Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies/Methods of Personalized Learning Environments (PLE)

Even though PLE differ from case by case and almost the process has no end， are there some practical methods or tips for the novice begin to establish of his PLE? Here some methods and suggestions.

1. Necessary tools

There are many social tools for establishing PLE， how we make a selection？ Here some tools are necessary.

(1) Social bookmark

Why we need to use the social bookmark such as del.icio.us?

With the development of WEB2.0, the website numbers are going up exponentially, which brings the problem for an individual how to manage the URL resources effectively and efficiently.

Social bookmark provides a new way to make use of URL resources. Unlike the tradition way we just store some useful URLs to the favorite folder by web browser to our own computer， through using social bookmark, we can find more related useful URL resources and we have more opportunities to make connection with other people we are interested in.

As an example, here is the course announcement "The Web 2.0 and Participatory e-Learning" released by professor Curt Bonk, if you collect this URL by social bookmark del.icio.us, then you can find there are so many people share the same interests with you, and further you can add some people to your network in del.icio.us. In this way, you can establish your own PLE step by step.

(2)RSS Reader

Why we need to use the RSS reader such as Blogline or Google reader?

The content of WEB2.0 is mainly generated by users, which also brings the problem for an individual how to get update content in time. If we still behave in the traditional way that is visiting different websites one by one through web browser, we couldn't afford the time cost. In additional, you are not sure which website has been updated.

RSS reader can help to solve this problem. You just need to add the rss feed of the website which you are interested in to your RSS reader. You get update information from different websites just by checking your RSS reader. In this way, you not only can save much time, but also you have the ability to read more information from more different websites.

RSS reader is a necessary tool for an individual to establish his PLE.

(3)Tagging

From a technical perspective, it is tag which makes WEB2.0 different from WEB1.0. There need a new way to organize the content which generated by different users. The new way is tag. In taxonomy term, it is called folksonomy.

By tagging his content, an individual not only adapts a new way to organize his own content, but also adapts a new way to make connection with other people.

During the search using tag, not only you can find many related contents which you want to find, but also you can find some persons who share the same interests with you.

So, tagging is an important behave during the process of establish one's own PLE.

(4)Blog

(5)WIKI

2. Cop Community of Practise

3.PKM Personal knowledge management