-author of a PLE study titled Understanding Personal Learning Environments: Literature review and synthesis through the Activity Theory Lens. In the study the authors propose a framework they call the Activity Theory Triangle. The theory attempts to define the main dimensions of a PLE in order to study their impact.

The true impact of PLEs needs to be measured/documented/observed/shared in order to ensure their sustainability. Great image and important components of documentation are noted.

This article discusses the components of the current educational structure and how they can be detrimental to continued learning. It also proposes an alternative structure that promotes shared connections and networking.

Written in 2007, this article purposes an "alternative design" to online education that seeks to expose students to a variety of different technologies instead of having them master one. It would then ask students to share new found resources and ideas with other students. Although this "new" concept is clearly the type of education the MET program subscribes to, it is interesting to read about it in a hypothetical sense.

This article argues that personal learning networks will help advance the field of education technology. The author explains the differences between the dominant design of education technology and personal learning networks. The author states that personal learning networks will help people build relationships and connections.

This article explains activity theory model as a good tool for understanding the interpretations and conceptualizations of personal learning environments. I like the graphical representation of the elements of PLE. I like the set of questions researchers leave at the end of the article; some of them I already had in mind.

This site provides a paper written about the connections between personal learning environments and information literacy. It outlines how information literacy intersects with the goals of personal learning environments.

Position learners in active, participatory roles with authentic learning opportunities. The research paper assignment has failed to keep up with modern literacies. A PLE is informal learning and learner driven. The learner makes choices.

This article explores Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) as a way to introduce both formal and informal learning within higher education. Specifically, research shows how using a variety of social media tools to customize a PLE can foster learner-controlled instruction. To achieve the learning experience they desire, though, students must possess the skills needed to engage in a self-regulated learning system with the help of both an instructor and peers.

This article really demonstrates the role of the teacher in modeling and encouraging effective use of social media. In my opinion, the framework created by the author would work best under a constructivist learning environment since so much of the class would be taken up by teaching how to use technology. That said, once students were proficient, they could explore class subject-related information online.

This blog post defines PLEs and discusses how the author feels they are an integral part of how we can and should become lifelong learners.