What Are Personal Learning Environments?
The PLEs (English acronym for Personal Learning Environment
), that is, Personal Learning Environments, refer to a new way of understanding the teaching-learning process. The pedagogical approach of PLEs refers not only to the content, what the student learns, but also to how he learns, where and with whom.
What do we mean by PLEs?
For a large number of specialists on the subject, PLEs fall within the technological field. However, according to the most current opinions, the Personal Learning Environments that a person uses to learn go beyond the technological world.
In general, Personal Learning Environments are understood as a pedagogical idea, as a practice to learn through technology. Looking for a concrete definition, we find the one elaborated by Linda Castañeda and Jordi Adell. According to them, PLEs are a set of tools, information sources, connections and activities that each person uses regularly to learn.
In other words: the personal learning environment includes both what a person consults for information, etc., as well as the people who serve as a reference and the connections between those people.
How to build a suitable PLE?
To begin with, we need to understand from the start that each of us has our own personal learning environment. In other words, PLE is not a tool, but the environment in which we learn.
So, the most important thing, where our focus of attention should be, is how we should organize our PLE properly. To do this, as Linda Castañeda says, we need to know how to manage the different personal and digital tools, as well as knowing how to manage our opportunities to learn.
In addition, a good personal learning environment must have three types of essential elements:
- Reading tools and strategies. The sources of information that the student accesses and that provide that information.
- Reflection tools and strategies. The environments in which the student can transform information.
- Relationship tools and strategies. They would be included in what is called the Personal Learning Network and refer to environments in which the student interacts with other people, learning through them or learning from them.
What do we get from Personal Learning Environments?
At first, Personal Learning Environments do not have the only function of organizing and structuring knowledge. The PLEs, in their role as facilitators of the teaching-learning process, not only allow us to enjoy collective and public knowledge, but also promote citizen participation, by sharing and creating new knowledge.
Likewise, without a doubt, PLEs help us to develop new digital skills, as well as to find and connect with different people in our field and thus discover other perspectives and innovative ideas.
In short, PLEs are the set of information sources, tools, services and communities of people that help us manage our own learning, while exchanging and sharing information and experiences.
