Seven Traits of Personal Learning Environments for Designing Quality Online Learning Programs: A Systems View of Connectedness

Abstract

This chapter reports on research findings that illustrate a system view of connectedness across personal, professional, and academic contexts with implications for designing quality online learning programs. Connected learners organically blur the line between formal and informal learning when they call on their social networks and engage in online learning systems towards goals in their personal, professional, and academic lives. The phenomenological study referenced in this chapter is framed by complexity theory and grounded in research on complex adaptive systems applied to educational contexts. Examples of lived experiences illustrate how being connected in a personal learning environment is experienced as immersion in a complex adaptive system. Implications and recommendations for quality online learning programs are discussed.