Comments on: What "Postures" Make Up Your Personal Learning Environment

By: Reading: The World is Open – Chap. 1 – We All Learn » MITI

Reading: The World is Open – Chap. 1 – We All Learn » MITI — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:01:38 +0000

[...] One thing I do like about the WE-ALL-LEARN structure is that it poses each piece as an “opener” rather than some other passive, usually observation-based, descriptor. It makes each an opener: an opener to conversation, an opening up of the teaching and learning posture, and implies the necessity of adopting a “posture of openness.” [...]

By: Reading: The World is Open – Chap. 2 – We All Learn » MITI

Reading: The World is Open – Chap. 2 – We All Learn » MITI — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 20:55:06 +0000

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:39:27 +0000

Sorry Sherry, my aim was not to confuse and I was trying to address your question as straightforwardly as I could. You might find some background material on the idea of “personal learning environments” helpful. One good starting point I could suggest is a collection of links and quotes put together by George Siemens at http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Ple

Hope this helps. Cheers, Scott

By: Sherry

Sherry — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:27:41 +0000

Thank you for the response, Scott. However, I guess I didn’t mention that I am a fifth grade teacher, and the advanced vocabulary that you used in writing back to me only confuses me more.
I think that the quote was referring to teachers who place value on being a life long learner, to have a desire to develop the craft of teaching to a higher level.
Can someone out there clarify for me the big idea around PLE?

By: admin

admin — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:10:26 +0000

Hi Sherry, not exactly sure where you are quoting from. Some of this I would definitely say relates to the idea of Personal Learning Environments, other bits not so much (“ongoing credentialed teacher training”?)

As for the need for the actual term, firstly I think it is important to situate it historically. To date much of “online learning” (which, while not the totality of what a PLE can encompass, is nevertheless the domain from which the term originated) has been dominated by the “course management system” approach, largely replicating a classroom-type scenario online with a single, monolithic environment, password protected from the rest of the net, its content and learners. In the UK, these environments are called VLEs or Virtual Learning Environments, and I think it is important to understand the term PLE firstly as a response to these earlier systems and that earlier term, a response that tries to preserve learner choice, interest and styles and recognize that learning doesn’t end at the boundries of the course management system but, if done in a way that understands the power and properties of the network, can be differently constituted around each user.

The problem, then, is partly with the term “environment” which, as a hangover from the earlier term, carries with it the baggage of being a single tool or even a single set of tools or a single approach. Which is precisely what it is not. So why a label? Well, precisely for the same reason we label lots of complex multifarious concepts, to make it easier to talk about. It is jargon, and I do not mean that pejoratively; it is specialized language. I don’t know that we need to be talk to learners about it; maybe, maybe not.

What is important, though, is that it is by far from obvious; everyone says “well of course I have a PLE and so do you” and yet they will then turn around and teach a course in isolation from the rest of the net, using inauthentic tools and assessment measures, as if this was respecting their students’ “person.” So in my mind at least, it is a worthwhile term to keep using and moreso, a worthwhile practice to help people adopt. Hope this helps, cheers, Scott Leslie

By: Sherry

Sherry — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:58:12 +0000

I am joining in with this blog as an assignment given to me in a graduate course that I am taking, please forgive my being naive about this subject of PLE.
I work in rural central Maine, and to my understanding the concept of PLE is “the Personalized Learning model of education combines many of these key elements in its learning process. These key elements include parent involvement, responsibility, and participation in their children’s education; small class sizes; learning program collaboration between teacher, parent, student, and school; ongoing credentialed teacher training; learning style assessment; flexible learning in multiple environments both within and beyond the classroom; home learning environment support; flexible curricular choices; multiple assessment tools and measurements; technology learning access; and varied pace learning.” My question is, why must there be a label, or title about a philosophy of teaching, that in my mind and in my teaching practices, should be automatic. Am I missing a bigger picture? Please help. Sherry

By: Cindy Zhang

Cindy Zhang — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:28:47 +0000

Yes, Sevtap,
The transformative learning could be an effective tool to reduce the gap by constructing a meaningful fashion on PLE.
Cindy

By: Sevtap Karaoglu

Sevtap Karaoglu — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:11:53 +0000

Personal Learning Environment, is what makes us unique and is what differentiates our learning styles form others. This is a very interesting blog with many different perspective reflected on the idea of personal learning environment. I agree with one of the bloggers who says : The idea of a PLE is inherently tied to learner, it is the system the learner chooses, which is also the independence of the learner. As facilitators, we can be a great role model and engage the learners to active learning. However, it is the learners who gap the bridges and connect their interdependence to their productively in their personalized learning environment.

By: Cindy Zhang

Cindy Zhang — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:15:19 +0000

I think most of people in this Blog just have a thought how learners can survive in PLE, likely some one under marine into a big ocean. What are the most important things that understand their own orientation in PLE? The author suggested a very good term “posture” to make a transition among the learners, strategies, and environments. The author raised the question about ” What “Posture” Make Up Your Personal Learning Environment”. Actually I have heard about a couple of similar terms that I am interested in, such as “connect, interweave, reciprocal interact, interdependent. To be honest, this is my matter as well which one is the best term as the description of the transition of learning to learning environment. Again, after I have read all the comments in this Blog. I mostly agree with Colin Milligan. Quoted from ” We conceptualized activity as having three primary components: Consume, Create and Connect which map directly to your three postures.” But I would say somehow that I will change the orders of the three terms as ” Consume, Connect, Create.” As a learner, when we totally engage our learning and observation into the learning environment and social networks, we will have a deep connection with them by following the framework in our own pattern, and then we are able to create the framework to suit on our own learning. But I would not add the another term “Chart ” into the three postures. Like Colin Milligan said ” Charting tools would allow the individual to plan and reflect on their progress towards achieving those goals”. Yes, Chart is a specific tool for learning rather than the general orientation on learning. I would like to use the term” Chunking” instead of “Charting”. Chunking is a combination of information in a meaningful fashion. In my opinion, what the term is the best depends on the mounts of learning approaches and the proper instructional conditions. Therefore, both as a teacher and a student, I would like to have some doctrines to warn my self or others. 1. As a learner, a variety of learning approaches should apply for learning. And we must avoid from either categorization style learning or Egocentrism during building up a well PLE.
2. As a teacher, the best teacher plays a facilitator role to motivate learners to cooperate learning actively and build up a very flexible PLE towards individual self- actualization. I am glad that someone has a problem as same as me on the concept of PLE. The problem-solving study is always a good way to catch learners’ attention. During the problem –solving process, learners can try to collect the different views on it and figure out the best strategies working on it. I believe we are going to have sunshine on this topic in the near future.

Cindy

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:11:56 +0000

Scott, yes I think that was what you were getting at with 3) I was trying to work it through myself. There’s something of a continuum from ‘pure content’ to ‘pure social’, and I wasn’t quite sure 3) got to the ‘pure social’ end. Be interesting to see what you, Jared and Chris come up with.