Personal Learning Environments

I am currently exploring a concept called Personal Learning Environments. Interestingly, I ran into the idea while making a presentation titled ‘Learner 2.0’. I was trying to look at web 2.0 tools and was trying to convince my audience about web 2.0 tools being most suitable for the current day digital learner who is connected to a network of people at all points in time, via a mobile phone or a PC. I focused on ideas like collaboration, sharing, publishing, and multitasking, which are second nature to the our learner. Web 2.0 tools, which rest on a similar philosophy, are therefore the most natural web tools to be used for the current day learner.

All was well until I stumbled upon Graham Attwell’s paper which speaks about Personal Learning Environments. Attwell is rather critical about institutions trying to control internet based learning through Learning Management Systems and Virtual Learning Environments. He points out that merely reproducing class room learning using these tools, makes these environments sterile. It is important that we allow learners to play an active role in deciding what they must learn and how. And such a move will give way for a Personal Learning Environment, which is usually an aggregation of several desktop and web services. More importantly, we must recognise such infromal learning as a mark of the learner’s competencies, therefore look beyond qualifications that come with formal learning.

Although Attwell does not speak of developing Personal Learning Environments to the exclusion of more formal learning spaces, I couldn’t help but reflect on the changing role of educators/ learning solution providers such as myself. Also, if we were to recognize informal learning, measure it in some sense, aren’t we formalising it? But these questions apart, I do think that educators and trainers must create an awareness about the possibilities that new technologies can provide. Learners can certainly choose their tools but exposing them to these tools will certainly be a part of our changing role.

I think one way to do this is by collecting and sharing Good Case Practices of companies and educational institutions across the globe using a variety of tool sets to enhance informal learning amongst their employees and students. Over the next few weeks, I am going to be posting about such instances. If you know of any good case practices or have interesting opinions about the ones I post, please feel free to share them.

For a more clear and simple introduction to Personal Learning Environments, watch this video made by Graham Attwell.

You could also watch this interview of Graham Attwell to get his views on using new technologies for learning, the reactions of educational institutions to these, and the use of these technologies for workplace learning.