Beyond the boundaries of CMS Personal learning environments (PLEs) as a creative space for teaching and learning Prof. Tim Pychyl Department of Psychology Flavia Renon MacOdrum Library Maire Goss Mary-Beth Haley Julie Lepine Students of PSYC 6104W, ALDS 5204W
CMS/LMS Pros Structured Perennial Flexible Asynchronous Cons Teacher centered Course based
PLEs v. LMS: is there a difference? d5Gs6Mw&feature=related d5Gs6Mw&feature=related Both are valuable to the student learning experience
A bit about PLEs A Personal Learning Environment is a facility for an individual to access, aggregate, configure and manipulate digital artifacts of their ongoing learning experiences (Ron Lubensky, 2006)
The Anatomy of personal learning environments (PLEs)
PLEs: another model
The nature of PLEs Personal Learning Environment (PLEs) are a concept and not a system There is still some work that needs to be done to operationalize this vision of a lifelong learning environment into a product (Anderson, 2006)
Recently I came across an interesting PLE tool….. Grade 7 student’s PLE: Welcome to my PLE q5wIY&feature=related q5wIY&feature=related Part of a thesis project (Wendy Drexler, 2010)
Where do PLEs fit into higher education?
Symbaloo PLEs A few samples from the Seminar in University Teaching
Symbaloo, a visual gathering tool
What are PLEs and why should we care? watch?v=MqSH5TMYlz4&fe ature=related
University teaching PLEs: finding your own voice …in an organized way 1. Identify teaching/learning & professional development goals that best suits your needs (teaching philosophy, personality,…) 2. Select information sources that will help you meet your anticipated goals 3. Select e-tools that will help you find and organize this information most effectively and efficiently (preferably in one location)
Some pieces of the teaching puzzle
PLE software/tools The trends: Individual (mashups,webtops) Institutional
PLEs and Ubiquitous technology Developments in: Cloud computing Mashups Widgets…
Other types of PLEs: Webtops or web portals What? Type of mashboard Examples : iGoogle, NetVibes, PageFlakes, Elgg… homepages/
The PLEX project, an institutional PLE: an attempt at creating a personal learning environment integrated with a LMS A group at the University of Bolton created PLEX in an attempt to operationalize PLEs PLEX (open source software/beta) Note: not much has been written about the use of this product (still in Beta version)
In conclusion
Some points to reflect on… The change from a traditional Learning Management system (LMS) to include Personal Learning environments involves both a technological as well as a major pedagogical paradigm shift.
Some points to reflect on… According to Schaffert & Hilzensauer (2008), seven crucial elements are involved: Role of the Learner Personalization Content Social involvement Ownership Educational & organization culture Technological aspects
For inspiration: sample roadmaps for PLEs Examples of PLE structures: grams#tosh 1. Tim Hand (conceptual map) 2. Michelle Martin (educational developer) 3. Katherine Pisana (university student/tool oriented) 4. Alec Couros (networked teacher model)
Questions and comments… Thank you for your participation