Over the last 6 months I have given two presentations on the ideas of Personal Learning Environments/Networks. The first one was in late August for UBC Jump Start, a 2 week orientation program for students that I attended in my first year at UBC and that provided me with great friends and learning experiences. The second presentation was give at the 2010 UBC Student Leadership Conference, a conference that I have been heavily involved with over the past few years and this year was co-chaired by two good friends of mine, June Lam and Robert Winson. I had some technical difficulties with the first presentation, but the second one went really well, I even won the “best returning presenter” award for it.
Although neither of the presentations were recorded, I have both of the presentations on Prezi.
The first presentation:
I started by defining a personal learning environment, very much the same way as I did in this post here, as “everything around you that helps you to learn”. I went on to talk about how you can change your environment in order to change your learning. I then went on to spend a little under half the talk dedicated to different tools that one can add to their learning environment to make it more effective.
http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf
The second presentation:
This one was titled “Use your leadership skills to create a personal learning network”. The idea was that leadership skills are great and all for leading people, but they can also be put to work for enhancing your learning. This time I spent far more time focusing on the network and personal aspects of learning, a good representation of my own learning and growth that has been going on in the last 6 months. The idea was that you can only learn better through hard, personal change, drawing the analogy between what it takes to be a good learner and a good Ice Hockey player (these Canadians are converting me pretty quickly eh?) The second thread was that we are able to be much more effective if we use other people, yet the only way to use people is to not use them. In order to gather an effective network you need to be selfless and compassionate, only then will people offer their help.
I also promised the participants a list of resources which I will publish below.
http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf
Resources:
Improving study skills:
Reading speed/comprehension/retention:
Memory:
The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play
General Study Skills
Time Management/Productivity:
The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Peace of mind:
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Relationships:
That’s just a few, if there is anything anybody would like to know more about, or any other resources someone things may be handy let me know in the comments below.
andremalan.com 
Still impressed by your great work. Congrats! PS – I expect another winning presentation next year. 🙂
Those look like they were awesome presentations; too bad they weren’t recorded 😦
Just wondering–did you find all of those books useful? Or?
@Tyler,
The Power of Now I found completely changed the way that I view the world. I highly recommend it.
I found all of the other books useful as well, although each takes time and effort to implement the suggestions given in them and I’ve come a long way in some areas, but am still struggling in others.