"The Networked Student" by Wendy Drexler
"The Networked Student" by Wendy Drexler shows us as educators the direction that education is headed. The 21st century classroom will be so different from the classrooms we have had in the past or even today. Drexler shows a high school student who only attends class three days a week and two days online. Instead of sitting in a typical classroom with a textbook and a teacher lecturing , he works on a computer and uses websites, blogs, social networking sites, skype, itunesu, and Google Scholar to gather the information he needs to pretty much teach himself. He learns through a process called Connectiveism. He uses all the these informational sites as well as information that others before him have found, and he compiles all of this together to learn what he needs to know for his class. It is a very interesting concept and I do believe this is the future of education.
"Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" This was the question asked toward the end of the video. I was very pleased to hear the answer. Teachers will still be valuable resources in the 21st century. Who will teach this student how to properly access all of this information? Who will teach this student how to make sure his resources are credible? Who will teach this student to write well and help him when he comes to a dead end? Teachers can do all of these things. Even though education will be very different in the near future, teachers will be necessary. However, it will take lots of hard work from the teachers to learn how to teach in this new educational environment. I, myself, know that I have lots of work ahead of me in learning all of this new technology, and I feel becoming comfortable with all of it is the key to my future success. Taking EDM 310 has already opened my eyes to the future of education, and I think that is a first step in the right direction.
A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)
What an impressive video! I guess the possibilities are truly limitless teaching with technology. This student uses a PLE in school to work on all of her science assignments. She uses a program called Symbaloo to organize all of her different sites. The top row consists of all her personal sites, and the rest is devoted to her school sites. This student is using skype, blogs, glogsters, Goggle Docs, and this great system of keeping and collecting notes called Evernotes, to enhance her learning of science. She says in her video that she comes to class and looks on the science page to find out what assignments need to be done. She really enjoys the freedom of this personal learning system. She can express herself creatively while still completing all of her science work. What a great way to learn! I was just very impressed by all of this. I plan to use Symbaloo is put my PLN together. I like the idea of separating the personal and professional sites. Of course, my PLN is just a work in progress, but I can definitely takes some hints from this 7th grader. The teacher of this progressive science class is Randy Hollinger. I plan to do some research on him and his 21st century science class.
Late
ReplyDeleteSymbaloo is a great organizer. You need to be wary, however, of getting too caught up in organization. The people, tools, and resources in your PLN are more important than your organization