MashUps for e-Learning 2.0 simple Personal Learning Environments (PLE) for frequent computer users

Having a diverse set of Web resources available in one single Personal Learning Environment (PLE) has been a dream of teachers and learners since the Web first appeared. Now, due to the high availability of application programming interfaces (APIs), MashUps are successfully being applied in the academic community to enrich and improve learning and teaching applications. In this paper, we discuss the pros and cons of client-server applications, based on related work and recent experiences. Moreover, we consolidate these experiences using the implementation of a large university-wide open Learning Management System (LMS), called TeachCenter. This system allows teachers to use diverse web resources and make them available to learners within one single PLE. We found that by using an LMS as a central content environment, which is only responsible for structuring and supporting the learning activities irrelevant of where the content is located, the role of the teacher can be changed from that of a content producer (which is not actually the basic purpose of a teacher) to that of a content facilitator (selecting and reviewing material). Consequently, e-Learning 2.0 enables the teacher to concentrate on didactical issues in order to support, enhance and guide the learners away from passive consumerism.