Weekly Reflection Post #2- PLEs, Wordles and Life Goals, Oh My!

Good evening everyone,

I hope you had a fabulous weekend and are settling down with some hot chocolate and fuzzy pajamas right about now, mentally preparing yourself for another work/school week.

In case you were wondering, my week was an all-over successful one; my first ever Polaroid camera came in the mail, and I learned about how to increase my academic growth through the proper understanding and use of my Personal Learning Environment (PLE). You can probably guess which one we are going to be talking about today (Hint: It isn’t on Taylor Swift’s most recent album cover).

So, without further ado, let us jump right into what PLEs are all about. A personal learning environment refers to the use of online educational and social tools that allow for the self-regulated enhancement of individualistic and collective learning efforts. It is essentially a digital venue for learners to set and reach goals in a supportive and unrestricted environment, with a flexible schedule. Or, in human words, the applications and programs that people use to build connections and expand knowledge in a digital context.

No two people will have exactly the same PLE, as we not only vary in our interests, but also in our learning styles. For example, some individuals may be frequent “how-to” blog readers, and find that they learn well from written instruction, while others may prefer to watch tutorials on Youtube. In any case, the customizable PLEs encourage interaction within the Personal Learning Network (PLN), the online communities that media users are involved in, as well as provide an ever-expanding source of insight for media users. I have created a diagram of my own PLE on Poplett, and have it displayed below for you to see.

 Holliday, A. CC (2016). 

 As you have probably noticed, I have referenced a wide array of academic resources in my PLE diagram, most of which I consider to be essential tools for my academic maturation. However, while important, those sources alone will not facilitate my personal growth satisfactorily. I have what some may consider high aspirations for the not-so-distant future and as such, require mental and social stimulation of varying degrees. In five to ten years time, I aspire to be established as a (hopefully employed) Clinical Psychologist with a husband and child(ren), as well as have my first book published, which I am currently in the process of writing. For me to accomplish these very optimistic goals, my PLE needs to include a variety of resources that may not apply to many others, such as a Kindle (the more you read, the better you write, right?), and Prezi, which will be important for the creation of vibrant and original class presentations as I progress in my degree. I will also likely need to create a media presence for myself on professional forums such as LinkedIn, and perhaps become a social blogger in order to establish an Internet personality so as to encourage blog followers to read my book.

In order to make such changes, I may need to alter my learning environment and eliminate, or at least lessen distractions. Setting a schedule for how much time I will dedicate to each area of my PLE in a day may produce a more balanced schedule and allow me to focus more deeply on my personal goals. This schedule may also help me to avoid academic issues such as procrastination (did I mention that it’s 11:43 on Sunday night?) and encourage me to limit my Netflix time to one episode of Gilmore Girls per day instead of approximately 44 (just kidding… sort of).

Another important tool we learned about in this week's activities was the function of word clouds. Not only are they an aesthetically pleasing way to present information, they effectively summarize and draw attention to the main concepts of blog posts. I used Wordle for my word cloud as I enjoyed its professional appeal and found it to be easier to use than other generators I had searched online, not to mention the fact that it looks like a foot when it is presented horizontally (coincidence, I think not). Anyways, that's all for this week everyone, I'll catch you next Sunday night!

Holliday, A. CC (2016).