Hello Again!
I hope everyone enjoyed the first official
week of the course. I know I enjoyed learning more about my own digital
footprint and the impact it possesses. I also had the chance to read over a few
other blogs, they were all great, but more importantly, shed new light on
information I had missed throughout my time in the session!
This weeks session was focused on figuring
out what a PLE and PLN are. Before reading the information presented this week,
I had no idea what either of these acronyms referred to! I found the definition
that made the most sense to me relating to PLEs on the website “What the heck is a PLE and why would I want one”.
Simply put, a PLE is a system that helps you take control of and manage your
learning. As stated in the opening
YouTube video, the emphasis is on self-directed learning and personal selection
of tools.
Similar, yet different to the PLE, a PLN is
your Personal Learning Network. A great blurb on PLNs can be found through the
blog by Clint Lalonde called “Twitter, PLEs and PLNs”.
There are a few definitions of what a PLN is in this blog, but my favorite is, “a PLN is the sum of all social capital and
connections that result in the development and facilitation of a personal
learning environment” (2010, p. 125). The emphasis
is on interacting with and learning from others. Just like I stated in my
opening paragraph, after reading other student’s blogs, I was able to expand my
knowledge on digital footprints through my PLN.
As stated in this week’s material, in order
to have an effective PLE, you need to go through the personal, learning,
environment, habits evaluation process recursively. Below is my discussion on these topics:
Personal
In 5-10 years I want to be living on my own
with a steady job/income. Nearing the 10-year point, I would hope to be
starting my own family and have the ability to support this family. Currently,
I am living at home and only have a job as a co-op student. Obviously, there is
an apparent gap between where I am and where I want to be.
Learning
To bridge the gap talked about above, I
will first need to finish my degree at Brock. In order to obtain the successful
career I desire, I will need to expand my knowledge in the Finance world by
keeping up to date on the latest news and trends relating to finance. These
skills would fit under my own named category called “Progressing My Career”.
Environment
I currently possess a good learning
environment. As I live at home, there are not to many distractions that get in
my way. However, when working from home whether it be school or career work, I
need to make sure I keep my electronic devices away from my personal
environment as I tend to procrastinate if these devices are close by.
Habits
I would like to say I don’t have any bad
habits…but that wouldn’t be true. The first bad habit that I would like to
eliminate with a 30-day trial period is to spend less time out with my friends
and colleagues. I have trouble saying no when I am asked if I want to go out or
go to an event. Even though I know I do not have the time to go out, I refuse
to say no. I would like to work on this habit by reducing the amount of time I
go out in a month.
I will revisit my thinking about these
topics throughout the course and make note of any changes in my thinking that
occur along the way in these blogs!
Not only did I learn about what a PLE is
and how to continually progress it, but I also had the chance to create my own
PLE! This can be seen below. I had fun creating this diagram and tried to make
it appealing to my viewers. As you can see, my main categories are: creating,
progressing my career, organizing content, and collaborating/socializing. I
feel like my diagram would be similar to most other students. I say this
because the tools I use are very basic and almost the essentials to survive in
the University world. However, looking at my diagram, I feel like there is room
to expand. I feel like I could maybe take on a new interest or hobby and expand
my current tool selection.
| Thompson, C. (CC) 2015. |
Last but not least, my Word Cloud! I found Word
Cloud to be a fun tool that really “brings your blog post to life”. Even though
I wrote my post just last week, I some what forgot what it was about. After I
simply copy and pasted it into the program, I was soon reminded what it was
about! As you can see from the image below, Word Cloud transformed the key
points from my first blog post into a footprint (how fitting – technology never
seizes to amaze me…). I am very curious
to see what it did to everyone else’s blog!
| Thompson, C. (CC) 2015. |
I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on this week’s
material.
Take care,
Chris
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