Running Head: CREATING A PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (PLE)

Creating a Personal Learning Environment (PLE): The File Cabinet of the 21st Century
Kari Woodman
OTL545- Technology and Innovation
Colorado State University Global Campus
Dr. Brenda Bagwell
January 9, 2016

CREATING A PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (PLE)

Website URL: http://kariwoodmanteaches.weebly.com/otl545--technology-and-innovation.html

URL of PLE: http://edu.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13eP27Zd3d

Summary/
Purpose of
Tool

Rationale
based on
Research

Newsela

Newsela is
an innovative
way to build
reading
comprehensio
n with
nonfiction
that's always
relevant: daily
news...
Newsela
makes it easy
for an entire
class to read
the same
content, but at
a level thats
just right for
each student.
(Newsela,
2015)

National
Geograph
ic
Lessons

This is a
website run
by National
Geographic
that has
lesson plans,
activities,
videos,
articles,
referebces and
ideas for
getting
involved in
community
service and

Tool

Supportive Research

Integration Ideas

We have
multiple levels
of readers in
the class, but
want to all read
the same news
articles. Instead
of forcing
students into
levels they do
not fit in, all
students can
read at their
own level and
still read the
same content
as their peers.

In classrooms
comprised of students
with varied reading
levels where the
teachers did not engage
in differentiated
instruction, student
achievement for the
average and low
achieving students
suffered; high
achieving students
made merely modest
gains(Amkrum &
Bean, 2007)

We will use this for a weekly

current event discussion. Articles
are available in five different
reading levels. Each level group
would read an article together and
then teach the rest of the class about
the current event they read. We will
also be following the elections and
this will be a great place to find
information that is at the students
levels.

This site
focuses on
global issues
and teaching
our students to
be global
citizens is
important as
the world shifts
to a more
global
community in
education and
workforce. I
can do this by

Global thinking can be

understood, in the
context of schooling
and learning, if it is
viewed as a paradigm
shift. The shift is from a
traditional view of
learning, to one that
represents thinking that
is synergic and holistic

For our spring unit on Borders and

Boundaries (How we Organize
Ourselves) I will be using a few of
the lessons about maps that are
available on this site. They are 45
minutes to an hour long, use
multiple types of media to teach and
it is a credible and trusted source.
Sometimes there is no need to reinvent the wheel if there is a lesson
that fits right into an existing unit!

Global thinking takes

direction from societal
concerns rather than
from the inward

CREATING A PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (PLE)

Prezi

global issues.

drawing on
global learning
resources that
enable students
to understand
themselves in a
global sense
and in relation
to their local
community.

structure of traditional
education. Global
thinking means looking
at the process of
schooling differently,
considering what it
means to be well
educated in a global
society. Global
Thinking presents man
as a constructivist, a
social scientist capable
of using a wide range
of scientific attitude
skills to develop
theories for inventing
the future and affecting
change. Applying the
anticipatory/participatio
n model, global
thinking facilitates
interactions,
connections and
partnerships that allow
students to experience
the social nature of
knowledge

Prezi is a
presentation
tool.

Students need
to know how to
use different
presentation
platforms and
be able to
convey
information
through a
variety of
media.

CCSS.ELALiteracy.RST.6-8.7
Integrate quantitative or
technical information
expressed in words in a
text with a version of
that information
expressed visually (e.g.,
in a flowchart, diagram,
model, graph, or table).
CCSS.ELALiteracy.W.4.2.a
Introduce a topic
clearly and group
related information in
paragraphs and
sections; include
formatting (e.g.,
headings), illustrations,
and multimedia when

Students will be doing presentations

on a State of their choice and
required to use technology, wither
PowerPoint or Prezi or make a
movie etc. I will model Prezi for the
students since it is most likely a
new tool to them.

CREATING A PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (PLE)

useful to aiding
comprehension

Project
Exlporer

Skype

ProjectExplo
rer.orgs
mission is to
bring the
world into the
classroom
with free
multimedia
content and
lesson plans
that improve
students
global
awareness and
cross cultural
understandin
(projectexplor
er.org, 2015)

Skype can be
used to make
video calls
internationally
.

I like the idea

of using this
site as a
resource for
students to
learn about
global issues
because it is an
example of one
person having
an idea and
doing
something
about it. The
creator saw a
need for more
video media
about global
issues and
created a site
that is free and
has lesson
plans that
adhere to
common core
standards. This
non profit and
site was
created by a
woman and the
majority of
contributors
are women.

98 % of students
believe that
understanding world
history and
events is critical for
solving global
problems

Connecting
with other
students from
around the
world gives
students an
opportunity to
get first

Students nowadays are

more likely to have
travelled abroad by age
of 16 and have easy
access to a world of
information through the
internet. However, they
still need to be guided
through the process of
discovery so that a
deeper understanding of

This would be one of many

resources available to students as
we study Borders and Boundaries in
the Spring unit. Students will be
practicing finding credible sources
and citing their work for the unit
research project.

9 out of 10 American
students wish their
classes had a
more global approach
83% of teachers &
hiring managers agree
students who are
exposed to other
countries and cultures
become better global
citizens
(projectexplorer.org,
2015)

We are an international school with

sister schools all over the world. We
can use Skype to talk to our global
classmates! This will be especially
interesting during our unit on
borders as we will be able to ask
our European friends about the
immigrant crisis and what it means
to them.
Students can miss school because

CREATING A PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (PLE)

their own place in the

word is developed.
(Picardo, 2012)

their families travel often, this is a

tool that can be used to
communicate with students or even
have them virtually sit in on a
lesson.

CREATING A PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (PLE)

References

Ankrum, J. and Bean, R. (2008). Differentiated reading instruction: What and how. Reading Horizons
Volume 48, Issue 2, Article 6. Retrieved from http://scholarworks.wmich.edu

Hassard, J. (1997). Teaching students to think globally. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 37,
No.1, 1997, 24-63. Retrieved from http://www2.gsu.edu/~mstjrh/paperteachingstudents.html

Picardo, J. (2012). Why students need a global awareness and understanding of other cultures. The
Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/teacher- network/2012/sep/25/studentsglobal-awareness-other-cultures