Growing a Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

I've been doing something all my life; blind to the fact there was a phrase to describe it. PLE is a term that's been bounced around in educational technology for the past few years and I hadn't paid much attention to it until the past few months, even though I've always had PLE's, and I've created opportunities for my students and my own children to have them.

I grew up in the era when McDonald's was the only fast food and even it wasn't easily available. Everyone cooked. I was allowed in the kitchen at an early age and wanted to learn how to cook better than average, although I knew I didn't want a career in cooking. Growing older, I asked other cooks a lot of questions and worked in a restaurant a couple of summers. Cutting out recipes, buying cookbooks, watching cooking shows on TV, and experimenting in the kitchen developed my cooking abilities--a PLE in action. Surrounding myself with opportunities to learn was my PLE.

Fast-forward to now: It's amazing how many resources the Internet provides for people with hobbies. I can literally find any published recipe in a click or two; it's usually free. Connection to millions of people with the same interest has multiplied my cooking PLE beyond what I could have ever imagined in my youth.

This summer I made a personal commitment to expand my teaching PLE through a PLN (network). On Twitter, I searched for global experts in educational technology and followed their posts. I connected to many others in the field using LinkedIn, followed discussions on a daily basis and downloaded several digital literacy books from Amazon (most authors now share their Twitter and blog). I expanded my RSS feeds in Google Reader, read some amazing blogs and gave myself the opportunity to view multiple perspectives about what's happening--incredibly fast-- in ed tech. In June I took a huge breath, jumped in an ocean, and now I'm surfacing: refreshed, renewed and really, really excited about helping my students create their own PLE's with some crazy-free digital tools out there.

On the list:

• Pearltrees--social bookmarking; here's mine
• Google Apps for Ed--includes Reader for RSS feeds and sharing features within most the apps
• Spicynodes--non-linear concept mapping with collaborative abilities
• Kidblog--moderated blogging
• Twiducate--discussion forum / online space
• Wikispaces--free web publication

I've chosen the word "Growing" in the title of this blog for a definite reason. We know a child learns best when nurtured through the growing progress. Look at this amazing model by a 7th grade science student. There is opportunity right now to move massive information in our classrooms. We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that younger and younger children have devices for social media placed in their hands by parents. Using tech with students means also guiding them into a PLE. Generally speaking, I think if students are engrossed in learning "good stuff" they're interested in, they won't be distracted by "bad stuff"--the kind that surfaces when they're bored. Take this chance to prove it by giving them constructive environments to develop their own PLE.