Tired of the PLE Flak
[I've taken the advice of a good friend-- who is usually right in these matters-- and trimmed away a bunch of the ranty (and more importantly unfair) bits of this post, though I'm sure it will live on in RSS streams forever.]
To discuss the PLE beyond the abstractions that lead people who agree with one another to argue anyway demands coming to some contingent and admittedly insufficient shared condition. It’s just like talking about “blogs” or “critical thinking”– we assume enough of a shared definition to make it productive. When I talk about the PLE, I am talking about these things:
- an understanding of the tools and applications available for educators and students to connect with one another in both two-way and one-way relationships for teaching and learning
- understanding the methods of participation in their network, from the technological to the semantic
Every single day I see good people, who haven’t any real framework for how to learn, being thrown into the deep end of the pool and expected to just swim. Sometimes it works. Most often it results in people that hate water, hate swimming, and hate the one who threw them in. The majority of educators have no idea what resources are available to them and never leave their email client or their default MSN page. Thus, I have found it useful to sit people down and model for them the tools and techniques for networking. This often includes holding them by the hand while they sign up to follow and participate in particular groups and networks. Many people have absolutely no idea that their network can extend beyond their email box and their passive browsing. I consider giving educators a leg into my network to be doing them a favor, it provides them an introduction and a starting place. I know others are doing the same when I regularly see “Welcome X to Twitter” or “Comment on new blogger X’s first post.”
Modeling and engaging in practice are fundamental how I teach. I am clear with folks that what I’m modeling, the things I show them and have them try, these are but first steps in a process of continual building and refinement that can last a happy lifetime. It’s like learning to write. Many great writers have noted the powerful learning that comes from writing in the style of, and even mimicking, other writers. After that, the novice writer will naturally choose their path and more fully act as an independent agent. But that can be a long and intimidating process, and there are worse fates than getting the initial assistance of being connected with others from whom they can learn, others who have, in some ways, already “been there.”
When I look at Ray’s picture of his PLE it’s not just a picture, it’s a start at a representation that I and others can learn from, from someone who has already been there. If an educator comes to me for help in figuring out how to negotiate this incredibly complex and chaotic environment, this kind of diagram is invaluable in helping them start to form a bigger picture. It is often one or two items that seem screamingly obvious to the person sharing their PLE that turn out to be the sparks that put another on the path to information nirvana.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
From some of the quotes, I’m obviously the source of some of the facile snarkiness. I sincerely apologize if my comments came across that way – one of the limitations of 140 chars of plaintext. I’m going to take some time to put together a response that you deserve.
Again, Chris, I sincerely apologize if my responses came across as snarky or confrontational. I didn’t realize the gravity of your question. You didn’t need some jackass dropping sarcastic responses.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I loved reading this because it proves that what we want to teach re. the PLE _can_ be identified and articulated. In our e-mails back and forth I tried on some hats to attempt to sum up the PLE concept pithily, but I think you nailed it much better. The more I think about it, and the more I come back to my own PLE, the more I realize that, as much as it ruins a great rallying cry, PLE is as much about the tools–especially smart tools–as it is about (other) people. As I was reading your post I ended up asking myself, what would happen to your PLE if all the connected people were caught up in the Rapture tonight. Would you still have a PLE? Hell yes. And so is it wrong to try to teach
educatorsprofessionals to cultivate and expand their PLEs through strategies and specific tools? Hell no. It’s right, it’s sooo right.Thanks.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Hey Chris- I had no idea there was a flak, but to be honest, your initial tweet had not much indication you were looking for a serious response. There was no context, just an open question. If I had a clue you were looking for a thoughtful response I might have given one.
If it were me, I would have framed it as a blog post, and used twitter to ask for response.
Yeah I snarked, twitter is my outlet for that. I jump in for a break form the work day. Frankly I dont think its fair if you have an intent in mind and expect others to follow w/o knowing your intent. So while I regret tossing you s*** when you were wanting more, but would hate to see you toss in the towel like that- your voice is important in the fray,
So the thing I have seen, or thought, is one look at PLEs a you write here, as a concept of using portions of the web. I still ask- there are learning like things that can happen in there– is it really a learing environment? what is a “learning environment”? But I can grok what you are getting at– people self selecting the things that work for them as a way to “learn” or at least connect.
I react more to the notion I seem that the “PLE” is a thing, like software or a package. It defies packaging, right? I spent a lot of time last year on the Horizon report trying to find something to even say “This is a PLE”. And that is where I got my shtick of it “being just diagrams”. I like the diagrams, that is not the problem, for me– its what one does after that? I had not thought of it in the way you describe, as an aid to help others. It is so personal, can it be generalized?
Frankly, the “PLE” to me is like air, its just there. Its the way I operate, think work, live, goof off, and obviously, sometimes manage to piss people off. Its not really a thing to me with a name. But that is just me.
I just dont get what it means to describe such a thing; but am open to hashing it out. Without snark. But on twitter? I dont think you can expect serious answers just by tossing a tweet in the wind.
Dont toss in the towel. If it helps, I will promise to be a tad more civil.. for a while.
Come back.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
PS FWIW I am also not a pie-eyed EduGlu chippie either. I’m not really sure what that is either, and its only the rep of my colleagues involved that keeps me open.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
[...] is what my PLE is. I didn’t think much more about it, but then I read later that Chris was taken aback by my (and others’) response. That surprised me, but caused me to take a step back to think [...]
March 4th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
What you have written has been running around in my brain for some time, and you put it quite well.
I still consider myself a relative newbie on the block and being a college students also makes it hard to know where to begin. When I first started getting into the “edusphere”, edutech, learning, and all that goes with it I just tried to see what everyone was doing. If someone commented on a blog I read I would click on a link to their blog. Heck, the only reason I know of you come from the fact my friends on Twitter would tweet about you or to you. I’ve done a lot imitation of people and I find it definitely makes it easier to make that leap if you have that kind of model and environment to plug into instead of starting from scratch. Having something concrete is important.
There needs to be people standing at the gate helping people come on in. We all can’t be deep in the cave having a party about how great it is to be where we are.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Thanks for this post. I saw your tweet, and it’s been in my mind for most of the day, on how I would explain to people what a PLE is. I certainly had no idea on where to start with that, and Ray’s picture above is quite good. Although that’s not really my style, I might benefit from it and come up with something that works for me. But your writing and his visual has helped me further with…. guess what… learning!
I think your right on the money. Modelling and showing people the tools and options for learning is essential to expanding your own PLE, and it continues to develop for yourself and others. Since its all connected in one way or another. Can you teach this? Yes, of course. Teaching can be done in so many ways, although the word often is interpreted as traditional. Like sit in the classroom, and look and listen to/at the teacher…
I’m happy that you introduced me to this, and I can attest to the fact I’ve taken it and made it my own. You didn’t make me, but showed me the tools that worked for you or others. It’s up to the individual to use them as they see fit. And share them with their peers, friends, coworkers, family.
Although I understand your frustration from the responds tweets, I hope you’ll consider staying on Twitter. Because I get a lot of good useful information from you, and other in your network, through Twitter. And I’m sure you have a similar experience. Leaving Twitter would mean giving up a (tiny) piece of your PLE. Although that maybe the best result for you, it will have a ripple effect through your network. I, for one, will miss you.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
[...] Tired of the PLE Flak 6 Chris Beks, Shannon, Alan Levine, Alan Levine [...] [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 5:13 am
[...] Alex wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptTired of the PLE Flak [I’ve taken the advice of a good friend– who is usually right in these matters– and trimmed away a bunch of the ranty (and more importantly unfair) bits of this post, though I’m sure it will live on in RSS streams forever.] To discuss the PLE beyond the abstractions that lead… Read the full post from Ruminate Tags: Rant, Uncategorized, ple via Blogdigger blog search for new technology. [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Why is asking a serious question on Twitter verboten? I see other people doing it and getting serious answers all the time. Why is any particular kind of question and answer forbidden? If someone asks about digital cameras I don’t see a flurry of responses that “photography is about eye and the art, not the tools” in response– I see recommendations being made, choices being discussed. Why was my question not given that modicum of respect and the assumption made that I don’t understand that without people there are no social networks to learn from and with? PARTICULARLY from people that know me?
March 5th, 2008 at 5:56 am
[...] might have a hard time knowing what it means to describe such a thing as the PLE, but who wouldn’t love to have a few hours to watch over his shoulder and see how [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 7:52 am
I’m with you on this Chris. To me there are two aspects of talking about PLEs:
i) There are still lots of technical issues to work through on how they might work, ie communicate with other more richly (cf. the eduglu stuff)
ii) As you say, although there isn’t The PLE, we still don’t know exactly what one is. Mine accrued over time, but it may be that for other people e.g. students, they need a default one which they can switch things out of and develop.
So there may be a continuum from say monolithic, centralised VLE to fully personal PLE. In the middle might be Scott’s loosely coupled learning environment, let’s call it a TLE (teacher’s learning environment), and so on.
So to say that because a PLE is personal we can’t teach or talk about them is a long way from happening, although I guess D’Arcy and others were trying to warn of the danger of converting the PLE into yet another commercial ’solution.’
At the risk of pimping my own blog, I did something on an audit of where we stand with PLEs – http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2008/03/an-audit-on-whe.html
Have just come across your blog – it’s straight into my reader.
Martin
March 5th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Martin– that’s a good point. For me, at least, a lot of my frustration and umbrage comes from leaving a number of basic assumptions unstated because I figured they were understood by Alan, D’Arcy and others to be part of the context. Boy was I wrong!
Perhaps I’m trying to walk a line that’s too fine to walk– I have no desire to turn the concept of the PLE into any one thing ala the LMS, I see it as more personal and fluid than that… at the same time, I want to rehabilitate the term a bit– or maybe just move it forward– out of the realm of the abstractions that are relatively useless to people who are new to the whole idea. The custom, personalized PLE is built over time, but there is so much we can do to help make that process better for people.
As always, I guess I’m in search of specifics I can use to help educators get started in realizing this powerful concept and the many even more important aspects that underlie it such as the use social networks, the value of network effects stemming from participation, the tenets of information fluency that they will pass on to their students by engaging them in and modeling the learning network for them, etc.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
To some people the PLE *will* seem like air – and wonder why anyone should bother modelling what is as obvious to them as breathing. You don’t need to worry about those, they’ll take care of themselves.
To others the PLE will be far less obvious, and modelling using a PLE sounds like an excellent way of building capability, confidence and independence. Because otherwise they might be sitting on the edge of an amazing experience and never even know they could take part in it.