Emerging Technologies Personal Learning Environments (Report‪)‬

Language instructors in higher education are finding that the current generation of students is coming to campus with quite sophisticated technology skills and habits. Many are fully conversant with and committed to communicating through social networking sites. They use on a regular basis a variety of Internet-based services to manage much of their lives: to locate and obtain resources, plan free time, maintain contact with peers, access media, stay informed, and maybe even learn a language. These students find waiting for them at most universities a quite different use of the Internet: communication predominantly through email and interactions with instructors and peers through a top-down, fairly inflexible learning management system. Some instructors are finding that they are able to provide a flexible and creative learning environment more in tune with today's students through the use of (mostly) free tools that allow for a customized set of resources and services. Instructors choose a variety of mini-applications or widgets, with the resulting Web site becoming what is often referred to as a Personal Learning Environment (PLE). INTEGRATION TOOLS