PLE Then (Ioannides, PLE Then)
In September of 2013, I was introduced to the concept of PLE &
PLN. Truly this was all new to me but as always, I am willing to try
almost anything.
Drawing what I saw as my current PLE world (PLE
Now), I knew I had to do some streamlining - I was ALL OVER THE PLACE!
This is true of how I felt as well. I have so many responsibilities and
hats to wear, there were times I thought I would explode. You can see
my my first diagram, that all was very confusing and frankly quite the
mess.
“If
chaos is a necessary step in the organization of one’s universe, then I was
well on my way.” (Van Draanen, 2003).
Chaos
was evident in this initial PLE. Until
the writing of this final week, I had not really reviewed my original
PLE submission. Van Draanen put that
initial submission into perspective for me.
My learning outline was in chaos and I need to get a grip of my newly
found realization that I could organize my learning. “It’s a lack of clarity that creates chaos
and frustration” (Maraboli, 2009). I had no clarity in development of my initial
diagram but did not understand where to start to correct it, however, I felt it
represented my state of learning accurately.
I
understand that a PLE was by definition an individual task/journey. I was looking toward our course – Learning in Digital Contexts – to
provide or guide me to explore tools and services to support my development of
a productive, streamlines, efficient and useful environment. I wanted terribly to stop the chaos – would
this course provide for me the clarity I needed to visualize success?
The
tools identified in my initial PLE, fell into six categories
a)
Collaborate
b)
Connect
c)
Create
d)
Organize
e)
Entertainment
f)
Aggregate
Although
my revised PLE has the same number of tool categories (6), the purpose of my
new categories seem to have more direct focus to accomplishing my goals.
The
tools listed in my original PLE by category is broken down as follows:
a)
Collaborate – LinkedIn, Facebook, Dropbox, D2L, Blackboard,
Wiki, Isaak/Sakai, Outlook, IP Switch, Twitter, Edublogs, Pintrest,
Illustrator, Photoshop, MS Office – Excel, Work, PowerPoint.
b)
Connect – Twitter, Edublogs, Pintrest, Isaak/Saki, Brock
email, Outlook, Notes, Messaging, D2L, Blackboard, and Evernote. Connecting and reaching out to my family,
friends, classmates and then my professional
c)
Create – Illustrator, Photoshop, D2L, Giffy, Fireworks,
Edublogs, Publisher, MS Office, Dropbox, and Wikispaces
d)
Organize – Outlook, Yahoo, Rogers, Outlook Calendar,
Evernote and texting
e)
Entertainment – YouTube, Slideshare, Google Scholar, Brock
Library
f)
Aggregate (and truthfully I didn’t even understand the
concept of this tool category) – RSS, Delicious
In retrospect, it is clear here that there is no
organization to my initial PLE. I had to
understand the functions of the technology, the tools, the categories, and the
benefits of use. Attwell (2010) argues
that ‘while PLE’s may involve technology, applications , and services, but the
purpose behind PLE’s are to support individual and group based learning in
multiple contexts and of promoting
autonomy and control.
Fast forward 3 months - see below. My hats have been identified:
- Personal
- Teacher
- Student
- Sales and Marketing Expert
Using these four centres of my learning world, I have created a
strategic, logical, and organized PLE where I take advantage of the
tools explored this term and utilizing them to my advantage. I was able
to identify those tools currently in my best interest in growing and
continuing to learn and thereby being a most productive and respectful
digital citizen. I have also realized that my PLE is a living working
concept and will always change to accommodate my learning and my
learned.
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| PLE Now (Ioannides, PLE Now) |
(Kompen, Edirisingha & Monguet, 2009) put it best for me:
"Another approach is to consider the PLE not as a specific tool, but
rather as a concept, a way of organizing a variety of Web 2.0
technologies. The PLE would be unique to each user, and would change
according to the user’s needs and experiences."
I have identified the tool categories as:
a)
Communication
b)
Processing
c)
Creativity
d)
Entertainment
e)
Research
f)
Networking
Each of these tool categories include tools explored
during our semester and some tools that were
used before embarking on this learned adventure.
a)
Communication:
MS Outlook, Yahoo email, eCentennial email, Gmail, IPSwtich, dropbox, Facebook,
Jing/Screencasting, texting, phone, Skype, Wikispaces, VoiceThread, Screenr,
blogger, D2L, Brock email, Twitter.
Communicating within my PLE as well as externally is essential to my
growth. These tools will keep me
connected and inspired to reach out for more learning opportunities. I introduced Wikispaces to my post-grad
hospitality students. We were working on
a chapter and rather than doing a paper version of JigSaw, I guided them to
create a Wikispaces version of the chapter JigSaw. The students found it amazing and spent many
hours tweaking and enhancing the original classroom work. This exercise also gave them the
understanding that all in the classroom have the right to access our online
JigSaw and they demonstrated respect for their classmates by collaborating on
discussion points that they may have varying opinions on.
b)
Processing:
MS Word, Excel, Adobe, Minotaur, PowerPoint, Prezi, GoogleDocs, MS Calendar,
SlideShare. Processing is a neccessity
in all I do. These tools enhance my
communication and creativity both personally and professionally. I created a SlideShare of my final class (as
a teacher) presentation for my students for marketing strategies. They were able to share the presentation and
use it as a study guide for their final exams.
c)
Creativity:
Adobe Illlustrator, Dreamworks, Fireworks, Voki, Painter, Photoshop, Animoto,
Prezi, Pintrest, Jing, Flickr, Screenr, iTunes – movies and music, SlideShare. The category was
identified to ensure my work creatively with students, fellow faculty, my Brock
classmates, and sales and marketing co-workers.
I am creating a screencast using Jing for my company’s sales team. They are are located all over Canada and
getting them into one place to give a lesson is not an option. Utilizing Jing to create a screencast, will
give me the option of sending the screencast to them all in advance of my audit
and show them how to correct the issues they are experiencing. My boss is thrilled.
d)
Entertainment:
iTunes, television, radio, Facebook, Flickr, Pintrest, YouTube, Netflix. Working as hard as I do, I needed a category
in my PLE that could also entertain and relax me. This expands my ability to be socially aware
of trends while giving me great entertainment value. Invarible it will also give me some leads for
my students. Since experiemnting with
YouTube and iTunes in our class, I have incorporated information videos and
podcasts into my classroom enviornment.
After each lesson using these tools, we had great discussions about
Creative Commons and the students had a new found respect for visual
presentations.
e)
Research:
Google, Yahoo, Googlescholar, ScoopIt, LinkedIn, Evernote, Diigo, Delicious,
YouTube, Feedly, Bookmarker, Cousera, texts, iTunes-podcasts, Creative Commons,
LinkedIn Groups, Isaak/Sakai. Research
is a vital category for my schooling and teaching. These tools are cornerstones to my growth as
a student and in my role as a teacher to guide my students to their greatest
potential. Working with these resources
give me options to critique, observe, and contribute. This final term paper required indepth
research to incorporate the twelve weeks of readings and well as notible and
applicable quotes.
f)
Networking:
Facebook, LinkedIn, Lotus Notes, Isaak/Sakai, Twitter. For my professional and personal growth,
networking tools I have chosen merge my personal and professional interests and
presence in the digital community. Each
of these three tools are essential to keeping me in touch with my learning
contacts. I am sharing my ScoopIt
curation projects with my various connections and as is appropriate to their
reading needs. It has brought me
recognition both as a teacher and as a student thus far. As a digital citizen, I am being be
responsible by sharing my news worthly discoveries with my personal and
professional connections.
There
is
crossover between categories throughout the various ‘hats’ as many of
the tools
are multi-dimensional. The PLE also
breaks down the use of the tools by user frequency: daily, weekly and
occasionally. Over use of the digital tools in my personal world would
be concerning to
me and my family should the use be extended and become a danger to my
health
and wellness. This is why my new PLE is very streamlined and
organized. As a master of multi-tasking it was critial
for me to identify tools that could multitask with and for me and give
me some
time back rather than taking more away. Digital
Safety is always a concern when using these tools, but I believe my tool
selection gives me what I need to represent myself safely and
responsibility.
My new PLN represents the diversity of life my learning
is involved in. There are clearly
overlaps of various tools that I have selected to work with, but each fulfill a
different need in the different areas of my life. Each tool also has a different use which
various based on the ‘life hat’ I may be wearing – this is now represented in
my diagram. Connecting the tools in this
way accurately reflects my needs. I have
put the emphasis on how the tools fit into my hats rather than how my life can
fit into the tools themselves.
Outlined and exampled earlier, the tools
selected will enhance not only my personal learning, it will also elevate my
teaching. Working with students in the
age group most familiar and comfortable with digital tools, my newly found
knowledge will give me the advantage of providing a learning platform that they
will be both more comfortable and more interested in.
I see my PLE as a tool in motion and
as my education shifts, grows, and develops, so must my PLE. This is how and why I chose the tools
outlined here.
References:
Attwell, G. (2010, April 23). The
Future of Learning Environments. Retrieved from Pontydysgn Bridge to
Learning:
http://www.pontydysgu.org/2010/06/the-future-of-learning-environments-short-version/
Conole, G.
(2008). New Schemas for Mapping Pedagogies and Technologies. Ariadne(56).
Retrieved from http://www.ariadne.ac.uk.issue56/conole/
Ioannides, J. (Artist). (2013, September 21). PLE Then [Print Drawing].
Ioannides, J. (Artist). (2013, November 28). PLE Now [Print Drawing].
Kompen,
R. T., Edirisingha, P., & Monguet, J. M. (2009). Using web 2.0
applications as supporting tools for personal learning environments.
Best Practices for the Knowledge Society. Knowledge, Learning,
Development and Technology for All , doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-04757-2_4
Maraboli,
S. (2009). Life, the Truth, and Being Free. New York City: Better Today
Publishing.
Popova, M.
(2013, December 01). 14 Ways to Acquire Knowledge: A Timeless Guide from
1936. Retrieved from Brain Pickings: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/04/22/14-ways-to-acquire-knowledge-james-mangan-1936/
Van
Draanen, W. (2003). Flipped. New York: Ember.
PLE - The Wearing of Many HATS by Jannett Ioannides is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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