PLEs and ownership: A couple more thoughts

I've been thinking quite a bit about PLEs, the contribution of Mobile 2.0, and the issue of ownership of learning, about which we are being invited to reflect. As John points out in his comment on my previous post, the benefits of Web 2.0 and a PLE extend far beyond the educational world. We have been considering the 'blurring' of boundaries between formal and informal learning, and between work and leisure. It's interesting that I use nearly all of the tools in my PLE both formally and informally (my formal studies being H800 which is controlled by formal assessment criteria and a recognised masters level qualification). It's only the ones down in the bottom right hand corner - TV, Faceboook, cell phone that I don't (yet) use for formal studies.

Do all these new tools in my new PLE change the 'ownership' of my learning? I don't currently think so. I don't even think the boundaries are becoming blurred, but maybe 'jagged' as one of our course readings described it. My experience is that these tools enrich both my formal and informal learning, but in my formal learning I have to conform to set assessment criteria or else I will fail the course. My informal learning about leisure, things that interest me, information that I seek etc, belongs entirely to me. I see this all the time with my son - he conforms to what he must learn at school because he has to - but his informal learning really belongs to him. He is wagging his own tail, so to speak. The formal or informal nature of the learning is always what will control the ownership in my view, and what we pay for when we to go to school or university. There will always be a need for recognised, assessed qualifications for a labour market to function, so I don't believe that educationalists need to worry that the advent of Web 2.0 tools and PLEs is going put their whole function at risk - there will continue be a role for educational institutions as we understand them now.

I believe that institutions will have to maintain their core systems, such as VLEs (LMSs), library systems etc, but that as one of our readings has suggested, there will need to be a greater integration between student PLEs and the institutional systems, with the possibility of students docking into the 'mother ship' every so often to exchange data. As with life it's never going to be black or white, but various shades of grey, that will suit different individuals.

My PLE:how things have changed in 10 years

I'm interrupting my rearward looking introspections to do a bit of up to date posting and consider my PLE (or Personal Learning Environment). This is the acquired collection of tools and services that we use outside the confines of institutional provision. Mostly these tools are freely available on the web, feature rich and easy to use. There can be a contention between PLE's and institutionally controlled systems which may less functional and flexible, but do supply the consistency and uniformity required for collaborative work and assessment purposes.

We are asked to consider how our own practice and use of technologies has changed over the last 10 years or so. The technologies in my PLE above have revolutionised my life whilst I have been in South Africa - when we arrived I had access to email and internet browsers on a dial up modem and that was about it. I was amused to see how complex my PLE is already - and there are still tons of tools I have yet to explore. It has definitely become the richer for joining H800!

I don't know where I would be without the technology any more. It enables me to continously stay in touch with what's going on in the UK, to keep in touch with family and friends, to professionally develop, to network, be a part of online events, and to have fun.