I had been a bit puzzled by your objection to the adjective “personal” in learning. Now you’ve explained it clearly enough that I can appreciate your concern. My impression from others’ comments is that most of us see the PLE/N as affording additional connections (going beyond the LMS), not chosing to disconnect.

For myself, working in an isolated geographical location, the institutional LMS provided a welcome interaction in the courses I took on-line. I supplemented it with my limited skype and email contacts, as well as web resources. The idea of a PLE and this MOOC are challenging me to continue moving beyond the learning-by-myself model (Googling dead white guys) to a richer two-way exchange.