Presentation at the JTEL Summer School 2012 and the Dev8eD conference.

1. Build your
Personal Learning
Environment
Dr Alexander Mikroyannidis
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, UK
© www.role-project.eu

2. Widgets and apps everywhere!

3. What is a widget?
• Widget (or Gadget)
A widget is a micro-application performing a
dedicated task. This task can be as simple as
showing news headlines or weather
forecasts, but also more complex like
facilitating language learning or collaborative
authoring.
• Widget bundle
A widget bundle is a set of widgets that
complement each other and are used
together for a common purpose.
• Widget store
A widget store is a directory of widgets. Users can browse and
download the widgets, as well as provide feedback on the
widgets through ratings and comments.

4. What is a PLE?
• A Personal Learning
Environment (PLE) is a
facility for an individual to
aggregate, manipulate and
share digital artefacts of
their ongoing learning
experiences.
• The PLE follows a learner-
centric approach, allowing
the use of lightweight
services and tools that
belong to and are controlled
by individual learners.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanspoldoja/4098840001
http://www.flickr.com/photos/petahopkins/2157928982

5. PLE characteristics
• Supporting learners in planning and controlling their learning
journey
• Setting their own learning goals
• Monitoring their progress towards achieving these goals
• Managing their learning – both content and process
• Enabling learners to aggregate resources and personalise their
learning environment
• Providing recommendations to learners about resources and other
learners (‘study-buddies’)
• Collaborating with others in the process of learning
• Providing support to learners for community building and
collaborative activities
• A shared learning experience instead of a lone study

6. A PLE in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyk_m0FrRG4

7. An introductory course to PLEs
http://tinyurl.com/role-course
• Introduces the core ROLE
concepts and demonstrates
a selection of ROLE
learning tools.
• Learning outcomes:
• Understand how widgets
can be used to carry out
specific tasks
• Outline how a Personal
Learning Environment can
be enabled
• Build your own Personal
Learning Environment

8. Self-Regulated Learning
• Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a term that describes an individual’s
ability to learn how to learn. In other words, each of us can develop a
wide-ranging skill set that enables us to learn in a number of different
ways.
• In some university settings the term SRL is more commonly described
as “independent learning” or “auto-didactic learning”.
• Some examples of how SRL might be assessed:
• Having the ability to set learning goals and plan appropriate study strategies
• Finding suitable learning materials
• Seeking help from peers and collaborating to gain feedback or assurance
• Being able to reflect on their learning progress and adjust their study
strategies accordingly

9. An introductory course to SRL
http://tinyurl.com/role-srl-course
• Learning outcomes:
• Understand the
fundamental aspects of
SRL
• Outline a series of SRL
examples
• Assess your own SRL
skills
• Understand how you can
use the ROLE tools to
apply SRL to your
learning

10. SRL in ROLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTa1vOH6JjA

11. Social search widget: Binocs
• The Binocs widget
allows search for a
variety of content
formats (e.g. videos,
presentations) and
content repositories
(e.g. YouTube,
SlideShare,
Wikipedia).
• Search results are
ranked according to
users’ ratings.

12. Bibliography search widget: ObjectSpot
The ObjectSpot widget
searches through:
• Bibliographic
repositories, such as
Google Scholar,
CiteULike, DBLP.
• Repositories of OER
(Open Educational
Resources), such as
OpenLearn, Jorum,
iTunes U.

13. Collaborative authoring widget: EtherPad
• The EtherPad widget enables real-time document collaboration for
groups of users.
• When multiple authors edit the same EtherPad document
simultaneously, any changes are instantly reflected on everyone's
screen.

14. Activity 1:
Find and share learning resources
http://tinyurl.com/jtel2012-role1
© www.role-project.eu

15. Finding more widgets
ROLE Widget Store
Google Gadget
Directory

16. Building your PLE in iGoogle
iGoogle allows anyone with a Google account to assemble their own
collection of widgets.

17. The ROLE Sandbox
The ROLE Sandbox offers a facility for building a PLE and using it
collaboratively.

18. Activity 2:
Start building your PLE
http://tinyurl.com/jtel2012-role2
© www.role-project.eu

19. Questionnaire:
Tell us what you think about PLEs!
http://tinyurl.com/jtel2012-survey
© www.role-project.eu

20. 4th ROLE Widget Enchantment Competition
Submissions Start
(Widget Specifications): 28 May
Submissions End: 29 July
Winners Announcement (Round 1):
03 August
Submission Deadline (Widgets):
07 October
Winners Announcement (Round 2):
12 October

21. Thank you!
The ROLE project
http://www.role-project.eu
The ROLE courses
http://tinyurl.com/role-course
http://tinyurl.com/role-srl-course
© www.role-project.eu