The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler is a very interesting video. This video is about a teacher teaching through the theory of learning called Connectivism. In using Connectivism, the teacher does not lecture or have a textbook for the class. Instead, she inspires the students to go online and gather a personal learning network. She wants the students to take control of their own learning and make connections that will strengthen the learning process.
Throughout the video, you can see how one of her students uses Connectivism to his advantage. He shares what he has learned through a social sharing site like wiki spaces. By doing so, he is helping future students that take the same course make the connections that he did. This entire video reminds me of my class EDM 310. We are making connections with teacher through their blogs, twitter, and even within the classroom itself. EDM 310 does not have a textbook, and Dr. Strange does not lecture. When the students get stuck on something, Dr. Strange is there to help, but he mostly empowers his students by having them try to find the answer for themselves first.
At first, this method of teaching takes a little getting used to. Now that I am in this class and have a teacher that is pushing me towards self-learning, I wish that I had this class my freshman year of college or even in high school. I would like to teach my students to stand on their own feet and not to lean so heavily on the teachers.
Which leads one to think if a student could look up the answer to any question: why would they need a teacher? A student needs guidance when it comes to the internet. A student needs to know which sites can be trusted and which cannot. Also a student will not know how to get started with Connectivism, and a teacher will help. The teacher also is the person who gets excited when the student “finds that pearl of information.”
Personal Learning Environment
A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is very interesting. I commented on Wendy Drexler’s video that I would have loved to learn this in high school, but middle school would have been even better. Throughout this video, a student walks us through her PLE. She tells us her PLE does not just have websites to do with her schoolwork, but also contains Facebook, YouTube, and other social networks. I really liked the PLE that she created. I think it is organized and easy to work. It reminds me of my PLN that I am making for my EDM 310 class. I think that the main difference from what I can see from the video is that my PLN can be seen by anyone at any time, and a PLE is a personal thing.
The student says in her video that she likes to learn this way because of the freedom. “You can choose how to do it, and when to do it.” I recently read some of Teach like your Hair’s on Fire by Rafe Esquith. In that book, he pointed out that many teachers are teaching how to get into college and not how to finish college. I believe that with this skill of being able to do school work at without a teacher telling you to do this section on Monday and this section on Tuesday will help any student will excel in college.
Hello Maria!
ReplyDeleteYou did a really great job with this post. You summarized each part well and you gave your personal opinions. Everything seems to be in order. My only suggestion is that the font that you chose to use is a little hard to read. You can't see any punctuation marks. It's a very easy fix, though.
Overall, good job!
Meredith
Hi Maria,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post! The “networked student” is like us in EDM310! I, too, wish I had this class during my earlier years in college! I think we learn or get more out of it than having a teacher feed us all the necessary information. Because we need to figure out how to solve a problem on our own, we tend to benefit more out of that than having someone tell us how to do it/solve it. It teaches you how to be independent. A lot of people don’t seem to understand this concept. In result, the students are not doing their work or blame the teacher for not doing their job correctly. They also don’t understand the roles of a student and a teacher. The teacher can teach us or guide us but we, as students, have to do our part too. As the “networked student”, we have to learn and figure out solutions but it’s also with the guidance of our teacher. If it weren't for the teacher who is teaching us how to do research, which website is valid, how to use a specific search engine or how to use software then we wouldn't be able to do our independent part of learning.
Your images, titles and links are good. I want to suggest that there should be another line break code after each paragraph. I see you use a line break to do the next paragraph but if you use two line break codes, it’ll make a double line space. I think that’s easier on the eyes and for your reader to know it’s a new paragraph. Sorry if this sounds confusing! I did not spot any grammatical, punctuation or spelling mistakes. Your sentence structures are good.
Great job on your post!
Anna Zhuo
Maria,
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was very well-written, and that you related to the post well! You did a good job of tying the "Networked Student" to your academic career, and also identifying with the teacher in the video. There were a few grammatical and punctuation errors, for example: "I would like to teach my students to stand on their own feet and not to lean so heavily on the teachers?"...did you mean to add a question mark here? Be sure to make sure that your sentences are clear and portray your intended meaning.
In the second segment, at first I was confused with your mention of Ms. Drexler, but thinking about it, it is good that you made the connection between the two videos. Most videos are included in the same blog post because they tie together somehow, so it is always wise to mention any connections you may find.
Keep up the good work,
Carly