Practical Implications of PLES

8/8/2019 Practical Implications of PLES

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

The practical implications of PersonalLearning Environments

Ann Foreman andJosh 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, oursocial environment and the institutional learning programmes in which weparticipate. It includes books and above all perhaps it includes people Itrecognises the primacy of the learner on driving and developing theirlearning. And in terms of tools it provides them the means to organise

their own learning (full post, orwatch his presentation)PLEs are often contrasted with institutional learning environments; why?Discuss this with the people around you, think about:

whos 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 thediscussion on PLENK)
mailto:[email protected]://sites.google.com/site/joshunderwood/http://sites.google.com/site/joshunderwood/http://www.pontydysgu.org/2008/12/how-my-personal-learning-environment-is-changing/http://www.slideshare.net/GrahamAttwell/schoolsout-227827http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9zSd5Gs6Mwhttp://ple.elg.ca/course/moodle/course/view.php?id=3mailto:[email protected]://sites.google.com/site/joshunderwood/http://www.pontydysgu.org/2008/12/how-my-personal-learning-environment-is-changing/http://www.slideshare.net/GrahamAttwell/schoolsout-227827http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9zSd5Gs6Mwhttp://ple.elg.ca/course/moodle/course/view.php?id=3


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2 Activating Learners PLEs

Using real-life experiences, friends, Google, mobile phone, forvo, blogs, twitter, wikis to learnFrench.

Step 1 Mapping PLEs (+/-20 minutes)

Lets start by mapping our own language learning PLEs.Our objective is to understand better our own and others PLEs and gaininsights into what to expect from our students when we encourage them tobuild their PLEs.

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

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

Compare your groups PLE with those of other groups

Reflectionso 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? Whats missing?

(Follow up learning: watch this video describing one students learningexperience using a PLE)

Step 2 Building PLEs (+/-20 minutes)
http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/drexler.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotAhttp://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/drexler.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA


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Our objective is to begin populating our and our learners personal teaching &learning environments and to identify tools and skills that can help usmanage 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 followingquestions:

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 themin the same way.

Resource Name & Link Whats it goo(language learPLE developmother, why, ho

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 plansetchttp://www.teachers.tv/

Facebook for social networking.TeachingEnglish facebook page community of ELT teachers that discuss all aspectsof learning and teachingLearnEnglish facebook page and community of learners that discuss all aspects oflearning 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.vok

VoiceThread for creating online slide presentations, making comments, sharing
http://plasq.com/comiclifehttp://www.bitstrips.com/http://www.bitstrips.com/http://www.toondoo.com/http://www.toondoo.com/http://goanimate.com/http://goanimate.com/http://www.dipity.com/http://www.teachers.tv/http://www.teachers.tv/http://www.facebook.com/http://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncilhttp://www.facebook.com/LearnEnglish.BritishCouncilhttp://grou.ps/web20andsocialmediaeducationstill20http://mashable.com/2009/09/03/web-apps-students/http://www.voki.com/http://www.voki.com/http://voicethread.com/#homehttp://plasq.com/comiclifehttp://www.bitstrips.com/http://www.toondoo.com/http://goanimate.com/http://www.dipity.com/http://www.teachers.tv/http://www.teachers.tv/http://www.facebook.com/http://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncilhttp://www.facebook.com/LearnEnglish.BritishCouncilhttp://grou.ps/web20andsocialmediaeducationstill20http://mashable.com/2009/09/03/web-apps-students/http://www.voki.com/http://www.voki.com/http://www.voki.com/http://voicethread.com/#home


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

karaokeparty for recording yourself singing to onlinesongshttp://www.karaokeparty.com/

EnglishCentral for watching videos and recording yourself imitating the speakersvoice - uses voice recognition software

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

http://etherpad

Atozteachersstufffor creating your ownworksheetshttp://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-shapes/wordshapes.html

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

TagGalaxy andFlickr-storm for searching photos by tags onhttp://www.flickr.comhttp://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/ http://www.flichttp://www.flic

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

Diigo and Delicious social bookmarkers and web pagehighlighterhttp://www.diigo.com/education

Twittera micro-blogging community where you can search for and post anything thatinterests you

SecondLife a virtual online world and community. The British Council has 2 islesthere: 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 discussionforumshttp://www.wordreference.com/

www.teachertube.com a place where teachers share videosyoutube a place where everybody shares videoshttp://www.wordia.com/

Symbaloo for creating an online desktop with your favourite links
http://voicethread.com/#homehttp://www.karaokeparty.com/http://www.karaokeparty.com/http://www.englishcentral.com/en/videoshttp://etherpad.com/http://etherpad.com/http://etherpad.com/http://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-shapes/wordshapes.htmlhttp://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-shapes/wordshapes.htmlhttp://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-shapes/wordshapes.htmlhttp://www.spellingcity.com/http://www.spellingcity.com/http://www.taggalaxy.com/http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/http://www.flickr.com/http://www.flickr.com/http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/http://www.flickr.com/http://www.flickr.com/http://switchzoo.com/http://switchzoo.com/http://www.diigo.com/educationhttp://www.delicious.com/http://www.diigo.com/educationhttp://twitter.com/http://secondlife.com/http://www.edmodo.com/http://www.edmodo.com/http://www.wordnik.com/http://www.wordia.com/http://www.wordnik.com/http://www.wordreference.com/http://www.wordreference.com/http://www.teachertube.com/http://www.youtube.com/http://www.wordia.com/http://www.symbaloo.com/http://voicethread.com/#homehttp://www.karaokeparty.com/http://www.karaokeparty.com/http://www.englishcentral.com/en/videoshttp://etherpad.com/http://etherpad.com/http://etherpad.com/http://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-shapes/wordshapes.htmlhttp://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-shapes/wordshapes.htmlhttp://www.spellingcity.com/http://www.spellingcity.com/http://www.taggalaxy.com/http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/http://www.flickr.com/http://www.flickr.com/http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/http://www.flickr.com/http://www.flickr.com/http://switchzoo.com/http://switchzoo.com/http://www.diigo.com/educationhttp://www.delicious.com/http://www.diigo.com/educationhttp://twitter.com/http://secondlife.com/http://www.edmodo.com/http://www.edmodo.com/http://www.wordnik.com/http://www.wordia.com/http://www.wordnik.com/http://www.wordreference.com/http://www.wordreference.com/http://www.teachertube.com/http://www.youtube.com/http://www.wordia.com/http://www.symbaloo.com/


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Blogger Wordpress EdublogsGoogle Sites Pageflakes for creating personal webpages/blogshttp://www.blogger.com/

Bloglines, Google Readerfor aggregating news feedshttp://wordpress.org/

Skype for voice, video, conference calls and instant messagingFlashmeeting 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 theirPLEs?

"We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The worldhenceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the rightinformation at the right time, think critically about it, and make importantchoices 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 informationo knowing who to be in contact witho knowing who & how to share witho 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
http://www.blogger.com/http://wordpress.org/http://edublogs.org/http://sites.google.com/http://www.pageflakes.com/http://www.blogger.com/http://www.bloglines.com/https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=reader&passive=1209600&continue=http://www.google.com/reader?utm_campaign%3Den%26utm_source%3Den-ha-ww-ww-bk%26utm_medium%3Dha%26utm_term%3Dgoogle%2Breader&followup=http://www.google.com/reader?utm_campaign%3Den%26utm_source%3Den-ha-ww-ww-bk%26utm_medium%3Dha%26utm_term%3Dgoogle%2Breaderhttp://wordpress.org/http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/homehttp://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk/home.htmlhttp://sites.google.com/http://bubbl.us/http://cmap.ihmc.us/http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=language+exchange&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8http://www.palabea.net/http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=language+exchange&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=language+exchange&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8http://www.blogger.com/http://wordpress.org/http://edublogs.org/http://sites.google.com/http://www.pageflakes.com/http://www.blogger.com/http://www.bloglines.com/https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=reader&passive=1209600&continue=http://www.google.com/reader?utm_campaign%3Den%26utm_source%3Den-ha-ww-ww-bk%26utm_medium%3Dha%26utm_term%3Dgoogle%2Breader&followup=http://www.google.com/reader?utm_campaign%3Den%26utm_source%3Den-ha-ww-ww-bk%26utm_medium%3Dha%26utm_term%3Dgoogle%2Breaderhttp://wordpress.org/http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/homehttp://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk/home.htmlhttp://sites.google.com/http://bubbl.us/http://cmap.ihmc.us/http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=language+exchange&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8http://www.palabea.net/http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=language+exchange&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=language+exchange&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8


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o knowing how to asses the authenticity/validity/relevance ofinformation

o ability to compare viable conflicting points of viewo ability to stay focussed and not be overwhelmed by the flux and

flood of informationo ability to multi-tasko ability to recognise patterns and trendso ability to reflect on what one has found out, to synthesise and

interiorize ito ability to set personal goalso ability to monitor ones progress towards ones goals

Add any other skills you consider necessary to the list

The following suggestions for competency levels come from the PLENK10forum 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 individualsand groups and does not actively attempt to grow his/her network. Forexample, uses Google to search for information on the Internet, emails andskypes friends and colleagues to ask questions, reads blogs, stores filesonline (e.g., GoogleDocs), shares photos online, has social networkingaccount (e.g., facebook, twitter) but uses it mainly for connecting withfriends/leisure rather than learning.

Level 2: Manages own learning through a PLE to ensure connectedness tolearning opportunities without becoming overwhelmed by options. Draws

upon networks and resources as tools for discovery in an effort to expandhis/her learning experiences. Shares his/her own work to stimulate discussionand critical thinking and promote the social construction of knowledge. Forexample, writes own blog that synthesises information garnered from multiplelocations 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 PLEthat lead to deeper engagement and help him/her learn best. Creates and
http://ple.elg.ca/course/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=223http://ple.elg.ca/course/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=223


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modifies tools to meet learning needs. PLE supports innovation in learningand streamlines learning practices. PLE supports the acquisition anddissemination of information and collaboration with others on the use of theinformation. Authentic learning is promoted as expert feedback is

incorporated into learning activities. PLE includes the work and voice ofothers as readily as the individuals own. Uses PLE to create partnershipsand projects, build membership, and develop new networks.

End of session (Lunchtime :-)

But the learning doesnt end here... share your thoughts at lunch and addyour 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 Eden2010

Developing a Personal Learning Environment for language learning usingweb 2.0 tools slideshare presentation, Sara Guth

The networked student model for construction of personal learning

environments: Balancing teacher control and student autonomy WendyDrexler, 2010
http://connect.downes.ca/cgi-bin/login.cgi?action=Registerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_learning_environmentshttp://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=doc&doc_id=8553&doclng=6&vol=2http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutPerso/171521http://www.downes.ca/presentation/245http://www.slideshare.net/Ritakop/rita-eden-valencia-may-2010http://www.slideshare.net/Ritakop/rita-eden-valencia-may-2010http://www.slideshare.net/lamericaana/developing-a-personal-learning-environment-for-language-learning-using-web-20-tools-presentationhttp://www.slideshare.net/lamericaana/developing-a-personal-learning-environment-for-language-learning-using-web-20-tools-presentationhttp://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/drexler.htmlhttp://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/drexler.htmlhttp://connect.downes.ca/cgi-bin/login.cgi?action=Registerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_learning_environmentshttp://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=doc&doc_id=8553&doclng=6&vol=2http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutPerso/171521http://www.downes.ca/presentation/245http://www.slideshare.net/Ritakop/rita-eden-valencia-may-2010http://www.slideshare.net/Ritakop/rita-eden-valencia-may-2010http://www.slideshare.net/lamericaana/developing-a-personal-learning-environment-for-language-learning-using-web-20-tools-presentationhttp://www.slideshare.net/lamericaana/developing-a-personal-learning-environment-for-language-learning-using-web-20-tools-presentationhttp://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/drexler.htmlhttp://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/drexler.html


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Anns list on diigo: PLEs
http://www.diigo.com/list/annfor/personal-learning-environmentshttp://www.diigo.com/list/annfor/personal-learning-environments

Documents

Practical Implications of PLES