PLE's and what you should know??????

PLE's are nothing more than a method of learning tat may not be conducive to everyone. It is the cutting edge of the 21st century learning but not everyone is there yet. Although it is exciting that the internet has brought forth many new tools in which to share information, the average high school with budget constraints is not able to keep up with the challenges. This article discusses the 7 things we should know. The prime focus at this point is at the college level and they are doing amazing things. They are collecting there information from a variety of resources and putting them out on the web for discussion, review, and commentary. The problem is not everyone is at the same point in understanding how to make their way through the great divide. The traditional lessons within the walls of the classroom are becoming rare. Students are being asked to discover learning beyond the campus walls including more less time with face to face classes and more virtual. We are experiencing this same thing at the high school level. A year ago we had a handful of students involved in the Virtual High School. There are now 21 students this semester alone signed in.

Reflecting back on the article, the use of USTREAM lends itself to a collaboration of ideas and research that is talked about, argued about and video discussion is produced for online viewing. The programs capability allows comments, reflections and arguments for the students to defend.

I can foresee this as a project at the middle high school level in the not too distant future, if the school keeps up with the technology needed.

The GROUPTWEET, although I found it interesting, I found it to be distracting to the presenter. I was pleased when one of the students shut his computer down so that he could listen to the speaker. With comments and questions being posted and answered by the audience throughout the presentation, I would be total confused with too much multitasking. If we go back and review the studies found on Digital Nation, if the students from MIT and Stanford can't comprehend, what are we trying to prove??? Increased stress levels!!!!

I like to hear about the advances we are making but let's not overlook what we are capable of. Each student needs to evaluate his own learning style and thus put forth his own PLE, Personal Learning Environment.