When first viewing The Networked Student, my first thought was, “Wow! I love the design of this.” It is so easy to follow with each of the graphics being lain down by a person behind the scenes. I like how this video is done much better than staring at a power point presentation. Even if it is the same exact information, it has a different feel to it, and is less boring.
My second thoughts about this video were, “What?” and “Let me re-watch this.” I admit I was confused at first, but after watching the video again I understood what was being presented. Connectivism is a way to help students become more self-motivated learners with only guidance from a teacher. The teacher is there to guide the students when they struggle with their own personal networks and connections. By letting the students go out and find their own information and present it to others, the teacher is helping them to get acquainted with and receive information from other people around the world, who in the future may return the favor. We, as students in EDM 310, of course, are doing this to an extent with most of our assignments. The resources are being presented to us, but through Twitter and other blogs, we can follow people and read material that they have found and felt the need to pass on to their peers. It is exciting to think about all of the information that you can access through social networking like Twitter, and that you can turn around and pass along to others with just a single click.
I think that it is important for older students to understand this. It can be extremely helpful in college, and I feel that high school aged students would benefit from the idea of connectivism. I don’t feel like younger students will appreciate the concept as much, however, it can definitely be presented to them.
So, why does the networked student even need a teacher? I think that question is answered pretty well through the video. The teacher is there to be a model to the student, to advise them when they get stuck, the teacher shows the student how to find good information, and can help the student to find new contacts. The teacher of a networked student sounds a lot like any teacher I’ve had. I think it is important for any teacher to be all of these things no matter if their style of teaching mirrors connectivism or not.
A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
I really enjoyed taking the tour of the 7th Graders PLE, in the video Welcome to My PLE. It was really neat to see how anything she needed could be accessed from one place. She didn’t have to hunt anything down and it seemed like everything was really easy to manage. I really like the note-taking tool because marking things you may want to use in the future that also records where you got the information from is extremely important, especially when you have to cite all of your information.
I don’t think that I really have much of a Personal Learning Network or Environment. I do use a lot of the tools that the girl in the video uses, but I don’t have them all available in one place. I feel like I should, and am going to see what Symbaloo is all about. I think it will help me in the future, and it is definitely something that I will introduce to my peers as well as my students. It seems to simplify doing assignments and/or projects because everything is in one place and easy to get to. This video was very informative for me. I also think it is important for children to have freedom while learning. The child commented that this was one of the reasons she liked this way of learning. Being able to let a child find the information him/herself and to share it with others is more fun for the child, instead of just giving them the information as a teacher and not giving them the liberty to find more about a topic. I hope to, as a teacher, be able to share things with my students and have them want to learn more by finding more information and in turn, share those things with me.
"...being lain down by a person..." laid, not lain
ReplyDelete"The teacher of a networked student sounds a lot like any teacher I’ve had." If this is correct then you have been very luck. Most teachers are burp-back teachers, at least most of the ones I know about.
A PLN is primarily a group of people, but also tools, that expand your sources of information, provide you with ideas, challenge your thinking, get you to explore new possibilities. The more people you have in your PLN, and the more diverse their backgrounds and interests, the more you will benefit. Do not confuse Symbaloo, an organizer for information, with a PLN.
I really enjoyed reading your blog it contains a lot of great information about teachers helping the students with their PLN. I myself really enjoyed this topic. I think you did a very good job keep and keep up the great work.
ReplyDelete