Week 2 - PLE Report and Reflection

This week’s lesson was fun in the sense that it sparked some creativity as well as some thinking. I can honestly say I’d never heard about PLEs or PLNs until this week, much less given any real thought to the tools that I deemed to be a part of mine. A PLE, Personal Learning Environment, is all of the tools and connections that allow individuals to assist with and keep track of their own learning. I personally, found Clint Lalonde’s description of PLEs and PLNs to be really helpful in understanding the two.

In order to create an effective PLE there are some things that I must think about first. The first thing is ‘personal,’ envisioning where I want myself to be in five or 10 years. Right now, I am a student on the brink of finishing my undergraduate degree and the world is basically my oyster (or so I like to think!). Five to 10 years from now, I hope to have completed a second degree (right now, I’m thinking law school…), have a stable job that will allow me to advance in my career, be engaged or married to someone that I can definitely see myself being happy with for a very, very long time and maybe own my first home! I also hope to have travelled and have more travel plans laid out for the future.

The second thing to think about when creating a PLE is ‘learning.’ In order to get to where I want to be, I have an awful lot more learning ahead of me. In my opinion, learning is constant – something that is necessary to bettering yourself as you advance not only in school or a career, but in life as well! The skills/knowledge I will need to get to where I want to be are patience, problem solving, perseverance, all of the new knowledge that comes with a law degree as well as the practical knowledge that comes with the work experience I will encounter along the way. The categories of tools I have selected (organize, collaborate/connect, create and research) will be relevant to supporting each type of learning in its own, unique way.

The next thing to think about for creating a PLE is ‘environment.’ The ways I can better my environment around me to meet my learning needs are definitely by cutting out any and all distractions when I plan on trying to be productive. I will admit, I get distracted really easily. There is always something I’d rather be doing than homework, but most of the time, that other thing would not be what gets me closer to my goals. Focus is key!

The final thing to think about is ‘habits.’ One habit I need to form right now is getting the most possible out of my day. In university, especially in fourth year, class schedules can leave you with an awful lot of free time – it is up to you to use it wisely. I really need to learn to take my own advice and get up and start my day at a good time and be productive by going to the library to cut out all of those distractions I mentioned above.

In the readings this week, a post from Josh Bernoff’s blog was presented on Social Technographics. The post presents a ladder showing various stages of online activity. I was relatively surprised to see how low I scored – a joiner – and learned that there is still a lot for me to discover with regards to getting the most out of the internet and online tools. The more I learn, the more my PLE will grow!

Merdzan, C. (CC) 2016. 

This week, I turned my Week 1 Report and Reflection post into a word cloud! In a previous class, I was able to experiment with this tool to visually represent words and I find it much more interesting and expressive to look at compared to reading the actual words of the post itself. The most prominent words in my word cloud are digital, online, footprint and netiquette – all major topics I spoke about in my previous reflection post. I think a word cloud is a good way to summarize a post with a more creative spin and really make key words stand out.

Merdzan, C. (CC) 2016.