My Personal Learning Environment

Social-Learning [Online image]

Greetings, fellow bloggers!

Today I'll be sharing what I have learned after creating my very first Personal Learning Environment (PLE) diagram.

Putting things on paper gives you a better perspective of what you know or have accomplished.  When I first tried to visualize the tools that I use for my PLE, I could not think of any.  Then I examined the poster created by Drexler (2010) and my first reaction was: "Wow, this is a very impressive PLE!"; I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the different tools Drexler uses for her learning.  It wasn't until I used Popplet to create my first PLE that I started to realize my learning environment was not as bad as I feared!

My first PLE demonstrates that I have a balanced learning environment; digital as well as F2F.  I am not only learning from others but also sharing what I know through social networks that allow me to CONNECT, CREATE, and COLLABORATE.  At the moment, I am not as active in the cyberspace community as I would like to be in the future, but as stated in my first post I have taken the first step into that world.

Paez, I. (CC) 2016.

When I look at the Ladder diagram in Bernoff (2010) blog article, I can see how I have moved from the Inactive level into a few levels above: Spectators, Joiners, Collectors.  Over the last few years, I started joining and exploring some of these networking tools and have found that my knowledge has expanded due to the exposure of different perspectives I encounter in those sites.  Still working on getting out of my comfort zone and become a more active online participant.  In my future, I see myself reaching the last three levels: Critics, Conversationalists, and Creators.  To a small degree, I am a creator as I am writing these blogs and previously shared some Prezi presentations and Infographics; however, I would like become more of a regular producer than a sporadically one!

As I analyze my word cloud, the word that stands out the most is LEARN.   Not surprisingly, my first blog reflects what I believe in: continuous learning and facilitating learning for others, and my PLE is a visual representation of the various sources I rely on to accomplish that belief.  Moreover, looking at the cloud and my PLE, I can also appreciate how my learning has been more dynamic than static.  Technology has made it easier for me learn more from people sharing their ideas and experiences online.  Granted, not all the information that is available online is accurate or reliable; however, discussing what I learn on the various digital social networks with the people that are close to me helps me deepen my understanding of the ideas and develop my own conclusions.

Paez, I. (CC) 2016

This personal learning environment diagram is now the stepping stone for my continuous development.  Now, that I have a visual representation of where I am, I can start adding to my environment the tools that I will need to help me get to where I want to be!

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References

Drexler, W. (2010). Retrieved January 24, 2016 from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-dUm2zbeNJ6IiOzbTr5v34Dk4pL0VZAtYi756-FL9o4yGFvfkMF2X5dasGV7wgaXr66XwxC8wKTN_UPrG0lfrGapRRkA3_NtrG3orJ7Q3tldiOZpL2NjWQW7Q_o5WI-fer5NegmN-nIYg/s1600/PLEChart2011.jpg

Bernoff, J. (2010). Social technographics; Conversationalists get onto the ladder. Retrieved January 24, 2016 from http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2010/01/conversationalists-get-onto-the-ladder.html

Social-Learning [Online image]. Retrieved January 24, 2016 http://www.ibhacks.com/images/social-learning.jpg

Who am I and Why am I here?

Greetings, fellow bloggers!

Never thought this day would come, but here I am, writing my very first blog!

I have often found blogging or posting any of my ideas in cyberspace to be intimidating.  Sure, I have posted some pictures and made a few comments to friends and relatives on Facebook, Instagram, and recently Twitter (sent my first Tweet about two weeks ago!), but sharing my thoughts with the world seemed very unsettling.  One of the reasons for avoiding blogging was my lack of understanding of social media.  Although I grew up using some technology, I consider myself to be more of a digital immigrant vs. digital native.

Now that I have shared why I have stayed away from blogging, let me share a bit about myself.  I am passionate about learning.  I love reading anything that is worth reading about, and will help me further develop my understanding of ideas.  I enjoy hands-on learning and trying new things, although I am very cautious and sometimes need a little push to get started! This blog is a perfect example: all it took to get started was a school assignment! Finally, not too long ago, I discovered that I have a flair for helping others learn, and that lead me to pursue a degree in education with a focus on Adult Education.  I am happy to announce that I will be graduating this June (yay!), and I am looking forward to starting my career as a corporate learning facilitator and doing something I truly enjoy.  Some of my hobbies include reading (if that was not obvious already!), painting, photography (started exploring that field recently), playing guitar, listening to music, and running.  I enjoy traveling, and visiting countries I have not been to before.  Last year, I had the opportunity to go to Maui, Hawaii, and San Francisco, California.  This year, I m setting my sight to somewhere in Asia (have yet to decide which country to visit).  I am committed to achieving any goals I set for myself, and 2016 already has a few goals lined up for me to accomplish.  Looking forward to realizing all my goals!

Recently, someone (whom I sincerely respect) encouraged me to get bolder!, and I think this blog will help me achieve this objective.  I see this blog as an opportunity not just to share what I know and am learning in this course, but also to and acquire knowledge from my peers.  I am glad I enrolled in the Learning in Digital Contexts course, as there are many things I have yet to learn about social media.  Happy to announce that learning has already started!  One of the ideas I learned in this week's lesson was about the Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship proposed by Ribble (2015), and which are based around the principles of REP: Respect, Educate, and Protect.

(Fractus Learning, 2014)

"These nine elements serve as the basis for appropriate technology use and form the foundation on which the digital society is based." (Ribble, 2015, p. 16)

I think every citizen should take a crash course on digital citizenship and understand the digital footprint they are leaving behind.

So who am I and why am I here?  I am a new blogger who is looking to acquire the digital literacy necessary to participate and become a contributing member of the cyberspace community.

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References

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital Citizenship in Schools (3rd ed.). Arlington, VA: International Society for Technology in Education.

Fractus Learning. (2014). Retrieved January 15, 2016 from http://www.fractuslearning.com/2014/09/09/digital-citizenship-poster/