Changing the rules: from textbooks to PLEs / Cambiando las reglas de juego: de los libros de texto al PLE

Abstract

This article is a pedagogical contribution to the debate about the meaning, usefulness and possible integration of PLEs into formalized education. We assume that PLEs represent a change in the rules of traditional teaching taking place in formal educational contexts. We use the comparison of a solid knowledge taught in textbooks compared PLEs in the context of the liquid culture of cyberspace as a metaphor for learning. The article provides an overview of the features and elements of a PLE in formal education and suggests that the educational objective of PLEs is the formation of digital citizenship. This concept implies that learners must become aware of their digital identity and develop competence in five dimensions for an intelligent use of digital technology and culture. We conclude by referring to PLEs as an educational ideology and its potential evolution from the deschooling theses and educational reform in schools.

Primary school student and teacher perceptions of competency-based learning / Percepción de alumnado y profesorado de Educación Primaria sobre el aprendizaje de los estudiantes basado en competencias

“…Son varias las teorías de aprendizaje sobre las que se fundamenta el aprendizaje competencial. La teoría conectivista defiende el desarrollo de la autonomía del alumnado en la configuración de su propia identidad digital (Downes, 2016), dado que a través de las nuevas tecnologías y la experiencia con modelos pedagógicos innovadores (Enright & Gard, 2016), se pueden generar emociones positivas de empatía, sentimiento de pertenencia e integración social (Area & Sanabria, 2014). Por ello, la alta predicción de las variables cognitivo-motivacionales para un aprendizaje de calidad en materias instrumentales, e históricamente vertebrales en el sistema educativo, como son Lengua Castellana y Literatura y Matemáticas (Miñano & Castejón, 2011), podrían estimular el desarrollo a nivel escolar de estas tres competencias en las que se sustenta la teoría conectivista.…”

“…Competency-based learning is based on a variety of different learning theories. Connectivist theory advocates the development of student autonomy in the configuration of their individual digital identities (Downes, 2016), since new technologies and experiences with innovative pedagogical models (Enright & Gard, 2016) can generate positive emotions of empathy, feelings of belonging and social integration (Area & Sanabria, 2014). Thus, the high prediction of cognitive-motivational variables for quality learning in key subjects which have historically formed the bedrock of the educational system — such as Spanish language and literature and mathematics (Miñano & Castejón, 2011) — could stimulate the development within the school context of these three competences, upon which connectivist theory is based.…”

Introduction: Personal Learning Environments in the context of formal education / Introducción: los Entornos Personales de Aprendizaje en contextos de educación formal

“…The monograph is closed with a paper by Área and Sanabria (2014), Changing the rules: from textbooks to PLEs , which contrasts the solidity of knowledge taught in textbooks with the liquid culture of cyberspace represented by PLEs. The authors provide a review of the features and elements of a PLE in formal education and further this by proposing that the purpose of a PLE’s educational use is to train students to become ‘digital citizens’.…”

Use of Mobile Technologies in Personal Learning Environments of Intercultural Contexts: Individual and Group Tasks

“…As mentioned by López et al [21], a personal environment is built throughout life and can vary over time, depending on the learning sources at that time, so these environments would look like a set of tools, sources of information, connections and activities that each individual regularly uses to learn [22][23][24][25]. In addition, PLEs activate the cognitive processes of both formal and non-formal learning [26][27][28].…”