BP2 - iGoogle PLE

This week one of my masters assignments was to create my very own Personal Learning Environment (PLE) using iGoogle. I created 4 tabs full of gadgets and links that will hopefully keep me organized and help me get to all my sites with a fewer clicks. At first I was skeptical, thinking that my highly organized bookmarks bar already filled this need for me. But as I started working on the tabs I realized how the gadgets are what makes iGoogle really shine. The ability to look at multiple information feeds from social media is something I could never do with a bookmark bar, no matter how organized. Here is an overview of how I setup my PLE on iGoogle. 

Tab 1 - Home

This page includes everything (and a little more) that I use on a daily basis. I have a Youtube gadget with videos of the day, a date and time gadget, a weather gadget, Merriam-Websters word of the day gadget, a Facebook gadget, a Twitter gadget and a box of links to Full Sail Online, my Wordpress dashboard, my Blogger dashboard, Ravelry (knitting site), Cooking Light Recipes and Romulus Community Schools. 

Tab 2 - FSO/AR

This tab is specifically for my Full Sail Online and my Action Research (AR) project. I have included a countdown to my Full Sail Graduation as well as links to my google tools (gmail, google docs, etc.) and sites I use for my AR project. 

Tab 3 - Resources

This tab is for resources for my current FSO course Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture. I features links to editing my blog, a Google Reader gadget special ETC sites as well as links to Lynda.com training. I included a gadget with funny cat pictures just for fun. In case you didn't know, I like cats!

Tab 4 - Knitting!

I most certainly could not leave myself hanging and leave out my favorite hobby! I created a box of links to Ravelry, Lion Brand, Knit Picks, Knitting Help.com, WEBS and Vogue Knitting. I also included the Knit One Purl Two gadget which gives me quick access to the following knitting related blogs: Yarn Harlot, Wendy Knits, See Eunny Knit, Mason-Dixon Knitting, The Keyboard Biologist Knits and The Purl Bee. As if that weren't enough the Knitwit gadget give me access to additional blogs and knitting websites.