My PLE Diagram is meant to be like a Final Four Bracket. All the teams that make it to the Final Four are the best in their divisions; in my opinion, the applications that I included in my diagram are the best in their divisions of Curation, Connection, Collaboration, and Creation. Obviously, none of the applications can 'win' the Title in my PLE, but they are all the best in their divisions and communities that I have used or am planning on participating in (PowToon is the only one I have not utilized but am really looking forward to experimenting with).
In my Curate division, I included Diigo, Scoop.it and Pinterest as I use all three of these platforms to get ideas and information in addition to organizing all of them. In my Connect division, I included Facebook, Edmodo and Twitter. Twitter has many different functions, so I included it in my Collaborate division as well as GooglePlus and GoogleDrive. I love the ability to share and give feedback within the Google applications. In my Create division, I included Adobe Illustrator, Weebly, and PowToon. I think AdobeIllustrator is relatively easy to use once you get used to it, and I have been using Weebly for creating websites since I began doing so. PowToon, as I stated earlier, I haven't had an opportunity to use, but am really looking forward to doing so. I also included SeeSaw in my Collaborate division because I think it is a great way for students to collaborate with their teachers and classmates.
In comparing my diagram to others (see examples below), I notice that we all have our PLEs for different reasons; our labels are different because they have different meanings for each of us. The different meanings and functions for each of us are what make them unique to us as individuals, just as our teaching styles are unique to each of us. But we are all participating in our PLEs for the same reason (other than for class ;-)): to be better. There are many of the same platforms represented because they contain great resources, others I have never heard of, while others I have tried and they haven't been what I needed at the time. But the resources are all still there just in case I need to go back and revisit them.
This was a difficult project for me to complete because I haven't had a ton of experience creating graphics like this. I tried using Pages, an Excel document for my bracket, and a Word document and got really frustrated that I couldn't save it in a format that would work with my blog. After my third attempt to recreate my diagram, I finally tried GoogleDrawing which worked like a charm. I am really not surprised, though, I just hadn't ever used it before. Now I know and may have to add it to my Create division.
In my Curate division, I included Diigo, Scoop.it and Pinterest as I use all three of these platforms to get ideas and information in addition to organizing all of them. In my Connect division, I included Facebook, Edmodo and Twitter. Twitter has many different functions, so I included it in my Collaborate division as well as GooglePlus and GoogleDrive. I love the ability to share and give feedback within the Google applications. In my Create division, I included Adobe Illustrator, Weebly, and PowToon. I think AdobeIllustrator is relatively easy to use once you get used to it, and I have been using Weebly for creating websites since I began doing so. PowToon, as I stated earlier, I haven't had an opportunity to use, but am really looking forward to doing so. I also included SeeSaw in my Collaborate division because I think it is a great way for students to collaborate with their teachers and classmates.
In comparing my diagram to others (see examples below), I notice that we all have our PLEs for different reasons; our labels are different because they have different meanings for each of us. The different meanings and functions for each of us are what make them unique to us as individuals, just as our teaching styles are unique to each of us. But we are all participating in our PLEs for the same reason (other than for class ;-)): to be better. There are many of the same platforms represented because they contain great resources, others I have never heard of, while others I have tried and they haven't been what I needed at the time. But the resources are all still there just in case I need to go back and revisit them.
This was a difficult project for me to complete because I haven't had a ton of experience creating graphics like this. I tried using Pages, an Excel document for my bracket, and a Word document and got really frustrated that I couldn't save it in a format that would work with my blog. After my third attempt to recreate my diagram, I finally tried GoogleDrawing which worked like a charm. I am really not surprised, though, I just hadn't ever used it before. Now I know and may have to add it to my Create division.