Blog Post 6

Windy Drexler - The Networked Student

The video opens with a story about a student studying American Psychology with no textbook or lecturing teacher. Said teacher believes in "Connectivism", which is a system in which students learn through networking. To do this, a student needs a Personal Learning Network, which he finds by finding credible online resources and bookmarking them on a public bookmarking site. Next, he finds blogs about his topic, keeping in mind that they may well be biased. He keeps up with his blogs through a reader, such as Google Reader.

He then begins his own public blog about what all he has learned. He uses his mp3 player to download podcasts and resources to teach him more. He even finds a documentary and sets up a video conference to learn more about his topic.

Much of this video was about the personal organization of information via the web, such as by using Google Reader and Delicious Bookmarks. However, in the last minute of this video, the question of why he needs a teacher is presented. The answer is surprsingly simple - he needs a teacher to show him how to learn! She helps him find resources that are legitimate and useful, communicate effectively, and synthesize information.

I hope that I have the resources to teach like this. In a Science classroom, much of this learning is done by experimentation. After watching this, I think that many teachers might have it wrong... instead of teaching a concept and using a laboratory exercise to back it up, why can't we do a laboratory exercise and THEN use it to enforce the concepts we woul have reviewed with the exercise. For example, when some teachers would choose to teach about Avogadro's number and THEN do the oil drop experiement in class to show how it was found, why not have the students conduct said experiment first and THEN give the actual value. Furthermore, students could then evaluate their experimentation and critique any error in their found value. I feel like this method of teaching is much more effective then simply telling the answer.

"Welcome to My PLE!"

This video shows a 7th grade student giving a tour of her Personal Learning Environment. The school she is at has taught her how to find and evaluate information. Like our class, her class uses a blog to do assignments and uses Google Docs to create and edit documents.

Clearly, her Science class is very interactive. Students are required to do research online and create reports for both class and extra activities, such as becoming certified to hold the classroom pet. Even more interesting to me is the encouragement for students to have their work peer reviewed - but not by their peers in the classroom! This particular girl e-mailed a couple of scientists to ask questions about the Box Jellyfish.

Students also have a good bit of freedom as to when and how they do their work. This student says that it encourages responsibility, which I think is fantastic. If we encourage this, students will be more prepared for college than before! The ability to work efficiently and independantly is a crucial skill for college, and the teacher in charge of this classroom should be commended for her efforts.