Why is the concept of a personal learning environment, and potentially even a PLE software application or framework, especially relevant today?
Increased need for learner-driven lifelong learning.
- The increased rate of technology, social and market changes that drive the need to more continuously and aggressively upgrade skills and knowledge to remain relevant in professions
- Including more formalized Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Continuing Education — among other labels
- The change in the employer-employee relationships:
- A more frequent necessity to “re-tool” as entire industries disappear or employment locations shift globally
- Even within “stable” industries, a decrease in job security
- More frequent employment and/or career changes
- More free agents within a network economy — a “company of one” with no corporate learning and development group to depend on
- The responsibility for driving employee development shifting to the employee, from the corporation
- We are living longer and have an increased likelihood of an active retirement that involves a sense of purpose and discovery beyond recreation
For further discussion see Graham Attwell’s January article in elearning Papers
and the introduction in CETIS PLE Report.
Increased access to information and people.
- An exponentially increasing volume of information that we have access to, leading to the question of “what to pay attention to?” and feelings of information overload
- Increased opportunities, desire and need for creating connections with other people on behalf of both work production and learning.
Increased diversity, choice and complexity (with a desire for the personal learning environment to navigate and mitigate.)
- Increased diversity of opinion, or at least with the previous driver, increased access to the diversity
- Increased diversity in student and workplace populations
- Increased choice in applications, widgets and desktop operating systems
- Desire to avoid VLE (from University) or LMS (from employere) lock-in
Side note: Two TEDtalks episode recommendations in this area; one regarding why we have so many choices: Malcom Gladwell on What we can learn from spaghetti sauce; and the other on why the result isn’t happiness: Barry Schwartz On the paradox of choice.
A failure, or at least limitation in top-down approaches.
- Data-point: folksonomy
- Data-point: the historical roots of the term personal knowledge management, where in 2001 Steve Barth wrote:
Implementation of enterprise KM systems is a lengthy, expensive and contentious process that often runs out of time, money and political support before reaching critical mass. Knowledge management cannot succeed unless every knowledge worker takes personal responsibility for what he or she knows and doesn’t know. While this enhances the value of intellectual capital for the corporation, it also makes the individual more valuable to the corporation.
Different approaches to learning.
- Constructivism
- Informal Learning
- Supporting and honoring a variety of learning styles
On the latter two, for further discussion, again see Graham’s Attwell’s article.
New approaches to assessment and the Recognition of learning (again, see Graham Attwell article.)
The “me generation”
- Demographics
- Note to self: study further me generation(s) desire for becoming “we generation”
- Data-point: the rise of the social network software application category and user generated content (LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, etc. etc.)
Open question: how much is the psychology driving the adoption versus the applications further influencing the psychology?
Shortcomings in Historical Technologies and Educational Institutions and Possibilities of the New.
For deep discussion in this area refer to especially sections 1.2 and 1.3 in the CETIS PLE Report.
