Doing what we teach : promoting digital literacies for professional development through personal learning environments and participation

Abstract

Despite the proliferation of social media, few learners make effective use of digital technology to support their learning or graduate with the skills necessary for developing and communicating their expertise in the knowledge-driven networked society of the digital age. This article makes use of the concept of Personal Learning Environments (PLE) to approach the question of how digital literacies for learning can be taught and learned in the context of higher education. It presents a model of a PLE course, the overall goal of which was to equip the learners with the skills and competences needed to create their own digital environments that would enable them to tap the online networks and resources relevant for their professional and personal lives. From the viewpoint of Design-Based Research (DBR), the article lays out the design principles, pedagogical choices and activities on the course, and explains how these contributed to the creation of a learning culture. Furthermore, the design and its outcomes are reflected upon in the light of student feedback and reactions. The article argues that through the personalised, dialogic and networked approach inherent in PLE ideology, students with diverse goals, backgrounds and skills can explore practices and learn digital literacies that help them progress toward their professional goals.