Blog Post # 6

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

    The Networked Student is a fascinating video pointing out the direction schools will be moving toward. This video supports the movement toward technology-based learning. Schools will not have textbooks, and teachers will rarely lecture. Instead, students will learn through a social network of many diverse connections using a variety of technological tools. Students will make connections with others that will strengthen the learning process. In doing so, teachers will become "Teachers of Connectivism."
    The Networked Student will be building their curriculum-learning network by finding valid websites and programs available to support their education. Students can use social bookmarking sites to share URLs available on specific topics. They can also use blogs to comment and offer their opinion on a variety of topics. Audio and video podcasts are available from sites such as iTunes U, which provides students access to some of the best professors in the world. Skype and other video sharing sites allow students to share knowledge. Regardless of the technology used, the networked student will be able to use and share a knowledge base with others all over the world. New sharing tools are constantly being updated to make it easier for students to connect with new contacts and learn effectively from contacts that have been previously established.
    Teachers play an important role in the development of a networked student. Teachers model how to build a learning network and take advantage of the many learning sites that are available. They provide guidance when students have problems and show students how to navigate the web. Teachers help students become excited about finding content knowledge. They guide students to communicate respectfully with content experts and help them organize all of the information that they have collected. A teacher's ultimate hope for his or her students is for them to maintain the learning network that they have created, use it to navigate their future, and creatively solve problems.
    As a teacher in today's classroom, I am willing to allow students the opportunity to use a variety of technologies to strengthen their learning process. To start, I would plan to implement web quest learning and video sharing within classes. My hope would be to use audio and/or video podcasts that can be shared on the school's website. In know that I will have to start small and that I will have to build the use of networking in my classroom over an extended period of time. As a result of my efforts, though, I believe students will become excited about learning and want to become lifelong learners.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)

    In this seventh grade science class, students are learning how to find information on the Internet and how to organize their own personal page. This particular student uses Symbaloo EDU to organize her information. She uses the blocks across the top to organize her personal sites and reserves the bottom for school-related sites. This allows her to easily and quickly access websites needed to complete class assignments. For example, this networked student visits Science Agenda at the beginning of class to check the assignments. Some assignments are required for that day, and she has flexibility on others in terms of the time frame required to complete the assignment. She uses her bookmarks on her personal page to assist with her assignments. Some sites that help her include: Project Tanks (teaches her how to write reports and post to her Google Docs account), Blogger (posts personal reflections about what she did in class that day), Evernote (a special note-taking program that collects information found on websites), Globster (digital poster that can contain text, video, graphics, and/or audio all on one page), and Skype (video conferencing with others to learn information). This seventh grader likes the freedom of her personal learning environment. She likes the freedom to choose when and how to complete assignments and the responsibility to know she can search anywhere on the Internet to find the information she needs to become successful.
    My personal learning network is somewhat similar to this seventh grader's PLN. Her personal learning network is arranged with tools to help her successfully complete the requirement of her science class. I am also using Symbaloo to organize my information. My PLN is not complete since my journey as an educator is not over. My resources will be continually changing to fit my needs and those of my classroom. Like this student, I have organized my personal resources in one area and my professional resources in another area. I like this website for organizing my resources because it allows a visual table with easy access to information to assist in my career as an educator.