Social Networking: My PLE Diagram Reflection

Reflection:

When I first read that one of our assignments this week was to make our own PLE diagram, I initially wondered how I would make mine different than others yet just as creative. I began to look at the models given to us with the assignment and decided to go with the Collecting-Reflecting-Connecting-Publishing Model. Once I decided which model I wanted to use, I tried to think of ways I could represent the model creatively. After writing it on paper and focusing on the fact that there were four main groups within it, the game Connect 4 came into my head. I thought that not only was this a perfect way to represent my diagram, but also a perfect way to represent myself within it. I personally love games, challenges, and competition which you have all of within this fun game. Just like the goal of the game is to "connect 4", the goal of a PLE is to connect as well. 

I decided to represent the overall idea with the game pieces used in Connect 4. The four main ideas within the model were the red chips within the game that make you win by connecting 4. Then I used open spaces to represent my communities. Initially, looking horizontally was how I did the grouping of my communities within each idea, but as I did it, I realized really any of the communities could be in any location. Most of these communities can be used in multiple ways which are why I love them and decided to include them.  

From this assignment, I have realized how much I have learned about PLEs and also how many great resources I have come across within learning and creating my own. Some of these communities I knew about already, but the majority I have never used at all or used to help myself grow within education. It is great to see how this assignment has allowed me to reflect on how much I have really learned so far within this class. 

Comparison:


Above you can see PLE diagrams from six of my peers. When comparing my PLE with those of my classmates, I realized that most of us have a lot of communities in common. Some of the communities we have in common are Twitter, Facebook, Diigo, Google Apps, and blog sites to name a few. I also noticed that four of the six peers also only listed each community they chose once within their diagram where Kim and Kristin both decided to put them in multiple places. As stated in my reflection, like Kim and Kristin, I do believe most communities could go in multiple places so I like how they decided to show that within their diagrams where I only stated that in my reflection. I also was able to see some communities my peers thought to include that I didn't and also how we all ended up including different amounts of communities in total. Some communities that my peers included that I did not are Pinterest, Moodle, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Google+, Voice Threads, and a few others. All of these are also great ideas to include as communities and some of them I would have never thought to include myself so it was great to see others had thought to do so. Overall, I'm very impressed with the diagrams of my peers and I am glad to see that they have learned a lot through this process as well.