Abstract-This paper provides a report on the experimental collaborative and distributed development of a prototypic Widget-based PLE. The development process is described and detailed taking into account the requirements of a language learning scenario. First results are presented, and developer experiences are discussed critically with a focus on the development process as well as problems with current Widget technologies and interoperability. I.INTRODUCTION Current en deavors i n t he domain of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) exhibit the need for increased openness and r esponsiveness of cur rent learning environments. W hile older learning technology generations were often central and closed systems, often merely focusing on the management of learning processes, the next generation of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) tackled by the ROLE project 1 concent rates on a hi ghly di stributed approach d rawing o n t he com bination of est ablished o penstandard Web technologies in order to enable the learnerside i ntegration o f servi ces a nd t ools fr om a pl ethora o f heterogeneous sources i nto c ustomized l earning en vironments. One of t he major goa ls of R OLE i s t o del iver an appropriate techni cal i nfrastructure for the establishment of such resp onsive open l earning envi ronments. Anot her goal of t he project i s t o est ablish a co mmunity of ope n source a nd e xternal devel opers out side t he conso rtium contributing further tools and services based on this infrastructure. D uring t he fi rst pr oject devel oper m eeting, w e thus agreed to work in parallel to the standard project plan towards a comm on goal , cal led the "C hristmas Project" with the following objectives in mind: Create a first de monstrator of ROLE to visualize the potential of the project  Enable the consortium to better define needs and derive technical specifications