Tom Haskins : Champion
Sep 15th, 2007 by alexanderhayes
[ image : OldKing ]
PLE’s as a collection of thoughts, feelings and choices. How novel or more apt….how relevant. Much like quilting….a social dominion shared and collective in form yet singular and dependent on each and every member’s contribution to the whole creation.
A form we all recognize and either dismiss as “folk” or inherently recognize the power in collective.
Tom Haskins has for me and a number of others in this inter-connected web pinned down the core essence of what PLE’s may / could / perhaps be, days before we embark of what we hope will be a positively critical discussion on the idea of a personal online learning environment.
“..The more we give, the more we get a sense of what we have to give. We see what we can say that makes a difference and serves a larger purpose. We contribute to common ground indirectly by becoming self motivated and learning from others’ learning.”
If only educational organizations hell-bent on impressing the liberal work ethic devoid of weekends, of soccer coaches and lack of contact for families and kids could only in some way see sense in what Tom speaks of. A common ground ….something worth looking for…..seeking out.
Tom brings home that perhaps….that’s a maybe….. PLE’s are dead (as Leigh Blackall would also have us believe ) however, that aside, maybe it’s more about the essence of honoring that with what we do best for our learners unfettered by expectation and regulation on the web and less about a “product” or organization constructed environments for task oriented content creation.
It’s all about the intent. PLE’s are not projects.
Are we to say that a learners VLE ( outside of the walled garden ) cannot and will not ever be qualified as a vital component of their “PLE” ? Are we to offer alumni in cyber form as a social service or to honour and address that what already exists simply by not coveting and controlling information rather pointing to it ?
Lets hope we can respect the world for what its become….. not what it was.
The key component I think is in fostering an environment that nurtures learners, that escapes the architectures of the mundane, the controlled and compartmentalized permissions driven environment in which much of our learners experience online learning.
Let’s follow Tom’s lead and think like humans with emotions and connect with them more often.
Maybe, just maybe, then a PLE will become more than a facile acronym with a marketised, product-sell driven agenda underpinning mediocrity.