The PLE. With a PLE, the user seeks to manage all the information he is confronted with – all the knowledge on the internet, in fact. Given the vast amount of data out there (of varying degrees of reliability) the individual has to develop the skill of being able to find and manage the right stuff. This is the central issue for a PLE. I agree wholeheartedly that the PLE is a necessary development and his approach is highly effective, if still somewhat ad hoc.

The PLS. Our focus is very different. Rather than trying to manage all the knowledge an individual might wish to manage, we start from a specific content area and build a ready-made learning system arto help him manage that. The user accesses the PLS as essentially a complete solution to a specific problem rather than an ad hoc kit. Our solution includes:

  • The social software. This is simple, straightforward and configurable. It relies on a single piece of saftware and it enables much of the personalization.
  • The content. There is no reason why we cannot use content other than whaty we produce ourselves, but for now, we do it ourselves because we understand that system and the users.
  • The community. The specific focus for each PLS (whether Chinese, or French, Spanish, etc) allows us to create communities specific to that PLS, since all the people on a given PLS have the same goal. (You can’t do this with a PLE.)

—–

Posted in Learning about Learning on 2008/04/27