AK PLE

I thought a lot about what I would consider to be my personal learning environment, and honestly, I had kind of a hard time figuring out how I wanted to organize it and structure it. So I started thinking a lot about how I learn, and where I learn and I was struck with an idea. I’ve spent half of my life playing in orchestras, and so I felt like that would be a good visual representation to start mapping out my learning environments. After playing around with grouping and structure, I decided to format into three areas that include the tools I use in each one; Education/Learning , Music, and Technology.

In my Education/Learning section, I included three news sources and both of the universities I’ve attended. I decided to include the BBC, NPR and New York Times under the Education/Learning section because that’s how I keep up to date with current events and learn about what’s going on in the world. Every morning before I leave for class, I spend a little time with each publication to get a larger sense of the world. It’s very easy to get consumed in the intense, educational grad school environment and it’s important to me to stay involved in the outside world. In including both my undergraduate and graduate universities, I felt like I was representing all of the things I’ve learned so far and am continuing to learn during the time I’ve spent on my degrees.

The music section was the easiest for me to map out. I’ve been studying music for seventeen years and although the tools I’ve used to aid me in that have varied slightly, there have been several foundational ones that I have always used.  One of the best things I can do as a musician is listen to music, which is why I included cover art from a Deutsche Grammophon recording.  I specifically chose Deutsche Grammophon because it’s one of the most reputable labels for classical music and a good portion of my collection are Deutsche Grammophon recordings.  I use the 60 Kopprasch etudes almost every day to refine my technical abilities and flexibility throughout my range. I also included the logo for BOSS metronomes and a screenshot of a strobe tuner because I use both of these to help fix issues and improve my playing. The three horns interlocked is the logo for the International Horn Society, a professional group that I belong to and use resources from such as scholarly articles, audition postings, and educational advice all akin to horn playing.

The last, and broadest section is the technology section. All of my tech devices are Apple products.  I have an iPhone, an iPod touch, and a MacBook Pro that I use every day as the platforms for all of these tech applications that I use in my personal and educational/professional life. I predominantly use Skype, Facebook, and Instagram to stay connected socially with people, although Facebook sometimes intersects with Learning/Education since I follow news sources, musicians, and arts/culture organizations.  The Adobe Creative Suite  and the Office Suite are the two programs that I use the most for professional/educational requirements.