The major topic discussed this week was on Personal Learning Environments (PLEs).
Candace Figg created a great silent video that explains what a PLE is and its importance today which is just below this paragraph.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaxpCFuPNcQ)
If you're not exactly ecstatic about sitting through 3:44 of video to find out I'll provide you with some cliffs.
- A PLE is a system or electronic tool that aids in facilitating and managing our learning
- it allows us to set learning goals
- it can act as a way to communicate with others in the process of learning
The third point leads into what is called a personal learning network (PLN).
With the rise of online courses will come a increase in students ability to self-learn. Also, in university, some of the most intensive courses are primarily self-taught, even when a professor does lectures on the required topics which are marginally helpful at best. I think developing a PLE is important for this very reason. There are many helpful and unused tools at a students' disposal to excel in our courses and perhaps change a B to an A.
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I was asked to follow the following template in a recursive reflection in order to create an effective PLE.
Where I want to be 5-10 yrs from now
In 5-10 years, I would hope to see myself as a full-time worker. An accountant of sorts of course. Professional, one who can balance fun and play. Hopefully by this time I'd have done a bit of travelling outside of North America. My own living accommodations, perhaps a family and a new set of hobbies (as well as my old ones) are things you'd catch me doing. Of course, I'd also love to continue to be in great shape of course. Perhaps in better shape than I am now.
My current situation
A hopeful accounting student who gives it 100%. Tries not to take life too seriously, tries to make time for various hobbies and tackles obstacles in front of him one at a time. At least I have my own apartment already!
What I need to do/learn
Staying on top of my school work and getting good grades is somewhat of a given. Sharing and looking up content and ideas are a great way to do so and are achieved using google drive and facebook. Accounting is constantly changing and using social media and an RSS feed to stay in touch with important figures and changes in accounting is a great way to do so. I think fitness is everyone's second job and in order to take care of others, you need to take care of yourself first. Fitness ideas have not changed much over the years but new exercises or routines are great to keep up with and using the misc, a section of the bodybuilding.com forums, is a great way learn new exercises and make sure your sense of humour is still intact.
Improving my environment
The first thing I noticed I can definitely do is take some time out of my week to clean up my desk. At home in Markham or in my apartment in St. Catharines, my work desk is almost always an absolute mess in a matter of weeks and organization of my desk is definitely something I can improve upon. I often lose sheets or notes that could've been of critical importance in the mess and should take better care. Keeping a physical calendar that I can always look at is a good way to remember to stay on task and maintaining a daily to-do list is also a good way to reinforce a need to stay productive.
My habits
The first thing I will try to improve upon (and needs immediate attention) is cleaning up my desk and taking time once a week to maintain its neatness. Going to bed/waking up earlier can come second. Thirdly, making daily to do lists to increase my productivity can go a long way.
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After the smoke cleared, this is the PLE I ended up creating:
Source: Chong, M. (CC) 2014.
This was primarily created by using my reflection as well as looking at my top visited pages in my web browser. In addition, Wendy Drexler posted a youtube video on how to develop your PLE that I found relatively helpful.
I think reading blogs to influence or broaden your perspective on issues is a great idea and should not be limited to forums either. I am avid reader of internet forums and I can easily say they have shaped how I think about certain issues and aspects of everyday life.
Lastly, I am required to create a Word Cloud of my first blog post, which is just below. It was created using a free service called Wordle.
Source: Chong, M. (CC) 2014.
Funny (and predictably) enough, "internet", "digital" and "footprint" were some key words of last week. I have seen these on the internet before but did not know how to go about making your own. Admittedly, this is a great tool to highlight key words in passages and essay-long readings that you may not want to read entirely. Upon further experimentation, this will be a great addition to my PLE when the time comes to construct a new one.
That's it for me this week.
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