URL for this doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1NH565TVDE-
4bDOVvTw_OiKvzb3ASUoa5ViLmFtMSXGc&authkey=CKb4xZAI&hl=en&pli=1#

The practical implications of Personal

Learning Environments
Ann Foreman and Josh Underwood

1 What are PLEs & why are they important? (+/-10 minutes)
Graham Attwell describes PLEs as:

" the environment in which we learn... that includes work, the home, our
social environment and the institutional learning programmes in which we
participate. It includes books and above all perhaps it includes people… It
recognises the primacy of the learner on driving and developing their
learning. And – in terms of tools – it provides them the means to organise
their own learning…” (full post, or watch his presentation)

PLEs are often contrasted with institutional learning environments; why?

Discuss this with the people around you, think about:

• who’s in control?
• where and when does the learning happen?
• how does it happen?
• what happens outside the institution?
• what happens when learners leave the institution?
• who sets the goals and monitors progress?

(Follow up learning: look at this video and consider contributing to the

discussion on PLENK)
2 Activating Learners’ PLEs

Using ‘real-life’ experiences, friends, Google, mobile phone, forvo, blogs, twitter, wikis to learn
French.

Step 1 Mapping PLEs (+/-20 minutes)

Let’s start by mapping our own language learning PLEs.

Our objective is to understand better our own and others’ PLEs and gain
insights into what to expect from our students when we encourage them to
build their PLEs.

• Think of all the people and things that help you learn a language and
list them

• Work with the people at your table to create a mind map of a PLE for
language learning incorporating items from all your lists

• Compare your group’s PLE with those of other groups

• Reflections
o Did you find the exercise useful? Why/why not?
o Did you acquire any new tools for your PLE?
o How did you/others organise PLEs?
o Could you do this with your students?
o etc...

The networked student (from Drexler, 2008) - is this what your PLE looks like? What’s missing?

(Follow up learning: watch this video describing one student’s learning

experience using a PLE)

Step 2 Building PLEs (+/-20 minutes)

Our objective is to begin populating our and our learners’ personal teaching &
learning environments and to identify tools and skills that can help us
manage these.

Below is a list of useful resources - but what are they good for?
Work with one or two other people.
Choose resources that you are interested in and think about the following
questions:

o Is it useful for language learning or for developing PLEs or both?

o Why? How?
o What skills does it require?

 Add your own favourite resources to the list and think about them
in the same way.

Resource Name & Link What’s it good

(language learn
PLE developm
other, why, how

Comic Life (not free) is very good for developing comic strips

Also for developing comic strips Bitstrips, Toondoo, GoAnimate

Dipity for creating timelines. Multimedia presentations of chronological information -

e.g. The life of...

teachers.tv videos showing good practice in the classroom + tips, lesson plans
etchttp://www.teachers.tv/

Facebook for social networking.

TeachingEnglish facebook page community of ELT teachers that discuss all aspects
of learning and teaching
LearnEnglish facebook page and community of learners that discuss all aspects of
learning English

Web 2.0 Education for teachers and researchers to share knowledge

Mashable suggestions for 15 essential web tools for students

voki for creating animated speaking charactershttp://www.voki.com/ http://www.voki

VoiceThread for creating online slide presentations, making comments, sharing

images, documents + videoshttp://voicethread.com/ - home

karaokeparty for recording yourself singing to online

songshttp://www.karaokeparty.com/

EnglishCentral for watching videos and recording yourself imitating the speaker’s
voice - uses voice recognition software

Etherpad a web-based word processor that allows people to work together in real http://etherpad.
timehttp://etherpad.com/

Atozteachersstuff for creating your own

worksheetshttp://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-shapes/wordshapes.html

SpellingCity for creating your own spelling gameshttp://www.spellingcity.com/

TagGalaxy and Flickr-storm for searching photos by tags on

http://www.flickr.comhttp://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/ http://www.flick
http://www.flick

SwitchZoo for making new and curious animals and talking about their
habitatshttp://switchzoo.com/

Diigo and Delicious social bookmarkers and web page

highlighterhttp://www.diigo.com/education

Twitter a micro-blogging community where you can search for and post anything that
interests you

SecondLife a virtual online world and community. The British Council has 2 isles
there: one for adults and one for teenagers

Edmodo a private social platform for teachers and students to share ideas, files,
events and assignmenthttp://www.edmodo.com/

Wordnik English word definitions, examples of use, pronunciation, etc...

Wordia Personal video definitions of wordshttp://www.wordnik.com/

WordReference Word translations & definitions, translation discussion

forumshttp://www.wordreference.com/

www.teachertube.com a place where teachers share videos

youtube a place where everybody shares videoshttp://www.wordia.com/

Symbaloo for creating an online desktop with your favourite links

Blogger Wordpress Edublogs Google Sites Pageflakes for creating personal web
pages/blogshttp://www.blogger.com/

Bloglines, Google Reader for aggregating news feedshttp://wordpress.org/

Skype for voice, video, conference calls and instant messaging

Flashmeeting for online meeting and webinarshttp://sites.google.com/

bubbl.us and cmap for mind mapping

On line language exchanges for setting up online tandem learning/intercambios e.g.

palabea, http://www.google.com/search?
client=safari&rls=en&q=language+exchange&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

What are the skills that students need to develop when building up their
PLEs?

"We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world
henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right
information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important
choices wisely" from Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge – E.O. Wilson

Some skills that may be useful for building up a PLE:

o knowing where to look for information

o knowing who to be in contact with
o knowing who & how to share with
o knowing how to keep up to date with new information and tools

o knowing how to interact in social networks

o knowing how to select and filter what is important

o knowing how to store and retrieve information

 o knowing how to asses the authenticity/validity/relevance of
information
o ability to compare viable conflicting points of view
o ability to stay focussed and not be overwhelmed by the flux and
flood of information
o ability to multi-task
o ability to recognise patterns and trends
o ability to reflect on what one has found out, to synthesise and
interiorize it
o ability to set personal goals
o ability to monitor one’s progress towards one’s goals

• Add any other skills you consider necessary to the list

The following suggestions for competency levels come from the PLENK10
forum discussion:
Competency levels for building and managing a PLE

Level 1: Uses technology as a means of identifying “what is out there” and

takes on the role of “lurker” (observer). Minimal interactions with individuals
and groups and does not actively attempt to grow his/her network. For
example, uses Google to search for information on the Internet, emails and
skypes friends and colleagues to ask questions, reads blogs, stores files
online (e.g., GoogleDocs), shares photos online, has social networking
account (e.g., facebook, twitter) but uses it mainly for connecting with
friends/leisure rather than learning.

Level 2: Manages own learning through a PLE to ensure connectedness to

learning opportunities without becoming overwhelmed by options. Draws
upon networks and resources as tools for discovery in an effort to expand
his/her learning experiences. Shares his/her own work to stimulate discussion
and critical thinking and promote the social construction of knowledge. For
example, writes own blog that synthesises information garnered from multiple
locations on the Internet; tags/bookmarks useful resources and shares them;
contributes to wikis; has a video blog; creates and shares mindmaps,
animations, presentations etc; creates and edits documents online with others
(e.g., GoogleDocs).

Level 3: Actively considers and reflects on tools and resources within PLE
that lead to deeper engagement and help him/her learn best. Creates and
modifies tools to meet learning needs. PLE supports innovation in learning
and streamlines learning practices. PLE supports the acquisition and
dissemination of information and collaboration with others on the use of the
information. Authentic learning is promoted as expert feedback is
incorporated into learning activities. PLE includes the work and voice of
others as readily as the individual’s own. Uses PLE to create partnerships
and projects, build membership, and develop new networks.

End of session (Lunchtime :-)

But the learning doesn’t end here... share your thoughts at lunch and add
your ideas to this page some time later...

Follow up learning:

• explore some of the resources listed below

• join in the PLENK massive online open learning course on PLEs
• add your comments and links to your own PLEs to this page

Articles/ materials about PLEs

Wikipedia – History of personal learning environments

Personal Learning Environments - the future of eLearning? – Graham Attwell

7 Things You Should Know About Personal Learning Environments –

Educause, 2009

Personal Learning Environments – presentation, Stephen Downes 2010

The design and development of a Personal Learning Environment:

Researching the learner experience – slideshare presentation, Rita Eden
2010

Developing a Personal Learning Environment for language learning using

web 2.0 tools – slideshare presentation, Sara Guth

The networked student model for construction of personal learning

environments: Balancing teacher control and student autonomy – Wendy
Drexler, 2010
Ann’s list on diigo: PLEs