Personal Learning Environment versus Learning Management System

I went trough the publications about PLE to find a clear explanation of the conception. I found that the discussions are going on several years long. The most valuable article to me was published by the team (RWTH Aachen University) whose studies were known for me earlier. In the article they compare the Leraning Management (LM) and Knowledge Management (KM) models and referred to the new definition of Personal Learning Environment too.

Questions and Consequences
1.Why we need to compare LMS and PLE as opposite models? Both have its well definable role in education. PLE is (will be) a good model for individual knowledge biulding mainly in informal learning. It would be an unrealistic idea to believe that all the people, our students will be able to manage their learning process alone without being guided by the teachers.

2. I think it is not impossible at all to create a learner centred, motivating course model in LMS integrating the newest web 2.0 tools. It depends only on the course design how far we are focusing on involving the participants to generate heavy collaboration, to stimulate participants to take part in creative authoring work. Technically: we can integrate blogging, social softwares, e-portfolios, all possible communication and collaboration tools into an LMS as far as we need (as we see it in PLENK2010 too). For instance by integrating an e-portfolio or any blogger we can help participants to create their own PLE. After the course some of them will continue to develop his/her PLE, and others will not - it depends on their personality.

3. We are talking again about technology without admitting it. All the tools to create an own PLE are not well known yet, and not comfortable enough (The experiences in PLENK2010 prove that clearly). We have excellent web 2.0 tools, but to use them not only the basic ICT comptences needed. The people who perfect in IT, and are fascinated by the new tools will hardly see the problems of others who faces difficulties at every small step of trying to go on with these tools.

4. The studies about the Net Generation show clearly that even the digital natives need guiding in learning albeit they are excellent in networking (they are always connected!).

We are just over on an experiment with Hungarian teachers (http://tenegen.eu/tmoodle, in English http://tenegen.eu/course ), using Moodle. The aim was: participants, tutors, instructors should work together to discover how we can get closer to the Net Generation, to discover together the pedagogical potential of the new technology. During the course most of participants created his/her own PLE inspite of the fact that we provided them with core content, video tutorials, games, glossaries, links, tests and other obsolete traditional learning objects - beside the web 2.0 tools.

As a teacher I think that the different learning models are very important, but the main issue is to see clearly who are the learners, what they want to learn, why they want to learn, and how can I satisfy they demands. After that can be taken into consideration the possible tools (and the best model behind them) which are the best to reach the goals.

On the other hand being an informal learner of the digital age, I want to build my PLE as perfect as possible integrating all tools offered by new technology and I am happy to take part in PLENK10, in the collaboration platform to learn the experiences of people from all over the world :)!

E-learning 2.0 methods in teaching

You see here the structure of a further training program for teachers. The course aims to involve teachers in e-learning 2.0 methods, to discover the pedagogical potential of the online collaboration and using web 2.0 tools in the classroom.

From a student's view

( This article is created by one of our Tenegen students - Judit Hornyák.)

How I dropped into Tenegen?

The course was started in the autumn of 2009 and participants came from several parts of Hun-gary. We were all teachers – from totally different departments. I’m not going to represent my classmates opinion, only mine: I knew one thing about this course that at the end my computer skills will be better, I will be able to create learning materials with my PC, and this whole stuff will be organized in the frame of e-learning.

When I logged into the portal at the first time, and saw the e-learning frame system, I was shocked. It was a totally new surface with thousands of information that I’ve only heard about or even the concepts were absolutely unknown. I have to mention that I had no IT knowledge, no experience; I was only an Internet-user, nothing else.
But it was visible from the beginning that instructors that are standing „behind” the course were really helpful. I saw the vivid life on Forums, where they were discussing the questions. Never happened, that they would miss to answer to me helpfully, even in private messages.

Slowly I got used to the surface, I’ve found what I was searching for by myself, I learned how can I use the tools and what are they good for, how can I send my completed tasks – and however these tasks have deadlines, if it happens that I can fulfil it I do not receive „punishment” like in an average school. I think that was the most extreme case I had to get used to – it was new for me!
All of our previous studies were in the same concept-system: material-study-report. With strict deadlines, and at the end, a mark. It was weird – also till today – that in this new system it was much more relaxed.

There are obligatory tasks, and optional tasks, and there are also those kind of tasks, that we have to solve with the group – everybody had to add his/her own solution. I think that was a really inspiriting task, because the topic was so interesting for everybody.
Existence of the net generation was obvious for everyone. But it was not known whether this concept is the same in Hungary and in other countries, and are there any Hungarian specialities, and if yes what are they.
This task was maybe the biggest one, but enjoyed every minute of the work. I learned a lot from my students, about the age group and its habits.

I think I like to be a „tenegenist” because everything what we learn is not for itself – as it is in common studies. Almost everything is usable in daily education.
I know that it’s not easy also for them and also for us. Even they are easily can follow the development of the IT, the Internet – which is hard to study for my group age. During the course by completing the tasks I could reach their way of thinking, and I was proud of myself that I could use many applications that I never thought. I teach some of them to my students and I also use them to create my own learning materials.

When we were coming to know the concepts like net generation, digital indigenous, digital immigrants – I created a new concept on myself: digital dinosaur. Who read a lot about Web 2.0, but the conception behind it is a bit mystified. But as time goes by, I recognize how widespread the field where I can use them is.
Video tutorials gave me a lot of help. They showed my step by step how to use for example: Mahara, Power Point, Delicious etc.

One of the first tasks was to create a blog. Everybody had to made his own, and some other tasks had to be completed by publishing in the blog. I don’t really know the genre, I used to read some blogs but to write one – I was never thinking about that. But with time I started to enjoy it. At the moment I have a „hybrid” blog where I put my completed tasks, my attempts on the lessons, and there are also some private posts.
I read the others’ blogs of course; I think there are a lot excellent there. Some of them are scien-tific, others are funny, but all of them reflects on the author.
So from that time I call myself as an official „blog consumer”, because I read not only my class-mate’s blogs, but also many others’. In teachers’ blog there are many experiences, and also in students’ blog we can find many usable information.

I made my first e-portfolio in my life! It was such a hard work, totally new surface and anyway: what should I present here? In my life I wrote some CV, but e-portfolio is much more! When I can use it more assertively I will show it to my students for sure.

What I like the most is the huge amount of material, article, resource that I can find on Tenegen Portal, and most of the times I print them out, because I still prefer to read a paper as a monitor. I would not able to find all these materials by myself.

For today my own personal connections have been created – we wear the same shoe and we help each other. This had never happened with me in a normal educational system – but it’s really a good experience.

I don’t say that I’m an expert in every topic, but I can say that I try to use all these opportunities, my students enjoy my attempts, and they like better this kind of teaching-learning method.

To sum up: I don’t feel any regret that I started this course – I can study in my own pace, in my free time, and it’s ideal for me. It’s a kind of intellectual workshop where one helps to the others to close up. I was thinking about whether if it’s a learning process without teacher? My answer is: no. No, however we don’t call it as a teacher but they exist, in a different attitude. I would call them helper or coordinator if I think about them. But it won’t work without them. And this concept is a bit far from the course: but I think that teacher will be always needed, only the frames will change.