EDTECH at Boise State University

Here the author argues that Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) are not an application but an approach to learning. They require a radical shift in how we use technology, but they supply a holistic environment where students learn to take responsibility for their own education.

This article presents the features and reasoning for personal learning environments in e-learning. It discusses reasons for its importance in e-learning and lifelong learning. The ways that "learning" is changing with new technologies and resources are considered. The social aspect of personal learning environments is also described, with an emphasis on the tools that are used to facilitate the connections.

The author discusses the potential of learning environments in eLearning and how these LEs can bring together more authentic contexts for learning. The paper also reviews the different purposes and uses of Personal Learning Environments. Through PLE, individuals are responsible for many aspects of their own learning within the most useful contexts. Blogging was also covered as a way to incorporate informal learning. Attwell considers the challenges associated with continued LEs after a course is over, and points out the overarching questions regarding the responsibility for institutions or teachers to continue to support this ongoing learning.

Attwell, G. (2007). Personal Learning Environments-the future of eLearning?. eLearning Papers, 2(1), 1-8. In Graham Attwell's article he offers some insight and ideas towards why personal learning Environments may be essential to learning in the future. . He details the technology behind the buzz surrounding personal learning environments and examples of how we can use them going forward. What I enjoyed about the article was the notion that everyone's learning environment, style, context, and situation are different and PLE's enable the learner to pace themselves and grow on their own terms. While detailing lifelong learning the author grabs the theory of self-driven education being helped by personal learning environments. Graham does a good job of not following into a common misconception that technology directly correlates to better learning, but rather approaches the aspect of what technology could do for learning as well as what personal learning environments could do for learning as well. From his own personal PLE list of software to explaining the next steps in adopting personal learning environments on a wider scale Graham makes sense of a complicated theory.

This is a scholarly paper where Stephen Dowes discusses Personal Learning Environments (PLE) centered around the theory of connectivism. His discussion suggests that web 2.0 is unsuitable and too limiting for online learning. He suggests that in the PLE "management of learning migrates from the institution to the learner" (p. 15). In this way, the learner consumes resources as well as creating them.

I had a difficult time finding articles on PLN & PLE that were theoretical and not practical in nature. This article by Stephen Downes actually explores the connection between PLNs and Connectivism.

Great tool for flipping lessons.

I love the Ted Ed website. It offers educators the opportunity to "flip" YouTube videos to enhance learning. You can use any video that make relate to your subject, share it, and have students watch. Then, students answer questions that you've made up specifically to go along with the video. There are also many "flipped" lessons already made up and available to use. It is a great site that helps integrate technology into curriculum.

This article discusses the pedagogy and theory that is the foundation of connectivism. Discussed in detail is how connectivism impacts education in a 21sr century learning environment.

Interesting article by I. Bessenyie if for no other reason than it was originally written in Hungarian and translated. But it does show that the idea of connectivism is making waves in educational communities around the globe and not just in the United States. This article also tackles some of the more specific elements of connectivism as related to Web 2.0 & E-learning.

This article is a discussion of how network participation is making shared learning possible and the role of the traditional educational institutions.

Thanks for including this article...I got confused for a second seeing the foreign language. Since connectivism seems to espouse the belief that students lead the learning, and should all be learning different things, would it mean the end of the traditional education system as we see it? Do you think connectivism sees any future for mainstream education?

I posted a comment a few minutes ago, went away from the page, and when I came back my comment was gone. I haven't found diigo to be too comfortable to use yet. My main question was...connectivism preaches that students should be learning different things and leading their own learning experience. Does connectivism leave any room for a traditional education system?

Hey Scott. that's a great question and a certain dilemma when it comes to implementation, For me, the real revaluation was in how I personally am a total connective learner. I access information as needed from multitudes of resources. it has changed what I am willing to embrace or not. From a teacher's perspective, implementing it is a totally different animal & considers much more of a balanced, blended approach. You have to ask the question, at what point is a student self-actualized enough to own their connectivness? it is safe to say that students are connective learners regardless of whether we are involved in that or not. I would love to find a way to harness their personal relevance in the classroom.

This article focuses on elearning 2.0. Talks about how learning has evolved from long ago to today and how we used to learn from our elders and now we learn from "informally"

This article discusses socialization and the accessing of information in the information age. The article claims, "A vast amount of spontaneous knowledge exchange is taking place on the interactive World Wide Web. It is on the basis of this that the theories of eLearning 2.0 and connectivism declare that network participation and access to information and to software that interprets and contextualizes information makes a completely new, cooperative, self-organising form of learning possible."