Learning or Management Systems? This site has been created to foster discussion on how our thinking, learning, and organizational activities are impacted through technology and societal changes. Since the original publication of Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, I've been approached by many people requesting additional thinking and discussion. Four tools are available to provide dialogue: Blog for my personal reflective thoughtsWiki for collaborative content creationDiscussion forums for discussion on issues impacted by a connectivist view of learningEmail list for discussions on technology, networks and learning Most resources on this site are intended for public viewing, but contributing to the wiki or discussion forums requires registration. Please create your account by clicking the "join" text on the top, right-hand corner. If you are interested in general learning and technology trends, please visit my elearnspace site.
PLE vs. LMS – disaggregate power, not people. @ Dave’s Educational Blog. As PLENK2010 moves into week two we are taking on the debate between Personal Learning Environments and Learning management systems. My next post will address the differences between the two, but there is a major point that I’d like to address that digs into my distaste for the use of the word ‘personal’ in education. The PLE/LMS debate is not about autodidacticism, it’s about the decentralization of power It is easy to see the transition to PLE as the ‘rebel yell’ of education. The splitter leaving the fold to strike out on their own to a place where they can make their own decisions, commune with knowledge on their own terms, thank you very much, and not be under the evil yoke of a power mongering educator and not have to suffer the ignominy of working in groups with other classmates.
The lone learning warrior, learning on their own, without guidance. I see learning as a social activity. My own PLE (if i were to call it that) is very much about the aggregation of people. The centralisation dilemma in educational IT. I wrote an article for a new journal, the International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments (IJVPLE). My piece was entitled 'The centralisation dilemma in educational IT'. I argued that we have a centralisation - decentralisation cycle in educational IT, so we had distributed versions of VLE, which moved to a central VLE, and we are now seeing a shift back to decentralised cloud services. The arguments for a centralised VLE are: "Having looked at some of the issues surrounding centralised and decentralised educational IT services, we can see that there is dissatisfaction with the current centralised model, but also problems with the implementation of a decentralised model.
This next succession of IT services is likely to see an attempt to retain some of the benefits of a centralised system with the diversity of a decentralised one. Because it's the first edition the journal is freely available so you can access a PDF of the full article here. Towards an eLearning 2.0 provisioning strategy for universities (PDF) Open complementing closed - PLE and LMS - why, what for and how? : The Knowledge Tree.
PLE’s versus LMS: Are PLEs ready for Prime time? | Virtual Canuck. I’ve been trying to get my head around the viability of moving educational programming from institutionally centered Learning Management Systems (LMS) systems, or even institutionally owned and controlled educational social systems like Elgg or Barnraiser, to a distributed and likely syndicated set of tools often referred to as Personal Learning Environments (PLE). The recent postings by Leigh Blackall, response by Dave Cormier and the work of Paul Trafford and his RAMBLE project at Oxford got me thinking. James Farmer’s pioneering 2004 work applying our Community of inquiry to blogging and Michael Hotrum’s comments on that work are also incorporated in the ideas below.
First what is a PLE? Will Richardson developed an interesting scenario that describes the life of a teacher using a PLE. Sources: shared content, serving as resources coming in Conduits: posting, communications – shared postings out The PLE is a unique interface into the owners digital environment. Advantages of PLE’s. ERB0813.