Blog Post #6

The Networked Student

In Wendy Drexler's video she depicts a true story of a high-school student applying networked learning in the 21st century. The teacher rarely has a lecture, and the class only meets about three times a week with two days online. The student is essentially teaching his or her self the material, while the teacher is there for guidance, questions, and teaching the skills needed to find accurate information. This video shows some of the many resources available for students and teachers to use in this setting.

I learned a lot from this video. I agree that teachers should be moving towards teaching these skills versus teaching the information. Students can learn how to find educational material through technology on their own. It just requires practice and the guidance of their teacher. This will allow them to learn the course material as well as learn skills to allow their learning to continue.

I am already impressed by the tools I have learned through using my blog this early in the semester. I could not imagine having multiple classes that utilized these tools. It would be absolutely wonderful! Students would learn skills that will be useful throughout college, their career, and life. They would still be able to learn the course material, but in most cases students would learn even more than they would have from a section in a text book. I hope to utilize these tools in my future classroom. I plan to teach younger elementary students and I would not be able to go as far as the high-school students did, but we could definitely learn skills to lead up to this.

A 7th Grade Student's Personal Learning Environment

I think this is an amazing idea for my PLN. I went to Symbaloo immediately and set it up for myself. Before watching this video I had never heard of Symbaloo and I was amazed. This seventh grader had organized her personal stuff from her school work, and even had a place to organize her notes. I can not wait to start filling up my PLN.