Introducing a personal learning environment in higher education - An analysis of connectivity

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dhado

Universities drive the Knowledge Society by designing teaching strategies that foster knowledge building. Personal learning environments (PLE) advance educational practices through ICT integration, enabling “universities without walls” to meet knowledge-society demands. This study examines how participants’ relationships (students and teachers) develop in two higher-education instructional sequences using institutionally powered PLE (iPLE) on the Elgg platform.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

I. Introduction

II. Objectives

Introducing a personal learning environment in higher education . An analysis of connectivity Alexandra Saz [asaz@uda.ad](asaz@uda.ad) Universitat d’Andorra, Andorra Anna Engel [anna.engel@ub.edu](anna.engel@ub.edu) Universitat de Barcelona, Spain César Coll [ccoll@ub.edu](ccoll@ub.edu) Universitat de Barcelona, Spain Abstract Universities have a key role to play in the progress and development of the Knowledge Society. They should lead the way in the design of teaching strategies that promote knowledge building. Personal learning environments (PLE) represent a groundbreaking new development in educational practices through the incorporation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and an opportunity to promote the creation of universities without walls able to meet the demands of the knowledge society. This study focuses on the relationships established by the participants (students and teachers) in two higher education instructional sequences using institutionally-powered PLE (iPLE) . One of the sequences was carried out at the University of Barcelona and the other at the University of Andorra . Both used the same technological support, the Elgg platform, which allows users to build their own personal work and learning environment. The main hypothesis of the study is that the relationships formed depend on the techno-pedagogical design of the teaching and learning process . The results show that in both cases the relationships that the participants establish with their peersand teachers are indeed related to the characteristics and requirements of the particular technopedagogical designs. Although the technological environment allowed all the participants to establish relationships with others, the main interactions were found in small working groups created to carry out learning and assessment activities . In conclusion, we stress the importance of planning teaching and learning activities and assessment processes that are able to exploit the full potential of PLE. Keywords connectivity indicators; Elgg; higher education; personal learning environment; techno-pedagogical design. A. Saz, A. Engel & C. Coll 1 Digital Education Review-Number 29, June 2016-[http://greav.ub.edu/der/](http://greav.ub.edu/der/) I. Introduction Personal learning environments (PLE) have emerged as a promising new way to respond to the needs of the knowledge society and represent a substantive change in the understanding of the role of ICT in education (Adell & Castañeda, 2010) . Many higher education institutions have introduced institutionally-powered PLE (iPLE) in their programs (Casquero, Portillo, Ovelar, Romo & Benito, 2010) . iPLE are digital environments pre-formed by the institutions that allow students to create and organize their own networks of learning resources, applications and tools in line with their interests and objectives, and to communicate with people engaging in specific learning activities (Adell & Castañeda, 2010; Anderson, 2006; Attwell, 2007; Downes, 2007; Martindale & Dowdy, 2010; van Harmelen, 2008) . These environments offer students the opportunity to integrate workspaces and individual and group learning which can be shared to a greater or lesser degree and to connect the learning acquired in formal or informal settings (Hall, 2009) . From a constructivist and sociocultural perspective, learning is conceived as a process of constructing knowledge which is social and shared (Vygotsky, 1979) . One of the key concepts of this approach is the concept of educational influence . Systems of shared meanings are constructed thanks to the educational influence of others, that is, to the different kinds of support provided by the participants (the teacher and the other students) in the course of the joint activity (Author 3, Onrubia & Mauri, 2008) . In online contexts, just as in classroom settings, the nature and the intensity of the support that students can receive from the teac

FAQs

What is the focus of the study?

The study focuses on relationships established by participants (students and teachers) in two higher-education instructional sequences using institutionally-powered PLE (iPLE).

Which platform and context were used for both sequences?

Both sequences used the Elgg platform as the technological support for building personal work and learning environments.

What factors influence the relationships among participants in iPLE?

The study hypothesizes that the relationships depend on the techno-pedagogical design of the teaching and learning process.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dhado