personal learning environment, key learning to learn competence, E-R-R-A model, mobile technologies anddevices, projective test, web application

The meaningful, complex and effective use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education has been a widely discussed topic for a number of years. With new technologies come new ways of their use. Our research focused on the contribution of ICT to the education process. The paper introduces the results of an empirical research aimed at the development of the key learning to learn competence through the Personal Learning Environment (PLE). Despite its importance, the teachers tend to overlook this competence. A four-step model ? E-R-R-A (Planning and evocation, Contact with sources, Reflection and Aggregation of knowledge) ? was designed to carry out implementation of the aforementioned environment and the related information and communication technologies into the education process. The research was designed as a pedagogical experiment. Upper primary school students participated in the experiment. The PLE was represented by a web application designed specifically for this purpose. Respecting the fundamental principles of the PLE, the application features a number of tools and services which students could use during instruction. The paper presents the results of a data analysis obtained through evaluation of projective tests. This type of test was used to determine the current level of the key learning to learn competence. The students took the tests twice (six months apart and following the PLEbased instruction). The presented results not only reveal a new method for developing the key learning to learn competence, but also introduce new ways of using modern information and communication technologies in the education process (especially tablets and cellular phones). Moreover, projective tests have proved to be an effective method for measuring the level of mastery of key competences. Furthermore, the paper introduces research areas which the authors would like to explore in the near future.