Chapter 15: Personal Learning

Personal learning environments (PLEs) entered the educational discourse in the early twenty-first century with the aim of shifting the focus of technology-supported learning from the instructor-designed virtual learning environments (VLEs) toward a more learner-designed and learner-customized environment through the use of no-cost, Web 2.0-based Internet tools. In this chapter, we propose that PLEs can be conceptualized and developed either as pre-built programs, similar to a commercially available VLE, and managed by a central authority such as a university computer services department or as learner-built and learner-customized systems that make use of a variety of Web 2.0 technologies that learners manipulate to construct unique PLEs. In this second conceptualization, each resultant PLE would emerge from a combination of the learners’ specific learning needs, competence in working with Web 2.0 technologies, and other personal preferences. The PLE would be used by the learner to organize and share information as well as to manage learning. The chapter describes how a group of university students in Spain used this second approach to develop their own PLEs to support both their formal academic and informal learning. We outline the methodology that was used to help these students develop and use their own PLEs over a 2-year period. We provide an analysis of empirical data of students’ use of their PLEs and the resultant learning outcomes achieved through the PLE development process. We conclude with suggestions for developing learner-created PLEs for academic learning and for the application of PLEs in distance learning contexts.