Article on the philosophy of LMS and PLE and the development (in progress) of an OLN open Learning Network at a US uni coupling central services with student owned spaces / tools online. Worth reading
Long post and comments on the vle vs the ple by John Fontaine, head of 'Platform Evangelism' at BB. Interesting that he appears to view the vle as a transmitter and instructor driven and I wonder if this then justifies the rest of his thinking on the role of technology.
The OU does Personal Learning Environments PLEs as a supported project / unit.
"This course introduces the main concepts and technologies behind Responsive Open Learning Environments (ROLE). The ROLE project provides tools and services that enable learners to build their own technology-enhanced learning environment based on their needs and preferences."
"There has been a lot of talk recently about PLEs (Personal Learning Environments) and everyone it seems, wants to know what they are, what they contain, or if they will replace current institutional VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) or LMS (Learning Management System) provision."