1st Edition
The Development of Personal Learning Environments in Higher Education Promoting Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learner Autonomy
The Development of Personal Learning Environments in Higher Education explores how today’s knowledge-based, learner-centered virtual platforms, which often limit teaching to a complimentary facilitation role, can compromise with the requirements and regulations of colleges and universities. Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) driven by culturally responsive teaching and learner autonomy represent a shift in the higher education paradigm, but how can scholars, designers, administrators, and faculty ensure effective, institutionally compatible construction and management of these systems? This book offers forward-thinking insights into the variety of student-centered learning interactions, particularly culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogies, that can be integrated into PLEs. Attending to quality assessment rubrics, the nuances of stakeholders’ needs, and theoretically sound frameworks, these cross-cultural, interdisciplinary chapters explore how leaders, instructors, technologists, and learners can form a precise yet flexible ecosystem to fully realize PLEs in which co-created, intercultural narratives yield rich, relevant digital learning experiences.
Section I: Understanding PLEs 1. Concepts and Theoretical Framework of Culturally Responsive Teaching Guided PLEs 2. Social Changes & Emerging Technologies Driving PLEs Section II: PLEs and Academic Administration in Higher Education 3. Convergence Challenges of PLEs with Higher Education 4. PLEs and Educational Equity: What Can Academic Administration Do? Appendix A: Academic Administration Assessment Scales of PLEs Section III: PLEs, CRT Teacher and Teaching in Higher Education 5. CRT Approaches and Teacher Readiness for PLEs by Yilin Sun & Xiaoshu Xu 6. PLEs Course Design (Culturally Responsive Universal Design for Learning) 7. PLEs and Personalized Learning for Students and Teachers Appendix B: Teacher and Teaching Assessment Scales of PLEs Section IV: PLEs, Learner and Learning in Higher Education 8. Learning Experience in PLEs by Jia Liu and Ci Zhang 9. Understanding PLEs Through Metacognition, Self-Regulation, and Learner Autonomy Appendix C: Leaner and Learning Assessment Scales of PLEs Section V: PLEs, Lifelong Learning and Technologies in Higher Education 10. PLEs and Lifelong Learning by Laura Holland 11. Approaches of PLEs Implementation in Higher Education Appendix D: ICT Assessment Scales of PLEs Appendix E: Technological and Life-long Learning Assessment Scales
Biography
Yilin Sun is Professor Emerita at Seattle Colleges, USA, and English Language Specialist for the U.S. Department of State.
Xiaoshu Xu is Associate Professor in the School of Foreign Studies at Wenzhou University, China, and Ph.D. Supervisor at Macao Polytechnic University.
“This new book fills a lacuna in the literature on teaching and learning in higher education. It offers insights into how we can leverage Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) as a lens to deepen our understanding of the whole enterprise of Higher Education. It is a timely publication that is poised to raise our awareness of the importance of PLEs that utilize Culturally Responsive Teaching approaches across various domains in higher education. As a pioneering piece of work that integrates Culturally Responsive Pedagogical principles in PLEs, the book is a significant contribution to the field of Personal Learning Environments and higher education. I applaud the editors for advancing the field through their own theorization of CRT-PLEs, along with the introduction of four assessment scales for PLEs, covering perspectives from teachers and teaching, learners and learning, academic administration, and ICT.”
—Lawrence Jun Zhang, Professor of Applied Linguistics & TESOL in the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy and Associate Dean for the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, New Zealand
"The recent coronavirus pandemic has transformed our thinking and practice of teaching and learning, online or in person, in unimaginable ways. Now, more than ever, ensuring equitable access to resources for individual learners, affirming their diverse identities, and creating engaged social spaces are crucial for positive outcomes of learning. By integrating learner-centeredness and culturally responsive teaching, this volume provides teachers and administrators with fresh and valuable perspectives on cultivating justice-affirming learning environments."
—Ryuko Kubota, Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada
