PLE+Paper

My Personal Learning Environment: Liz Andrews This Web 2.0 class has given me an amazing opportunity to learn about and apply so many different tools. When I first started the course, my thoughts were that I was going to learn a ton of information about Web 2.0. That, I did. What I wasn’t aware of was how much I would learn in such a short amount of time and how to put all of my learning to immediate use. In doing so, I created my own Personal Learning Environment. This concept in and of itself has evolved throughout the course. When learning about PLEs, I again was narrow in my thinking and thought that I would have a learning environment for myself. I quickly learned that my learning could and would be shared with others so I could learn from them and they could learn from me. In essence we would collaborate: the whole point of Web 2.0! With all of that being said, I do have my own PLE and am using it daily. I have developed a WIKI page for my school: Centennial PLC. This wiki serves as a purpose for all teachers to communicate in a more timely fashion. On our late start days each grade level team simply clicks onto their Wiki page and types their meeting minutes into the Wiki. After the meeting, my principal and I sit down and access all of the notes from the individual meetings. We are able to edit the page as we go and we can respond right onto the Wiki. It was tricky at first but we are catching on. To launch the use of the Centennial PLC Wiki, I showed the staff Lee Lefever’s “ [|Wikis in Plain English] ”. They loved the video and were able to understand its purpose. Another PLE tool that I use in collaboration with a colleague is a blog: [|Hickey’s Bloggers]. Meghan Hickey and I have started a learning articulation blog in her classroom. We have run two sessions so far. In the sessions, the students were asked to articulate their learning in two different subject areas: Pillars of Character; a play they put on in September and using Contextual clue within a text. On both occasions, the students we engaged in their learning and Meghan and I learned a lot more about her students then we knew before. We also learned that students love working with technology and they CAN do it! I also use my [|delicious] account on a regular basis. Dana showed my how to search within delicious and I have used that tool several times. I have also shared it with many colleagues who are not in this class. Those are just a few examples of how my PLE is working for me. I recently shared my current learning with my Mother in Law. I took her to Commoncraft.com and showed her how to learn about the many tools available to us on the WEB. We took the time to watch the video on using [|Google Docs in Plain English], again by Lee Lefever. I was excited to share this information with her and she was excited to learn more. My PLE will take me to many different learning places in the future: weather with professional colleagues, friends or family. I am thrilled about the amount of learning that has taken place and I cannot wait to continue my use and build my PLE as I move forward. The use of technology is certainly changing and I am on the path of keeping up! I am happy to state that I am moving from an “Automating” to an “Informating” user within my PLE!