Personal Learning Environments (PLE's)

I've been reading what I can on e-learning and it's potential. It's a personal interest of mine because I wonder what will become of education? How will education be administerd and what will the look of universities will be in the future?

So I was reading a paper about Personal Learning Environments (PLE's) by Graham Attwell. Attwell is a strong proponent of PLE's and believes PLE's will play an important role in the future of e-learning.

Now Let me flip to Yong Zhao who I agree 100% with Yong Zhao. Zhao said that education is about the individual person. That education is about "preserving the spirit" of the individual. (I am also 100% in agreement with Zhao in that I do not believe in the No Child left Behind policy or in standardized testing, but that's a different discussion). And Ibelieve this is what Attwell was probably getting at as well, that a the PLE is the "e-tool" of the future that allows for individualism in the "e-world" of learning.

I don't know if I am so convinced. I have a couple of thoughts on this. One of the great if not the greatest factors of learning is motivation. All the articles I have been reading talk about the wonderous applications that technology has provided students and will continue to provide. Look at all the things students can do, etc, etc...And I agree, the new technologies are amazing. But I have yet to read any discussion of motivation. Everyone assumes students willtake up the torch and drive their own education. Will students be motivated to self direct their own learning? Some students certainly will. The majority I might argue probably would not. The proponent might say but look how engaed students have become in schools with this technology. Look at how interested they are in learning with the new technology. I might say yes, but wouyld they be so engaged were it not for the teacher? Would a student create a PLE on their own and would they maintain it?

I might also say what are students really learning through PLE's or other e-learning methods. Herein lies a question. What kind of learning are we going after? One might argue that everything is learning. True, we learn to look both ways before crossing the street, we learn street smarts everyday which helps us get through life. We also learn mindless bits of interesting information which is learning. But are the "e-practices" in place for students to learn what they should be learning? Are students learning efficiently through e-learning? People are still trying to stake their claims in the value of each new technology that comes out. When talking movies were developed that was going to be the next great learning tool, when television was developed that was going to be the next great learning tool, and on and on. I don't think there is yet one correct way or that anyone has developed a correct way of delivering e-learning or what the best e-learning tools are. I think teachers and students are becoming bombarded with all sorts of new things to try and students are being left with a mish mash of e-learning applications to work with. One not proven any better than the next. I have no doubt that e-learning is the future of education. But for now e-learning has an identify crisis. It's a bit schizophrenic. Don't get me wrong, I am a strong propoent of e-learning. I am excited at the oppotunities it presents. I challenge some of the claims being made that a specific thing is the wave of the future....