My PLE - Then and Now - Also Posted as a Page

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:

1. Personal
2. Teacher
3. Student
4. 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.

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 necessity 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 screen-cast 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 screen-cast, will give me the option of sending the screen-cast 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 experimenting 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 in-depth research to incorporate the twelve weeks of readings and well as notable 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 worthy 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 critical 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.

 

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