First Steps towards an Integrated

Personal Learning Environment at the University Level

Martin Ebner, Sandra Schön, Behnam Taraghi, Hendrik Drachsler, Philip Tsang

Technology enhanced Learning

http://flickr.com/photos/powerbooktrance/289992273//

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovietuk/141381675

uLearning

What is a PLE ?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/2441359074

According to Stephen Downes a PLE is ...

a future learning environment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skippytpe/256929499

According to Stephen Downes a PLE is ...

not an institutional or coporate application but a learning center

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alysser/2011022884

According to Stephen Downes a PLE is ...

where content is reused and remixed

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alysser/2011022884

According to Stephen Downes a PLE is ...

according to the student‘s own needs and interests

Why we need a PLE ?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toru_okada/1377360600

University a closed castle?

http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/file/view/swl_ple2.gif (Scott Leslie, PLE Diagram)

But how can we integrate the WWW ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghz/407109888/

and combine it with university‘s services?

The general concept

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetoad01/2677459596

7 crucial aspects for the shift (Schaffert&Hilzensauer, 2008)

Role of learner

Personalisation

ContentSocial Involvement

Ownership

Educational &organisatioal culture

Technological aspects

Technological concept

MashUp Principle - Use of Widgets

http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2EE/mashup_2/

Comparable to iGoogle

Widget

• Follow a W3C Widget Specification• IST Palette Project allows exchange -

furthermore also the communicaton between widgets

„Widgets are full-fledged client-side applications that are authored using Web

standards. They are typically downloaded and installed on a client machine or device where

they typically run as stand-alone applications outside a Web browser“

Defintion of W3C

First Design Study

Central Ideas of the GUI:

„Less is more“

„tidy not cluttered“

„the best of two worlds“

http://www.flickr.com/photos/harmrhebergen/2694630

Brainstorming

First conceptual ideas

MockUp

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theredproject/3879832565

Main GUI Elements

Usability Tests

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdolishny/2760207306

First Design

PersonalDashboard

Heuristic Evaluation, Thinking Aloud Test, Interviews and Questionnaries carried out ....

• - ... Personlization in foreground (style, look & feel)

• - ... Flexibility and Creativity should be fostered (free arrangment on UI, ...)

• - ... Ubiquitous PLE (mobile and desktop views)

PLE at TU Graz since October 2010

http://vimeo.com/25595446

General View - overall concept

http://ple.tugraz.at

Weather Widget

!

Customzation Screen

Scribd Widget Slideshare Widget

Blog Widget

Google Maps

!

Summary after the launch - PLE

• - ... has more than 1000 registered users

• - ... has about 30% of highly active users

• - ... uses a tracking module in the background

• - ... `s Widgets are developed by students

http://www.flickr.com/photos/supersonic_look/1307679752

Recommendation

Integration of Learning Objects (LO)

Learning Scenarios

Future

Converter for Desktop and Mobile

Graz University of Technology

SOCIAL LEARNINGComputer and Information Services

Graz University of Technology

Martin Ebner

http://elearning.tugraz.athttp://elearningblog.tugraz.at

http://twitter.tugraz.at

Slides available at: http://elearningblog.tugraz.at

mebner