Introduction to PLEs and open online courses

Finding your way around the course website

“	See any detour as an opportunity to experience new things.	”
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

This OERu course is a micro Open Online Course (mOOC) where you will create your own personal learning environment (PLE).

Participation in this course requires learners to establish their own PLE incorporating a number of web-based tools, for example, microblogs and blogs. You will use your PLE to document your learning and to connect with other learners taking this course.

This course also utilises a number of features associated with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), so if you are new to this kind of learning, you should spend a little time setting familiarising yourself with the course environment and learning approach.

This orientation provides a brief overview of PLEs and suggested learning approaches for open online courses. There are also detailed tutorials in the support section should you need step-by-step support in setting up your PLE.

Activity

A free content video streamed from Vimeo Neal Gillis and Dave Cormier. This micro Open Online Learning Course (mOOC) requires learners to establish a personal learning environment. Download and read "7 Things you should know about personal learning environments" (Pdf version). Read Why you need a Personal Learning Network by Education Technology Solutions. Watch the short video, Success in a MOOC by Neal Gillis and Dave Cormier. In this learning sequence of the course, we will execute the first two steps recommended by Neil Gillis and Dave Cormier in the video above. Orient yourself: Familiarise yourself with the learning environment so you can find what you are looking for. You will find all the links you need for this mOOC on the learning console (you will find a link to the learning console in the study section of the main menu navigation). Declare yourself: Set up the technologies where your thoughts and reflections will be published and acquiring the knowledge and tools to connect with fellow learners. You will declare yourself by posting an entry in your course blog using the allocated tag for this course.)