If that title is not a sign of the times I don't know what is. A dear friend of mine, Wendy Drexler, is co-teaching an online class on "personal learning environments." The beautiful thing about this class is it's free! That's right, free. This MOOCs (massive open online course) is open to anyone who had an internet connection. Follow this link to register through the University of Florida.
I had already created a PLE for myself before I knew the term existed. Last school year we were asked to create blogs to highlight what was happening in out classrooms. So, I created two blogs- one for school, and one as an outlet for my crafty side. I also set up an iGoogle page so I could follow RSS feeds and posts from people who did not use Blogger. Before I knew it I was connected to over 250 people and organizations around the world.
Through these connections I have shared my knowledge and learned about sewing, music pedegogy, technology integration, and so much more. Forming these connections and developing these relationships has taken a lot of my time. However, I am motivated to share and learn from people who I otherwise would not have the opportunity to meet.
These 250+ connections are my PLE. I've created my own online community. I decide with whom to connect, how ofter to interact, and how much effort I want to put into these relationships. In this community I have different ways to connect with people, or PLN (personal learning networks). Blogger, Twitter, and Etsy are a few of my PLNs.
One of my reasons for taking this course is that I would like to help my students learn more about PLEs. As a music teacher I see my students once a week. This does not leave me a lot of time to start a meaningful program in my classroom. So, I am hoping to be able to reach out to teachers at my school so that we can work together on this goal with our students.
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