Today PLENK2010 (hashtag: #PLENK2010) will start. The PLENK2010 is an open, massive online course, but with an extra, for PLENK2010 is also linked to to the Canadian National Research Council. For anyone interested in PLE's (Personal Learning Environments) this will be a massive learning opportunity, for I know that whatever Stephen Downes and George Siemens come up with, learning is assured and eye-opening on many eLearning subjects will happen. So if you have the time, sign in, sign the form for the research consent (see a bit further) and start learning with over 1000 other learners located around the globe.For those of you who have heard of the CCK2008 or CCK2009, this is a new open course delivered in part by Stephen Downes and George Siemens, but... the group of facilitators has grown and added Dave Cormier (who was already joining in CCK for some parts).
Although the course will focus entirely on Personal Learning Environments (PLE), Networking and Knowledge, there is a very interesting track added to the course, as this course and the dynamics occurring in it will be used for research on the topic of online learning. As such it brings along the administrative parts of research. I find this very thrilling, as it will be 'live research'.
PLENK 2010 Research (copied from the course info)
Before the course starts, we would like to provide you with advance notice of research being conducted in this course.
Research Consent Document
Research in Personal Learning Environments
The Personal Learning Environments Networks and Knowledge course is part of the National Research Council of Canada's PLE research. The project will examine the learning that occurs as a result of interaction and participation in the distributed community. The goal of the research is to follow and document what communities of learners do when they are learning in a sizeable open online course.
Why are you being given this information as a learner?
Upon registering for the online PLENK course, you are being asked to take part in a study designed to examine various aspects of learning in a network, based on the model of the personal learning environment, in which each learner aggregates and works with a unique set of resources, and interacts and participates in a distributed online community.
The information in this page is intended to help you understand exactly what we are asking of you so that you can decide whether or not you want to register for the PLENK course and participate in the research. Please read this consent document carefully and ask all the questions you might have before deciding whether or not to participate or not in this study. Your participation in the course and research project is entirely voluntary and you can opt out of the course and the research at any time.
If you do not consent to this research, please unsubscribe.
Research Projects
There are four separate research projects being conducted in this course.
1. The NRC PLE Project research, conducted by Helene Fournier and Rita Kop.
2. Wendy Drexler and Chris Sessums will also invite you to participate in research on Personal Learning Environments and Personal Learning Networks and you will find an invitation to participate in their surveys in the Daily.
3. Dave Cormier and George Siemens carry out research in Massive Open Online courses but will not ask you to fill out surveys, as they will be observers on the learning environment.
4. Sui Fai John Mak will invite you to participate in his own research program.
Special Interest Group in PLE and PLN research
People engaged or interested in research in Personal Learning Environments and Personal Learning Networks will be invited to participate in a Special Interest Group on the subject by Hélène Fournier during the course. If you would like to participate in this development, watch the Daily for announcements on the S.I.G and the Moodle forum and wiki for developments!
