Putting the pieces together: Conceptual frameworks for building PLEs with web 2.0 tools

Abstract

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The purpose of this chapter is to suggest approaches and guidelines for using Web 2.0 tools and services for developing personal learning environments (PLEs) to manage formal and informal learning leading to lifelong learning. This chapter considers a PLE not as a particular site or a tool that contains all the applications and provides access to users, but rather a framework for incorporating Web 2.0 tools and services chosen by the learner for collecting and processing information, connecting people and creating knowledge. 
 The concept of PLEs and their advantages for learning are partly based on the often unquestioned belief that ‘NetGen’ learners are familiar with Web 2.0 tools and they know how to use them for learning. Recent studies however question this popular wisdom. Web 2.0 technologies have been developed outside education, and are mainly being used for informal networking, and creating and sharing media files for fun and entertainment. This chapter proposes that systematically developed frameworks and guidelines can help NetGen learners to use Web 2.0 tools for formal learning. It presents four different approaches to integrate Web 2.0 tools for learning. 
 The work presented in this chapter originates from our current research investigating personal learning environments, entitled PELICANS (Personal E-Learning in Community And Networking Spaces) project based at the University of Leicester, UK and at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, i2Cat and Citilab, Catalonia, Spain.