Nada Dabbagh

Nada Dabbagh is Professor and Director of the Division of Learning Technologies in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She has a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Design from The Pennsylvania State University, an M.S. in Math Methodology and Operations Research from Columbia University, and a B.A. in Mathematics from Iona College. She teaches graduate courses in instructional design, e-learning design and pedagogy, and cognition and technology in the Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) program of the Division of Learning Technologies. In 2003, Dr. Dabbagh received the George Mason University Teaching Excellence award.

Dr. Dabbagh’s research focuses on the pedagogical ecology of learning technologies with the goal of understanding the social and cognitive consequences of learning systems design. Specific research interests include interaction design, self-managed learning systems, personal learning environments, case problem generation and representation in problem-based learning environments, supporting self-regulated learning in online learning and distributed learning, and leveraging social media for personalized learning experiences.

Dr. Dabbagh has an extensive publication record which includes two books and over 70 research papers and book chapters. She has presented her research at over 100 scholarly venues participating as keynote and invited speaker at conferences in Bahrain, Oman, Thailand, Iran, and the United States. Dr. Dabbagh has also facilitated numerous learning technologies design and development projects which led to the award winning Learning Asset Technology Integration Support Tool or LATIST. For more information about Dr. Dabbagh's academic profile visit http://cehd.gmu.edu/people/faculty/ndabbagh/
 

Presentation Title:

Strategically Designed Personal Learning Environments (PLEs):
A Natural Recipe for Integrating Formal and Informal Learning Using Social Media

Synopsis:

Personal Learning Environments or PLEs enable the development of personal and social learning spaces to support learner-centered and personalized learning experiences empowering students to direct their own learning and develop self-regulated learning skills. They do so because they are built bottom-up, by the student, starting with personal goals, information management, and individual knowledge construction, and progressing to socially mediated knowledge and networked learning. 

A PLE can be described as a process that helps students organize the influx of information and resources that they are faced with on a daily basis into a personalized digital learning space or experience. A PLE can be entirely controlled and adapted by a student based on his or her formal and informal learning needs, however not all students possess the knowledge management and self-regulatory skills to effectively create and customize a PLE to provide an engaging learning experience. My presentation will address this critical issue focusing on the use of a three-level pedagogical framework that assists faculty in scaffolding student PLE development using social media technologies in order to support self-regulated learning.