Week 8

My understanding of personal learning environments has been totally transformed by enrolling in this course. I have found that PLE’s are engaging, organized, and provide an ease of collaboration with professionals of similar interest. The personal learning environment was just that- it was a learning experience in an environment in which I was previously unfamiliar. Most impressive was the sense of empowerment and ownership I had in regards to my learning and advancing my knowledge.

As a newcomer to PLE’s, I would gradually ease them into my classroom, until I became more of an expert in this area. I feel this would be a great gifted project for next school year. Students would investigate a hobby or topic of interest; gather resources on a “start page” like Symbaloo. As they gather resources, they would network with professionals for assistance, and engage in meaningful dialogue with other learners.

Ways we can evaluate PLE”s most effectively, would be in regards to the effort that students put into the project. Personally, I feel the most effective means of evaluating a PLE is by providing a rubric of how many contacts must be made, how many reference sites on their page, and their interactions with other learners. Providing a simplistic rubric, which emphasizes the “number” of contacts/resources would give learners a baseline to measurable baseline.