The Influence of the Personal Learning Environment Concept in the Educational Research Field

Abstract

Almost 15 years after the start of the debate over Personal Learning Environments (PLE), the concept would still appear to be influential and even intrinsic to discussion over the future of educational technology and education in general. This paper aims to establish a clear thematic link between the concept of PLEs and educational academic literature over the last decade, exploring the influence of the PLE concept in the education research papers. To do this, it uses a systematized review of academic literature that relates the PLE concept to three themes identified as most relevant in that field during the last decade: emerging pedagogical practices, professional teacher development, and self-regulated learning. The analysis is focused on whether (and how) the PLE concept has intersected each of the themes, the level of importance of that intersection in each one of them and the way in which the concept is ‘materialized’. The purpose is to understand how (and if) a concept that has its origin in Educational Technology has been adapted to other areas of educational research.