Skip to main content

PLEs and Me

Reading about Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) made me realize I’d unknowingly built one while prepping to build my new gaming PC. I’m not a hardware expert by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, I'm just a long-time gaming nerd who owned a seven-year-old rig that was starting to show its age. What began with watching YouTube videos and browsing Reddit posts turned into a full-on learning process that mirrored the three-tier PLE framework described by Dabbagh and Kitsantas (2012).

I unknowingly started at Tier 1: personal information management. I saved building guides and Reddit posts, and built a YouTube playlist filled with how-to videos about fan optimization, cable management, and motherboard features. All of my learning was unstructured and self-directed, with a focus on gathering anything and everything that I felt would be useful.

Next was the second tier: social interaction and collaboration. I started engaging with Reddit communities, asking for feedback on my planned build and soliciting advice about things I was curious about, alongside tidbits that I hadn’t even considered, such as RAM clock speeds and graphics card benchmarking. It was collaborative, and the feedback loop helped refine my decisions.

The last stop for me was Tier 3: aggregation and reflection. I started responding to other users’ posts, offering tips based on what I learned and what I experienced during my build. I was contributing to the community and reinforcing what I’d learned by helping others.

This whole experience made me think about learning opportunities that exist outside of the classroom. As an instructional designer, I’ve toyed with the idea of using spaces like Reddit or Discord in training programs, but I've been too scared to move that far outside of my designer comfort zone. This reminded me that people are already learning tons without having a formal structure. If that’s possible, imagine what could happen if we actually designed around it.

Comments

  1. India WoodsMay 27, 2025 at 9:33 AM

    Hi Adams Home Stretch,

    OMG!!!! My Fiance is into gaming and actually built his own PC as well!! This is so cool to me to actually "meet" someone who has the same interest. You would actually think I know how to build a PC and is into reddit myself because that's all he talks about. He actually uses youtube to as a guide. Maybe we can share reddits or discords LOL!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. --Adam C.May 27, 2025 at 6:33 PM

      Sounds like your fiance and I are the same sort of nerd! I'm down to share Reddits or Discords! Hit me up on Canvas or via FSU email and we can connect!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reddit's r/changemyview and what we can learn from it

In an era where online discourse often falls into echo chambers, r/ChangeMyView (CMV) offers a refreshing, if somewhat abrasive, alternative. This subreddit invites users to post strong opinions and encourages others to challenge them, ideally with respect, tact, and with the goal of growth. The result is a model of civil disagreement that promotes critical thinking and builds knowledge through dialogue. While traditional hive minds tend to promote consensus, CMV is designed for disagreement. It leverages collective intelligence to sharpen and refine ideas through disagreement as opposed to reinforcing shared beliefs. In this model, learning doesn't come from conformity. Instead, it is born from the collaborative process of questioning and rethinking. I believe that higher education can borrow from this structure to improve online and in-person classroom discussions, which sadly often fail to spark meaningful engagement. Rather than asking students to simply share opinions, educato...
2 comments
Read more

My hot take on optional challenges is cooling off

When I design learning experiences in a corporate setting, I'm doing so with certain expectations in mind. The foremost one being that if I build it, I expect participation. This represents a fixed mindset. Every aspect of my lesson needs to be experienced, otherwise the learner won't succeed. Optional content often feels like wasted effort, or at the very least, something that won't yield consistent results. But this course (and the articles I've read along the way) challenge that mindset. Dennen et al. (2024) examined a system of optional embedded microlearning challenges (OEMCs) designed to promote self-directed learning. The findings showed that the learners who opted in reported high levels of enjoyment and perceived value. What stood out to me was that these low-stakes, optional activities encouraged deeper engagement despite not being mandatory. In fact, learners engaged in these optional challenges because they wanted to! The rewards weren't mind-blowing (a...
1 comment
Read more

Group Reflection w/ Corporate Training

I read a study about project-based learning in a Web 2.0 environment and, as usual, I found myself wondering about how I could apply that concept to corporate training. In the study, the researchers compared self-guided, peer-led, and instructor-supported group reflections in student teams. Results showed that teams showed more collaborative skills when their feedback was scaffolded through guided questions and timely feedback. In corporate training, you often create project-based or scenario-based learning opportunities that simulate what scenarios you may encounter on the job. I don't think I've ever seen a lesson that included built-in, structured group reflection. The study makes a strong case for group reflection, and I can imagine the benefits in a corporate training setting. Especially as a means to recap project or scenario-based lessons. Implementation wouldn't be too difficult since shared digital whiteboards (Miro or Padlet) exist. But the key isn’t the tool th...
2 comments
Read more