The ABCs of PLEs - LMNOP?

Hello cyberworld!

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for my absence.  But I am back now and ready to rock and roll!

So to catch up, I would first like to discuss my reaction to a very interesting read on the PLE (Personal Learning Environment) from Mohamed Amines' PLE list.  The article I read is entitled "Envisioning the Post-LMS Era: The Open Learning Network" by Jonathan Mott.

My initial reaction to learning about Personal Learning Environments was what is with all of the abbreviations?  Just in skimming the passage I came across LMSs, CMSs, PLEs, PLNs and OLNs.  I guess it is constantly easier to talk about each one with the abbreviation, but I got confused, so perhaps you did to.  Here's a quick cheat sheet:

• LMS - Learning Management System
• CMS - Content/Curriculum Management System
• PLE - Personal Learning Environment
• PLN - Personal Learning Network
• OLN - Open Learning Network

Ok, we've now got that all cleared up.  I realized in my research of PLEs that there was a great deal of discussion, debate, and compromise amongst these terms.  I realized throughout my reading of this article I had some experience with LMSs - Echalk (High School) and Blackboard (College and now Grad School).  I often thought about my experiences with these LMSs as I read.  

The author points out three limitations of LMSs:

• "First, LMSs are generally organized around discrete, arbitrary units of time — academic semesters. Courses typically expire and simply vanish every 15 weeks or so, thereby disrupting the continuity and flow of the learning process.
• Second, LMSs are teacher-centric. Teachers create courses, upload content, initiate threaded discussions, and form groups. Opportunities for student-initiated learning activities in the traditional LMS are severely limited.
• Finally, courses developed and delivered via the LMS are walled gardens, limited to those officially enrolled in them. This limitation impairs content sharing across courses, conversations between students within and across degree programs, and all of the dynamic learning affordances of the read-write web."

The first point I was not made aware of until I read it! It was so true.  I can't even tell you how many times I've wanted to revisit an old class' notes or submissions after it had been erased.

The second point makes sense, and the third does as well - again, points I was not made aware of until reading this article.

So then the article talks about PLEs/PLNs.  Immediately I thought of the George Siemen's theory of Connectivism and realized how well PLEs align with the theory.  As the author stated in this article:

"Value accrues to the system as a whole because the more users or ‘nodes’ there are in a network, the more possible connections there are.”

So the benefits and weaknesses of LMSs and PLEs are wide not really complementary, but using the strengths of both, we can create an OLN. The author suggests that by taking both of these models and attempting to integrate them will result in this OLN.

I realized that the Grad course for which I am maintaining this blog (besides my own pleasure of writing blogs) is attempting to do just that, meld the two worlds of LMSs and PLNs to create an OLN.  Something that is:

• "Secure and open 
•  Integrated and Modular 
•  Private and Public 
•  Reliable and Flexible"

Or as the author put so eloquently in this article:

“However, a one-or-the-other choice between the two is a false choice between knowledge-dissemination technologies and community-building tools. We can have both.”

I know it is difficult to maintain an OLN, but if we keep trying, I know it will be excellent!

What is your experience with LMSs, CMSs, PLNs, PLEs, and/or OLNs? I would love to hear your thoughts!