Institutional PLEs. Paradise or paradox?

Abstract

Is it possible to create an institutional personal learning environment? This question has recently triggered considerable debate amongst those concerned with implementing learning and teaching technologies within higher education, For some the argument lies in the fundamental (linguistic) paradox of claiming that the institutional can be personal. Others would derive from this a pedagogic perspective and argue that reliance and use of any institutional initiative and infrastructure would necessarily sabotage and undermine personal autonomy. Reliance on an institutional infrastructure would therefore detract from the inherent levers for independent learning which are cultivated by individually assembling and thus creating a personal learning environment. However, there is clear evidence of institutions attempting to build environments that will provide their students with some of the benefits of Personal Learning Environments. From a technological viewpoint one can argue that a technology provided for the individual by an institutional could never be personal. The institution has already decided upon the technical framework and thus may have removed or severely constrained the learner’s choice – for example in platform, software and mode of interaction. This symposium will encourage open discussion and debate around the technical feasibility and pedagogic suitability of Institutional PLEs.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Hugh Davis: orcid.org/0000-0002-1182-1459

ORCID for Su White: orcid.org/0000-0001-9588-5275

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