Week 2: Personal Learning Environment

What is Personal Learning Environment?

This week was all about PLE; this stands for personal learning environment. Digital Study Skills describes PLE “as a digital toolbox… that is personal to each individual, created by them, owned by them, used by them within their lifelong learning”. You can think of a PLE as a system that assists learners to manage their own learning. An individual can create a PLE to help them set their own personalized goal, administer their learning styles and engage/ interact with others.  PLE is more of an informal learning than formal learning. It is important to experience both informal and formal learning. This reminds me of two courses offered at Brock University, ADED 1P31 Learning for Success and ADED 1P32 Learning in Digital Contexts. These two particular courses focus more on an individual’s learning style; great courses definitely recommend taking them! These courses have helped me organize and manage and organize my own learning. For more information regarding PLE, please visit this slideshare called Learning management systems and the personal learning environment: A bridge in the cloud? By Steve Wheeler http://www.slideshare.net/timbuckteeth/a-bridge-in-the-cloud

Attwell (2007) indicates some important aspects of personal learning environments. Education has taken a new approach, and has embedded the use of technology into their curriculum. Schools in the 21^st century are now incorporating as much technology as they can. Our generations today, are known as multi-taskers and prefer to learn by using various sources available to them online. Attwell (2007) emphasizes on the importance of experiencing informal learning. Informal learning allows individuals to learn through all kinds of settings and contexts.  Attwell (2007) brought up a good point about how people learn their jobs. Atwell (2007) indicates that only 20 % of the learning process is done through formal learning, whereas, the rest is through informal. What I mean by this is that, often times individuals get trained on their position. However, they get more comfortable with their position through observations and asking questions, and learning from their mistakes. Lastly, Malan (2010) indicates that it is more important for individuals to focus on finding, sorting, sharing, critiquing and creating than simply reading, memorizing and recalling. For more information please view this Prezi presentation that explains more in depth about PLE. https://prezi.com/-xhpuupxgjin/growing-your-personal-learning-environment/

Moving on, here is a picture of my personal learning environment (PLE)!

Personal:

In 5 – 10 years time, I envision myself continuing my current occupation and growing with Caribbean Medical University as a Program Coordinator for their Premedical Program. Furthermore, in 5 – 10 years, I hope to continue my education, get my Masters in Social Work and pursue my dreams of becoming a Social Worker. If I were asked this same exact question about a year ago, I would have said inspiring educator. During my last semester at Brock University, I have finally been able to envision where I see myself. I am currently, working part- time for Caribbean Medical University, finishing up my last semester. Lastly, I hope to begin working at non-profit organizations to build my experience to get into masters of social work.

Learning:

To pursue my career as a Social Worker, I will have to learn more about essential skills and have a good foundation of knowledge. For beginners, I will need to complete my program and graduate. After graduating, through informal learning, I would have to build experience and get more fieldwork experience. However, in order for me to get this fieldwork experience required for me to apply for masters. I would need to make connections and stay caught up with issues related to children. I will have to learn through researching articles being published regarding children’s inequity issues, what fits for children and etc. I would need to be aware of what theorists are arguing and their standpoints on certain topics revolving children and youth. With the help of blogs, twitter, and Prezi, I will be able to share my views and opinions online for those who may be interested in similar topics as me.  In order to build experience, I would need to make connects, and network with individuals who are in the similar field as me. For this, I would need to learn, how to be professional on LinkedIn and etc. There is a lot of formal and informal learning required for me to do in order for me to pursue my dream job as a social worker.

Environment:

Environment has a huge impact on learning! An individual must be in a positive “studious” environment in order to want to learn. I love to learn in the comfort of my bed, but during examinations it gets really hard for me to find that motivation to continue studying.  It is important to pick a place to learn where either you are isolated from those who may be distractions and cellular devices. Studying in a quiet floor on the library really helps! For those like me who get easily distracted, should spend at least 3 – 4 hours in the library. Studying beside other students can help with motivation.

Habits:

            As mentioned above, my bad habit in terms of environment is doing all my work in the comfort of my bed. Once I am in bed, I just feel so relaxed and calm; it makes me want to watch a show, talk to my roommates, online shop.  I have tried changing this habit. I actually live in an apartment that has a study room; I use to go there when I needed to get my work done. It was good until others walked in who had work to do, but allocated most of their time talking out loud, which is a distraction for those trying to do their work, especially me. Now, I just try to stay at school as long as I can to complete most of work their, so I can come back knowing I had a productive day and got majority of my work done.

In sum, a personalized learning environment can definitely be a positive approach for individuals to understand their own learning styles. There are many ways to look at PLE; for example, Wendy Drexler believes that PLE can empower learners to become accustomed to new technology and sources available. A personal learning environment is very unique and helpful. It allows individuals to organize and mange their own learning.