For my Personal Learning Environment, I decided to depict my learning environment as a city. Cities are always changing and expanding, therefore, found it to be an applicable depiction to how I learn. My avenues of learning are always changing and always expanding.
Travel:
In my PLE, I chose to depict airplanes, along with a small billboard simply stating “Travel.” In my adulthood, I have significant learning experiences based simply on my travel experiences, both culturally and individually. Although this avenue of my learning experiences is a very significant one, it is difficult to fully depict the expanse of the information that I have learned through my travels. I’ve met people from all corners of the world, learned a foreign language, learned how to cook and prepare traditional meals, as well as been immersed within another culture. I’ve learned more through my travels than I have through any other learning experience in my life.
Institutions:
I depicted the University of Oregon as one of my main institutions for my learning environment. At UO, I have the opportunity to learn in any number of environments, but academically and socially. With the campus housing buildings like the Knight Library, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, as well as classroom settings, I have the opportunity to learn in any number of these environments. I see the UO as an integral and vital part to my educational experiences.
News and Media:
Often, I gather my world news information from NPR, the NY Times, and Le Monde. All of these publications are offered online, and include a wide variety of information. I love these specific publications since they deal with mostly current events, but also offer insight into past events and information. I generally will look at the NY Times the most, but will also look at Le Monde, which is a French publication. I find that more often than not, Le Monde will offer a different take on world events than what I can find in American publications.
Web 2.0
This is an important part to my every day learning experiences. I always, always, always prefer to use Google Chrome as my primary search engine. Google, for me, is the gateway to any number of reference, and will generally offer a more comprehensive search result.
Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are more a social learning environment for me. Pinterest can be useful for me if I want to find fashion, art, and recipe ideas, but isn’t always limited to that. I tend to use Reddit as a source of amusement and entertainment, but will also learn of world events this way as well. Reddit has an infinite number of subreddits, and can lead to information on nearly any topic imaginable. I use Imgur much in the same way as I do Instagram, but also as an extension of Reddit.
The Macbook Pro is featured centrally in my PLE as it is my main tool for learning. I use my Macbook every day, and use it for all of my learning avenues.
Although I have represented a number of avenues to my personal learning environment, this is not a concise and comprehensive list. I also learn from watching others, reading books and magazines, as well as hands on experience.
PLE (ai)
PLE (pdf)