Personal learning environments (PLEs) aim at putting the learner central stage and comprise a technological approach towards learning tools, services, and artifacts gathered from various usage contexts and to be used by learners. Due to the varying technical skills and competences of PLE users, recommendations appear to be useful for empowering learners to set up their environments so that they can connect to learner networks and collaborate on shared artifacts by using the tools available. In this paper we examine different recommender strategies on their applicability in PLE settings. After reviewing different techniques given by literature and experimenting with our prototypic PLE solution we come to the conclusion to start with an item-based strategy and extend it with model-based and iterative techniques for generating recommendations for PLEs. (author's abstract)

Personal learning environment (PLE) solutions aim at empowering learners to design (ICT and web-based) environments for their learning activities, mashingup content and people and apps for different learning contexts. Widely used in other application areas, recommender systems can be very useful for supporting learners in their PLE-based activities, to help discover relevant content, peers sharing similar learning interests or experts on a specific topic. In this paper we examine the utilization of recommender technology for PLEs. However, being confronted by a variety of educational contexts we present three strategies for providing PLE recommendations to learners. Consequently, we compare these recommender strategies by discussing their strengths and weaknesses in general.

Ce travail a pour principal objet d’étude la dynamique sociale développée dans le cadre des activités d’apprentissage des langues en ligne en contexte institutionnel. En s’appuyant sur les propositions faites par la théorie de l’activité, cette thèse présente une analyse de la finalité, du cadre instrumental et du cadre social de l’activité d’apprentissage des langues en ligne en contexte institutionnel et de leur évolution dans le système de l’activité.Cette recherche fournit également une méthode d’analyse permettant d’évaluer l’impact de différents types de tâches et d’environnements virtuels d’apprentissage sur l’intensité de la dynamique sociale développée au sein des groupes d’apprenants d’une langue en ligne en contexte institutionnel. La méthode d’analyse utilisée s’appuie aussi bien sur l’analyse quantitative des traces écrites des communications/productions des apprenants que sur l’analyse du contenu de ces traces.Nous montrons qu’il est possible de développer une dynamique sociale de communauté virtuelle au sein de groupes d’apprenants d’une langue en ligne en contexte institutionnel. Le développement d’une telle dynamique est favorisé par la mise en œuvre de tâches d’apprentissage des langues et d’environnements virtuels d’apprentissage permettant l’action sociale authentique dans des cadres sociaux qui dépassent le cadre formel de l’institution éducative. / Drawing on the proposals made by the activity theory, in this study, we considered learning as a conscious act directed toward a goal. This goal can be achieved through the use of appropriate artifacts and the participation of the individual within a social community. In this perspective, we studied the purpose, the instrumental framework and the social framework of online language learning activities in institutional context and their evolutions in the activity system.We showed that the evolution of the purpose of the act of language learning (development of language competence) inevitably involves the evolution of educational artifacts (language learning tasks), that of technical artifacts (virtual learning environments), as well as the nature of the social dynamics of the learning activity.We particularly focused on social dynamics developed in online language learning activities in the institutional context. In this perspective, we conducted a field study to analyze the intensity of the social dynamics developed through three learning activities involving three different combinations of tasks and virtual environments. The results of the field study confirmed the theoretical foundation of our thesis. Indeed, the types of tasks and virtual learning environments that we presented in the theoretical part as consistent with learning through authentic social action proved to promote significantly more intense social dynamics in the specific context of our field study.

In this paper a review of the concept of Personal Learning Environment (PLE)of the scenarios that have been used, the main issues and findings are made. Studies on self-regulated learning and PLE, as well as studies on epistemological beliefs and online learning to propose them as individual variables related to the construction and use of a PLE are reviewed. Subsequently a proposal on the activities to promote the use in these environments, which should be taken intoaccount in the development of instructional situations, is made. / En el presente trabajo se realiza una revisión del concepto de Entorno Personal deAprendizaje (EPA), de los escenarios en los que se han utilizado, de las principales problemáticas y hallazgos. Se revisan los estudios sobre aprendizaje autorregulado y EPA, así como los estudios sobre creencias epistemológicas y el aprendizaje en internet para proponerlos como variables individuales relacionadas con la construcción y uso de un EPA. Posteriormente se realiza una propuesta sobre las actividades a fomentar al utilizar en este tipo de entornos, las cuales se debentomar en cuenta para el desarrollo de situaciones instruccionales. / O trabalho que apresentamos relaciona-se com uma revisão do conceito deAmbiente Pessoal de Aprendizagem (EPA), dos cenários que têm sido utilizados, dos principais temas e conclusões. Estamos revisando estudos sobre a aprendizagem auto-regulada e EPA, bem como os estudos sobre as crenças epistemológicas e a aprendizagem on-line para propô-las como variáveis individuais relacionadas com a construção e utilização dum EPA. Posteriormente, realiza-se uma proposta sobre as actividades para promover a utilização nesses ambientes, que devem ser levados em conta na hora do desenvolvimento das situações de instrução.