Blog Post #6

The Networked Student

This video, done by Wendy Drexler, is a story of a student at "21st Century High School." He attends class three days per week, two days online. He doesn't have a textbook and his teacher almost never lectures. Instad, she has accepted the theory of Connectivism. Connectivism is a theory that says learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties. Basically, students take control of their learning process and make connections with other student which will strengthen their learning process.

A common problem with the typical classroom structure of today is that you spend hundreds of dollars on a textbook one semester, and information is discovered within a short period of time that quickly makes this book obsolete. The idea of doing away with textbooks and using RSS to keep us up to date with current information seems to be a good one, in my opinion. Not only does it save money (especially if you can't sell your book back because the class the next semester won't be using that edition), but you would constantly be learning the most up-to-date information and stay on the cutting edge of whatever subject you are studying.

The concept of Connectivism is an interesting one to me. I once learned that you remember 10% of what you hear, 20% of what you see, 50% of what you hear and see, 70% of what you speak or write, and 90% of what you teach to someone else. In my opinion, Connectivism allows you to retain more of what you learn because you are connecting with other people and in essence teaching them what you have learned through your research.

So, with this being said, what is the role of the teacher now that the student is basically teaching him/herself? A teacher is there to guide a student in building their Personal Learning Environment and to point them in the right direction if they get stuck. A teacher instructs them how to communicate properly with and ask help respectfully from experts. A teacher more than ever is there to develop every student into a critical thinker so they can differentiate between good information and propaganda, preparing them for a future of being lifelong learners. I feel very prepared to be a teacher of a networked student, and this class has done a considerable amount of that preparation for me. I feel like I am currently in the position of my future networked students, and one of the most important qualities of a good teacher (or just a good person in general) in my opinion is to always remember where you came from.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment

I really enjoyed this student's tour of her PLN. She seems very organized and the narration was excellent! As far as comparing it with my PLN, I have a lot of work ahead of me to get my PLN up to snuff! I have played around with Symbaloo and I think that is the tool I will use to organize my PLN as well, but I haven't gotten it all together just yet. Better get to working on that soon!