As of 2023, I have 31 years of experience being Juan. You might think I’m at expert at being Juan, and you’re right… but one important thing to remember is, Juan’s growth and learning are not linear.

In knowledge and experience, I’m nowhere near where I was a couple of years ago. And this is what I’m writing today about… How do we learn what we learn? Where do we nurture our knowledge from? Is this a conscious behavior?

A couple of years ago in a classroom at the Andalusian School of Public Health, I was introduced to Personal(ized) Learning Networks (PLN) and Personal(ized) Learning Environments (PLE) by Prof. David Gómez Domínguez. Surely, it wasn’t the first time that I learned about sources of data consumption, but it was the first time that I saw its use for personal and professional (scientific) environments alike.

Here, is where I’d like to make a distinction between what I reflect as Personal versus Personalized. Although the terms might look similar and in some literature they are even found interchangeably, to me there’s a difference in intention that needs attention. For the first, I consider it somehow of organic origins; our Personal Learning Network is based on our natural surroundings, the people we come across on a day to day basis, the (messy) “Bookmarks” and “Read later” tabs in our web browser, or our saved Instagram posts on workout routines we know we’re (probably never) gonna try. Whereas a Personalized Learning Network is based on the intention to learn purposefully on a specific area or topic, for which we aim to gain expertise on and contribute to (this is a key element of a network).

Now, to differentiate the Network from the Environment, we need to understand that a network is comprised by individuals or groups of individuals interconnected. Being this the case, in a network we can find experts, influencers, lived-experience champions, researchers, activists and so many other groups focused on one specific area. An environment, is thus a set of strategies, tools and competencies that will potentially nurture our facets as professionals (Scientifics): consumers, critics, generators, diffusors and disseminators of knowledge. Think of online discussion blogs, collaborative working platforms, storage servers, or social media channels.

Then, what is the importance of PLN and PLE in our daily (and professional) life?

What our brains are fed on our day to day, matters. Consuming the information that we consciously want and need is an important filter to make informed decisions, to understand our behaviors, inform our opinions, and potentially question our beliefs. Personally, I think its important to do a regular cleanse on what information we are consuming and thus, what message we’re spreading to the world (online and offline). This is not just professionally enriching, but a healthy behavior.

For personal life, I consider it useful to identify our Personal Learning Network and re-check it periodically to evaluate our sources of data consumption. Professionally, growing our Personalized Learning Networks and Environments is essential if we are interested on a specific topic which we want to expand our knowledge and potentially research on, we aim to gain more scientific visibility, reputation, or induce some sort of social impact.

Some tips I consider important to keep your PLN and PLE up-to-date:

• Register to summarized information platforms/software, subscription RSS, and newsletters (i.e. Feedly).
• Make sure to subscribe to notifications on Social Media accounts of those who talk about the topic you’re interested.
• Please, verify that the information you’re consuming is based on facts and not mere assumptions (whenever possible, question and investigate further).
• Depending on your resources and needs, make sure to identify the best diffusion and dissemination channels for your work (i.e. Indexed Journals).
• Check out the latest conferences, MOOCs, and other (online and offline) learning and knowledge exchange platforms on the topics you’re passionate about.

Here you can download a simple excel-based tool that I crafted to support you in creating your own PLN and PLE. This can serve you to identify where you might need to strengthen your networks and environments based on your personal and professional interests, and take targeted actions for this purpose.

Disclaimer: This is a personal interpretation of PLN and PLE and how it best serves me.