Nice to see some discussion around the PLE concept. Leigh Blackall takes the most critical position, and Dave Cormier examines Leigh’s position. Meanwhile, Stephen Downes notices the commotion…

Why do we need a PLE when we already have the Internet? The Internet is my PLE, ePortfolio, VLE what ever. Thanks to blogger, bloglines, flickr, delicious, wikispaces, ourmedia, creative commons, and what ever comes next in this new Internet age, I have a strong online ID and very extensive and personalised learning environment. [Leigh Blackall]

I think that Leigh’s logic here is solid insofar as his ‘I’ is concerned. This is true for me as well, and for most of the people that are likely to be reading this blog. The majority of people will NEVER have an internet presence. Community environments like elgg allow for them to be noticed, and interacted with, by their peers. It’s a safe, controllable environment, away from the chaos and uncertainty that is that rather long list of tools listed. The PLE and to a lesser extent the VLE/LMS provide some security, some much needed structure and most importantly guaranteed interactivity. Technorati is claiming 21 million blogs or so (i have 4 or 5) where will the interactivity be when there are 200 million or 2 billion. A PLE like elgg allows for focus. [Dave Cormier]

So while I whole heartedly agree with the PLE and Scott’s reasoning for rejecting the LMS/VLE, I can’t say I’m with them on their alternative. In my view, the VLE, LMS and PLE are the same. A suggestion that the Internet, and informal networked learning are not enough. That people still need to come to school to learn. That people need to distinguish learning from life, that people need to download and install an application that will solve their learning needs. [Leigh Blackall]

How do we teach appropriate behaviour on the internet? How do we pass our cultural values on to the wired generation? In these PLE/VLE environments, where we guide by example, where we lead… where we teach. [Dave Cormier]

The problem is that “the internet” is a network using a collection of different protocols and applications. This can be very confusing to people. I think we need to look at an app that uses the internet as it is, yet hides the complexity from the learner. Something like what a feed reader does. [Anónimo]

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Posted in Teach and Learn Online on 2005/11/13

Posted in Stephen Downes’ Web on 2005/11/24

Posted in Dave Cormier’s Educational Blog on 2006/03/01