Personal Learning Environments
This is a thread specially created for discussing Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). How do each of us learn best? Indeed, is there a sole "best" way? How do we gather information to promote better learning for ourselves as individuals?
Hi Shaun
That is indeed a very pertinent question and concern. There is definitely a danger of becoming overwhelmed with the whole array of different possibilities that surround us, as you have refered to.
Personally, I think Twitter wins hands down out of all the different ways for me. I like the fact that it's all in one place and all together, ie people from my Ning groups, other students of courses I have studied with, etc are also there. I like the fact that my PLN has been built up by myself, gradually over the past year.
Sometimes I don't have time to pop in and visit all the different groups I belong to in order to contribute, and this makes me feel somewhat guilty. Does anyone else have the same feeling?
Hi :-)
Janet, I like your approach of building a PLN gradually :-)
I'm very new to the whole idea, and it can be quite overwhelming. A friend suggested 'baby steps,' like you, building it up and gaining confidence bit by bit.
I don't think the variety available is too much, but it's hard to get the hang of it all at the same time.
I feel guilty for not contributing, definitely, but it's also a confidence thing. Not sure I'll have the confidence to believe I've got something to contribute until I've 'listened' (lurked? :-( ) for a bit. Maybe you don't develop the confidence til you just get on with it.
Is there one (skype, facebook, twitter etc.) that you think it's best to start with?
Hi Jennifer
You are right when you say you gain confidence when you just get on with it. I prefer Twitter for keeping up with my PLN. Maybe that would be a good place to begin with. It's taken me some time to get used to it, but it's a fantastic way to learn and share knowledge about my chosen field , which is EFL, education in general and technology. I do spend more time on twitter than in my ning groups or FB, which I confess, I don't use so often. Give it a go, if you haven't already.
As for Skype, I use it to keep in contact with co-students on courses I attend and with work colleagues I keep in touch with. I use Google Wave and Skype together and that's something new for me, which I quite enjoy!
As for having the confidence to contribute to discussions, I think you are fine as you are doing at the moment! It's good to look and see what other people say before joining in as that way, you can see how these things work. I also did the same before taking the plunge a while back.
Best
Janet
I agree with Janet, for me twitter is my preference for keeping up with my PLN though I do find the ning groups are useful for developing some of the points 140 characters can't deal with.
Yes, I should also add the same point as you Shaun. Twitter is a great tool and it forces you to be really concise with content, but Ning groups are indeed good for fully getting into the subject matter more fully.
Hi all :)
I downloaded Tweetdeck three or four days ago and I am a bit frustrated. Everybody I've been talking to agrees with you but I find it a bit confusing.
As for NING, I have been using it for a couple of years and I like it. However, and I agree with you Janet, I feel the need of having everything 'gathered' in the same place and see the changes and contributions. I have no time to check Ning, FB, SL,etc. and a big Yes, I feel guilty because I don't contribute enough.
As for lurking, I completely agree with Jennifer. It is necessary to start in a new group. To get to know the people and the contributions.
Best
Elena
Hi Elena
I haven't got Tweetdeck so I have no idea how it works, but I have heard it is very useful for organising lots of tweets. There are so many helpful sites around that include tutorials on how to use Twitter that it is really difficult to know where to start. I have found Kalinago English's posting on The English Language Teacher's Guide to Twitter @ http://kalinago.blogspot.com/2009/08/english-language-teachers-guide-to.... to be very useful and also Building your Twitter Network by Nik Peachey has lots of great tips. @ http://bloggingandsocialmedia.blogspot.com/2009/05/building-your-twitter....
Best
Janet
Thanks a lot, Janet. I'll have a look after marking my exams!!!
Very good summary of Tessa's. Congratulations!
:) Elena
Hi Elena
Thank you very much. Very kind of you to say so. I hope you are enjoying all the "buzz" of this great conference. I certainly am!
Have a good "virtual" day. :)
Janet
Hi all,
I use tweetdeck to manage my three twitter accounts I have for different websites . I find it very practical and useful .IThrough it I send tweets to my FB page and learn about my followers , retweets and mentions .
But my favourite PLE is diigo which allows me to share my social bookmarking with my groups .When I get Diigo digest I check the links my friends have bookmarked and I may tweet some of them to my followers on twitter and my FB contacts
Mbarek
Hello
Please can I ask how you define a PLN.
If the 'P' is 'personal' then it's for me ... mine - and my network and my stuff? So, it's about how I collect links, etc? I'm quite happy to operate in a Google environment (the old Google Notebook, Google Reader, Delicious) and to maybe share those features with my students - but then things get changed, like Delicious having been sold to Yahoo - I discovered that after my sts had got Google accounts to use Blogger, Picasa and Google docs. So, thanks to Mbarek for the Diigo suggestion which I'll use with my students now - but it's yet another place to store links for me ...
There's always something new - and a new way of doing things or a better way and I feel like I'm constantly playing 'catch up' - and the more ways I investigate the more dispersed my stuff becomes!
As for sharing, I always think people probably already know about whatever it is I've found and it's difficult to assess who'd be interested (but that's why you create lists and groups of course), and I find a lot of the 'social sharing' like YouTubes on Facebo very intrusive and irritating, just like the old fwd, fwd jokes people used to send - and still do! Obviously you don't have to look at everything, but just having it plonked on my page is annoying - and I think that's what puts me off Twitter.
It's all so overwhelming! Any ideas for sorting myself out here? I am sure I sound really ditzy, out of step and old-fashioned!
Heather
I've been reading a lot about PLEs this past week (part of an MA course I'm doing). A few comments here have been about PLNs (Network) rather than PLEs (an environment which can bring together a person's links, articles, feeds etc and perhaps artefacts for an e-portfolio).
A nice example of this can be seen here (www.mindomo.com/view?m=7fe3de1186d6c14213e2a6728b3d50d4). Personally I've set up a netvibes space which aggregates lots of info and link as a mini study portal.
I think there are many ways to develop a PLE but it's more of an approach than a technology. Perhaps its better to present tools and options rather than a specific site / software.
With so many PLEs it is hard to decide which to use, but the question is why do you use them, personal or professional or both?
I use FB for keeping up with family, friends, meeting new people and playing games. This is personal. Skype is great for cheap phone/computer calls to the same above or directly talking F2F with a student/colleague. I find tweeting more personal too, though good for sending notices/announcements.
Of course blogging can be used as a personal or professional diary which you may want someone to comment or not (though sometimes I've read blogs and wonder if he/she isn't just babbling to him/herself. But, similar to forums, blogs are good for writing comments to others questions and statements, so blogs can be personal and professional, right? When you add in Nings, Diigo,Google Reader and Docs, Delicious... it seems just too much. I love it and hate it!
Do we need all these tools when teaching? Sometimes I feel we overload the students and ourselves with too much technology and loose the emphasis on teaching?
I've taken part a few online courses and each one has used a different platform, some all inclusive and others where you have to jump from one twit to another blog. Confusing!
I don't think we'll ever be able to catch up with it all. At least I feel that once I become proficient with a new site or platform, another one pops up that I want to learn and use.
"Do we need all these tools when teaching? Sometimes I feel we overload the students and ourselves with too much technology and loose the emphasis on teaching?"
This is an interesting point, in my initial post in the thread, I said something similar with regards to keeping PLNs. In yesterday's Learning technologies PCE some of the discussions I took part in raised the same question. Not only too much technology but the fact technology changes so rapidly making it difficult to know which things are here to stay and which will only be short term. I think the important point is using technology you feel comfortable with and that which has a valid use for you and / or your students.
Shaun
Hello,
I agree with NickT that perhaps it is better to present tools and options rather than a specific software or social network site.
Learners and teachers are navigating/experimenting anyway, technology changes, and most people are aware of the value of these tools. PLE's are a norm, as they are common to all distance learning courses. But where people need help is understanding their own strengths and building on those strengths through the use of the various technologies - adapting and assimilating.
Multiple Intelligences is one tool that learners and teachers can use to understand their strengths and weaknesses, then create their own environment based on their strengths, which in turn makes the changing technological tools easier and gives the learner a better understanding of self and motivates them for lifelong learning.
More on Multiple Intelligences can be found on my webpage, including links to free online assessments:
http://mitraining.schools.officelive.com
Josh Lange
Dresden, Germany
I share your worries that one may get overwhelmed by using too many tools for PLE .Trying to catch up with the new tools may simlpy keep you busy discovering their features and the way to use them and forget about ipmlemeting old tools effectively .On a daily basis , some tools simply disappear and others get replaced by newer ones .However some tools have proved to be powerful enough to resist to this "technological selection "and have gained more and more users since they first started .
Another point is that some tools started as personal platforms but turned to be professionally very effective such as Facebook , twitter , google buzz , diigo , posterous etc .I absolutely agree with Josh's statement that :"Learners and teachers are navigating/experimenting anyway, technology changes, and most people are aware of the value of these tools. PLE's are a norm, as they are common to all distance learning courses. But where people need help is understanding their own strengths and building on those strengths through the use of the various technologies - adapting and assimilating."
Best
Mbarek
Good idea for a thread - Do you think that there are in fact now too many ways to build a PLN? What with twitter, ning, facebook, skype and so on we are in danger of overdoing it?