iPLE Network: an integrated eLearning 2.0 architecture from a university's perspective

Universities can offer eLearning 2.0 tools and services to learners while obtaining clear benefits from releasing the control over some learning content. This means a shift from the institution centred and monolithic model of traditional virtual learning environments (VLEs) to a more heterogeneous and open model. This article tries to plot an architecture to be put in practice by universities to give learners the control of their learning processes by using eLearning 2.0. We propose an institutionally powered personal learning environment (iPLE) that constitutes our vision of how Web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, starting pages), services (del.icio.us, Flickr, YouTube) and people arrangement and data sharing (social networking, learn-streaming) could be applied in an integrated manner to learning processes. First, this article justifies the suitability for a PLE in the context of eLearning 2.0 and European Higher Education Area. Second, an overview of the evolution from VLEs to PLEs is given, and different PLE approaches are reviewed. Third, the concept of an iPLE is presented, and a conceptual architecture for it is detailed. Finally, this article also describes the technological aspects of a prototype of iPLE Network designed for the University of the Basque Country, which will be used as a test-bed for a case study in the Faculty of Medicine.