LMS and PLE

    21^st century high technological tools have become indispensable part of education. Due to these tools it became possible to manage learning in an organized, effective and manageable way. Among these technological tools or platforms are Learning Management System or LMS and Personal Learning Environment or PLE. LMS and PLE are quite different, but considered as one of the successful management systems that contribute to community learning, fostering communication and collaboration among individuals and groups.

      Remember how years ago in order to get information about homework or new lesson, you had to see your teacher and clarify your questions or call your classmates; or you had to go to the libraries and find information related to your lessons. Today you don’t have to go anywhere and ask anyone about this or that question, because you can easily solve this problem using LMS, to be precise having an access to LMS.

     Generally LMS is set by an institution, e.g. a university. LMS gives the learners chance to access and obtain the content (e.g. home assignments), perform different kinds of activities including having discussion forums and live synchronous conferences with each other, receive feedback or grades etc. LMS is a centralized tool, where the center of learning and performing activities is the same platform for all the community members. LMS learners can get an access to the collaborative environment, but with the condition of having their own accounts, otherwise communication will be impossible. When you perform different activities, lot of the data is accumulated and stored there. When you leave the university, you leave LMS, the data remains in the system, and it becomes unmanageable by you, but only by the LMS who can share your data whoever they want to.

     In comparison to LMS, PLE is aimed at providing learners with more opportunities for autonomous learning and self-development. PLE is a decentralized tool, where the center of the system is you. You can access to your content from different corners of the web. As far as you are the one who is managing your data, it is up to you where you can store your data, what system you trust.

P. S.

    I suppose each of us is familiar with both of these platforms, though now we can get better understanding and difference between them. Being a student I have an access to www.moodle.aua. In the very beginning it was difficult for me to understand how this system works; how to find home assignments, due dates or deadlines so that you know beforehand what you have to submit; grades, discussion forums or how to perform online activities such as quizzes or fill out questionnaires. I got some instructions during workshop on using Moodle. It’s been a year and a half since I have been using Moodle and I am really glad that such system exists which became an indispensable part of my learning environment.

    When working on my home assignments or group projects I make use of various social websites or environments. Along with when exploring the web I download the files that are of main importance to me. The problem is where to keep them either on a computer or flash drive or in a web service. I prefer to keep all of my files in  www.dropbox.com 

For more information please go to this link 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDwcCJncyiw&feature=relmfu

and watch the video by Stephen Downes. He gives a very distinct and informative explanation about LMS and PLE, states the differences between these two platforms and the reasons regarding incorporation of LMS and PLE in education.