A Design Framework for Personal Learning Environments

Abstract

The purpose of our research was to develop a PLE (personal learning environment) design framework for workplace settings. By doing such, the research has answered this research question, how should a technology-based personal learning environment be designed, aiming at supporting learners to gain control over their learning at the workplace? We defined a PLE as an activity space encompassing learning objectives, tools, strategies and resources (i.e. tools, content, and people) to support and facilitate personal learning endeavours of learners, see definition 1.1 in chapter 1. In this definition personal learning refers to the ways the learner pursues to address own learning requirements and gain control over learning taking advantage of the provided learning resources in the learning environment, see definition 1.2 in chapter 1. Accordingly, we defined the PLE design framework as abstracted design knowledge comprised of the core principles of personal learning, design principles, technological components, and implementation guidelines, see definition 1.3 in chapter 1. By incorporating the design research approaches in information systems (IS) and education domains, we outlined a design-based research strategy comprised of theoretical, empirical, and internal grounding processes to develop the PLE design framework. The theoretical grounding process, as described in chapter 2, was meant to increase the robustness of the PLE design framework by grounding it in theory. To this end, we performed a literature review study to realize the theoretical constructs, characteristics and objectives of the PLE concept. Then we utilized these insights in order to develop a learner’s control model defining three roles for a learner within the learning environment, being: the learner as ‘decision maker’, ‘knowledge developer’, and ‘socializer’. These roles aim to facilitate and promote personal agency of the learner within the learning environment. The purpose of the empirical grounding process was to increase the relevancy of the PLE design framework. Accordingly, in the empirical grounding process we focused on exploring and identifying the factors within the workplace that affect learner’s control and personal agency and realizing the requirements of both learner and organization to support personal learning. To this end, a multi-case design-based research was conducted in two contexts, namely, the Amadeus Lyceum secondary school and the customer call centre (CCC) of the Achmea Company both in the Netherlands. Regardless of their different contextual conditions, both design cases shared the same characteristics of the workplace where the learning is driven by working. In each design case we chose two units of analysis for examining the learner’s as well as organization’s views on the requirements of personal learning. The results of the empirical grounding process have revealed that learners go through a nonlinear co-regulating personal learning process consisting of accessing to the provided learning resources, ‘forethought’, ‘performing’, and ‘reflecting’ phases. Furthermore, it has been realized that when the learners are provided with appropriate amount of control and support they participate in constructing and adapting the learning environment by introducing new learning objectives, tools, content, or social asset through the ‘feeding back’ phase. After the insights on the theoretical and practical requirements of personal learning have been captured, we compared, analysed and synthesized these insights in the internal grounding process to develop the PLE design framework by identifying its four key components. Derived from the learner’s control model, the learner’s roles as ‘decision maker’, ‘knowledge developer’, and ‘socializer’ have been designated as three core principles of personal learning. Designating these core principles aims at giving active roles to the learner and placing s/he at the centre of the learning environment. Furthermore, we designated ‘providing learning support’ as another core principle of personal learning. This core principle is meant to harmonize the personal learning endeavours of the learners with the organization’s requirements and objectives through seeding/initiating the learning environment with organization-provided learning resources. Moreover, we chose ‘forethought’, ‘performing’, ‘reflecting’ and ‘feeding back’ as another set of the core principles of personal learning. These core principles facilitate the first leap from theory to practice in the PLE design framework. After the core principles of personal learning have been identified, we synthesized and intersected them to designate 15 design principles as the second key components of the PLE design framework. These design principles facilitate the second leap from theory into practice in the PLE design framework. Finally, armed with the observations and evidence from the empirical grounding process, we identified a set of technological components and implementation guidelines to address each design principle. This technological components and implementation guidelines represent the third leap from theory into practice in the PLE design framework. For more detail about the components of the PLE design framework see chapter 7. The developed PLE design framework conceptualizes personal learning as an interconnected process of decision making, knowledge creation, and socializing directed by the learner and facilitated by the organization. Through the lens of this framework, the learning environment is a dynamic and adaptable entirety consisting of organization-, learner-defined learning objectives, strategies, and learning resources. The development of this learning environment is envisioned per se as an important learning process and the learning environment is considered as a shared dynamic outcome evolved and adapted through cooperation between the learners and organization. To operationalize this vision, the PLE design framework reconciles the learners’ and organization’s views on the requirements and specifications of personal learning and competency development. On one hand, the PLE design framework aligns and harmonizes the personal learning endeavors of the learners with the learning requirements and objectives of the organization expressed in the organization-provided learning choices. On the other hand, it provides opportunities for the learners to pursue their personal learning needs and interests by exploring and learning the provided learning choices and evolve the learning environment by contextualizing, maturing, and developing new learning choices in terms of learning objectives, tools, content, strategies, and social asset.