Review of di Cerbo, Dodero, ad Papaleo's "Experiencing personal learning environments and networks using a 3D space metaphor"

Citation
di Cerbo, F., Dodero, G., & Papaleo, L. (2011). Experiencing personal learning environments and networks using a 3D space metaphor. Interaction Design and Architecture, 11, 64-76.

Summary
This paper describes a proposal for the creation and use of a 3D representation of the user experience conducted in a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) and/or a Personal Learning Network (PLN). This environment, named DIEL and described as an extension of the Moodle LMS platform, would track interactions and usage metrics of individual users in order to most effectively present content that is deemed more valuable to the user, while simultaneously keeping related content close together.

The authors make a clear distinction between a PLE and a PLN, arguing that Personal Learning Environment is a purely technical term which refers to a sort of "personal learning center" where content from multiple diverse sources is used, reused, remixed, and organized according to a learner's own needs. In contrast, a Personal Learning Network consists of "the people... a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from." With this subtle distinction made, the focus of the paper is on creating an interactive, 3D visualization of a PLE.

In the initial design, objects within the PLE (blog posts obtained via RSS, tweets, message board posts, shared files, online articles, etc.) are visually arranged in a spiral pattern. This pattern allows for newer, more relevant content to be placed in a position of relative prominence, while still making it possible for the user to see other objects farther down the spiral. Additionally, members of the user's PLN can share content or sections of their own PLE, causing those items to appear in a separate area of the each user's PLE. One feature that the authors are hoping to add, but which had not been completed at the time of the paper, is the ability to sort the PLE by tags instead of just by temporal elements. Such a feature would certainly make the 3D PLE more useful.

The authors also point out that DIEL does not currently integrate with most external social media sites, and this almost certainly limits the extent to which the tool is used. There is also considerable work to be done on finding the right visual metaphor (e.g., closed space vs. open sky vs. something else not yet thought of) which makes users feel more at home and improves the intuitiveness of the UI for new users.

Discussion
What is interesting about this paper is that it is the first one this reviewer has ever seen that attempts to tackle the issue of how best to present a PLE or PLN to users in order to maximize usability and utility. This is no small feat, as there are few options available for users who want to both have their PLNs aggregated into a single point of access and be able to readily share or recommend content with other members of their PLN. Feedly, which is one of the better tools available for this purpose, and which has been around for several years now, actually falls well short of what the authors have accomplished with DIEL, though it is perhaps somewhat more elegant in its execution.

At the end of the day, this paper does not add a great deal to the discussion about how best to use PLEs and PLNs, but it has hopefully promoted iteration toward the development of a tool that pulls together all the elements of a user's PLE and makes them available simultaneously.

What would make a tool such as DIEL more useful would be if it had a way of not only integrating with external social media and websites, but if it then had a way to track what users were actually consuming, commenting on, and sharing. As social learning continues to replace traditional content delivery methods, it becomes increasingly necessary to track the use and creation of this content. One can't help but wonder if the authors were familiar with the xAPI project and its application to this specific need.

Conclusion
This subject area needs a great deal more exploration and thought. One of the primary reasons why social media is still relegated to a tertiary role in corporate learning and development is the inability to track and assign credit for the content consumed. This remains a major issue today.