31 August 2021

Personal Learning Environment

The Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is a concept or system consisting of a the set of elements (tools, information sources, people and activities) that are routinely used for personal learning management. and which at the same time is accompanied by a change of attitude. The EPA is for lifelong learning, at one's own pace and according to one's own needs.

A EPA or PLE is not a way of teaching but a approach to learning that helps to understand how we learn people using the technologies that are available to us. It is therefore a pedagogical approach with major implications for learning processes and a technological basis.

The Personal Learning Environment includes both the material a person consults to stay informed and educated, as well as the people who serve as references and the connections between these people. It helps us to develop new digital skills, as well as to find and connect with different people and thus discover other perspectives and innovative ideas.

Characteristics of our Personal Learning Environment

All PLE (EPA) has a number of features common basics, regardless of whether each person customises it according to their needs:

The PLE integrates all of the experiences that have shaped a person's learning in formal education as well as new experiences facilitated by information technologies.
The PLE recognises that learning is lifelong, The programme provides tools to support this learning.
Enables the person to set their own learning objectives, giving it autonomy to make decisions and self-regulate it for its benefit. This way the student is allowed to decide what you want to learn, how you want to learn it, and with whom you want to learn it. He is the manager of his own learning.
It has a high social implication.
Favours the Generating relationships with other processes learning.

How do we create a Personal Learning Environment?

An EPA is something very personal, as its name suggests, and therefore each person creating their own EPA will be able to organise and manage it in a way that best suits your learning style. However, for an EPA to be complete, it must have at least three parts:

Sources of information. Formed by all the sites and activities from which we obtain information. These can include, for example, online media, digitised libraries, blogs, video channels, newsletters, etc.
Tools for modifying information. They are all the digital tools or software that allow us to work with the information obtained and thus be able to create content that helps us to learn. They are, for example, tools for creating blogs, presentations, videos, etc.
Personal Learning Network (PLN). It is made up of all the people with whom we share our knowledge and experiences, collaborating in the creation of new learning objects. To connect with them, we use social networks, forums or virtual communities, collaborative environments, etc.

Therefore, to create learning in an EPA, Firstly, information or knowledge will reach the person through means such as social networks, searches, or their own network. Secondly, with the information obtained, new content will be created which will be shared on social networks, thus strengthening the bonds with the members of our learning network.

Tips for creating an EPA

Before creating an EPA it is advisable to take into account a series of recommendations:

It is important to create it little by little. It's not a matter of sitting down to gather all the tools at our disposal in one go, nor of starting to create social media profiles that we won't be able to maintain. It's important that if we aren't trained, we strengthen our digital skills little by little, using and learning only the tools or networks that we are going to use and that we find useful.
It is always in constant transformation. As we learn, there are resources that we stop using or will replace with more advanced or suitable ones for our content. We will also include new sources, contacts, and tools as we discover them.
It is necessary to share. As well as gaining information from our contacts on social networks, it is essential that we share our activities, experiences and knowledge with others. This can be done through the profiles we have on social networks or from our own blog. In this way, everyone learns, both the contacts in our learning network and ourselves through their responses and comments.

Based on the above, we can conclude that a PLE is composed of three major blocks that form part of our personal learning environment, which are related to the activities of reading, reflecting, and sharing. PLEs are facilitators of the teaching-learning process that allow us to enjoy collective and public knowledge. At the same time, they promote participation by sharing and creating new knowledge.

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