Derek Chirnside

Ray, if anyone was going to get their thinking about PLE's  in a muddle, following these links in your post to a depth of two clicks would do it.

Some bits:

Not enough to qualify for a PLE for me.  A good start maybe, but only a part of one. (And in passing, I do acknowledge your reaction to 'next to my to do list')  My to do list is well removed from my work area.  It is set on beep for significant things, like 'pick up daughter'.  But it is NOT in my face. 1. Gadgets are too low powered for me.  2. RSS feeds not powerful enough - need more than an RSS squeezed in with the weather reports . . .

(Hope he is right - he is an optimist)


Hmm.  I followed a few of these links to the debate, straining out gnats, lots of debate over words, I'll wait for some light to join the heat.  I sometimes think Stephen functions like a panel beater.  There is a problem, we all acknowledge it.  But to set things right he gives things a huge whack in the opposite direction. 

PWLE - I'm assuming Tony Karrer did invent this term:


Well, the dilemma of sense making i the blogosphere :-)

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You are right: You actually have to manage the concepts PLE and PKM - as you say.  Institutions need to manage the corperate KM.  Which rests in people. Then we have the concept of Work.  (And the blurring of this, by the way in many of our lives)  Someone in one of the blogs mentioned productivity also.

How do we sort this all out in our minds?  I've found the exercise of defining my own current approach to my own 'personal' PLE very helpful.  I don't have to worry about definitions etc, but instead look at all these concepts we have between us unearthed: flexibility, accessibility, currency, power, information flow, creativity etc.  [I could trawl the posts to acknowledge these, but that may come later]
I'm now looking at this for my institution: what do we need to offer and support staff and students?

A PLE (if such a thing does exist)  is not a thing, but (as I may argue later) we may engage with several things, like a business/education LMS, - it's an attitude, a working environment that connects us to a collection of tools we dip into and out of over time. 
As a side comment: I think we must feel good about it.  It's not just a jug to make coffee, I want it to look good, feel good, feel comfortable.

So it's the first thing I'd suggest people do: mind map their own PLE and see where there are strengths, gaps, duplications, efficiencies.

Hmm.  Need to open up a closing the seminar thread soon.  If you have got thinking to do, posts to post, ideas to float . . 

Emma, sorry.  I didn't notice your question about delicious.
In answer to your question, I have not been able to do it in Moodle.
Maybe there is a work around (like this http://del.icio.us/derekcx/testmoodle) but it's not a happy one.

Sylvia: there is no way to get one post on a page is there?
-Derek

I feel a little like Sylvia: From intentional learning, with new tools and attitude by scurrie on Saturday, 16 June 2007 10:36:00 a.m.: There is something about this topic. It's a little mind bending. I feel like things click one minute and then the next I've lost it again.

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I've wanted to pick up at some stage the question that was among our first posts in this seminar, the business setting.
We have dabbled a little on this: there is the tension between public/private that Emma comments on:

I think we are back to the "what's a PLE question again?"
Businesses have a special need.  There is constant debate about what can be shared outside and inside.  Case in point: one large multinational engineering firm has a community partly run by a friend of mine.  He runs groups within it in about 2 days of time each week.  Knowledge, documents, reports etc are stored, circulated, used etc.
Some end up outside (conferences, websites, journals etc).
There are powerful tools built into the community platform.  Tags, reminders, follow up, drafts, etc etc.  But this is not a PLE.
<to be continued> sorry about this.  I've got to kill by browser now.  Part two coming later.

From Re: PLE's and teacher presence by emmadw on Monday, 11 June 2007 4:26:00 a.m.: This thread is called "Schools (etc)" - can I check what level students you're all thinking about? I tend to associate school with the compulsory / under 18s, rather than including further & higher Education, though I know that many North Americans include Universities & Colleges in the term "school".

Sorry Emma, good point.  I was thinking of more of formal taught course contexts, of whatever age.

I guess I see three contexts we could address, each of which has diferent features:

• Informal learning
  
• formal taught courses (ie credits, assessments)
  
• business/organisational contexts
  

 

Bron, a provocative post.  I believe these terms are from Terry Anderson and co??  I may look up the reference. 

What do I really believe now?  Having run several online courses on teaching online up until 2005, and used this as an element of the model: do I really believe in the concepts of teacher presence and cognitive presence anymore as being core and essential?  I'll need to revisit this.  n the light of a PLE lens on the process, what do I think now??

Your points incude:

• From Re: PLE's and teacher presence by bronwynh on Sunday, 10 June 2007 9:52:00 p.m.: depend very much on an active teacher presence to keep the participants linked and motivated.
• From Re: PLE's and teacher presence by bronwynh on Sunday, 10 June 2007 9:52:00 p.m.: It also depends on these items being connected to the course assessment.

What if you JUST assess.  Why is teacher presence also needed?

• From Re: PLE's and teacher presence by bronwynh on Sunday, 10 June 2007 9:52:00 p.m.: The tools are there, but without facilitation by the "teachers" the participants tend to learn in isolation apart from when they come together for f2f workshops.

What's wrong in learning in isolation ?  If it is a learning outcome, and they can pass the course in isolation, isn't this a design flaw in the course implementation.

Is teacher presence vital for a successful PLE?  I'll start the bidding: sometimes, No.  But I reserve the right to change my answer.  (Now who was it that said they had difficulty committing)
Cheers - Derek