Blog Assignment #6

The Networked Student

“The Networked Student” is a very interesting concept. After watching this video and before reading through Ms. Drexler’s blog, I was a little skeptical of the idea. The idea of having students create a personal learning network can be very beneficial to a student’s educational growth. However, students definitely need a lot of guidance teachers – especially in their early educational career (elementary and middle school).

I enjoyed watching the explanation to the question “Why does the networked student need a teacher?” As we have noted in many different discussions in this class, the teacher’s role is changing as more technology is used in the classroom. Teachers are taking on the role of facilitating learning rather than strictly transferring information to students. As more credible resources are becoming more readily available to students, parents, and teachers, it is important for us as educators to help students use the information.

Having a non-traditional classroom (i.e., having classroom meetings less than five days a week) will take some getting used to for students, parents, and teachers. There is a great deal of responsibility and maturity needed to focus outside of the classroom. I would be hesitant to experiment this with middle-schoolers, but I think that high school students could definitely benefit from this type of learning environment.

A 7^th Grader’s Personal Learning Environment

I was quite impressed by the presentation put together by this 7^th grader. I also thought it was ironic that she mentioned responsibility in her presentation. One of my main concerns with using more technology is that it takes responsibility to use it appropriately. This student feels that creating your own personal learning environment actually forces you to be more responsible. I thought this was an enlightening comment from a 7^th grade student. 

The Machine is (Changing) Us

This video provided additional thoughts on how our communication styles are changing. I could relate to the MTV generation. It’s interesting how some of the comments on the MTV generation are the same comments that I would use to describe today’s student – especially the short attention spans and not easily impressed. The “Whatever” discussion was very interesting as well. I also liked all of the videos of people introducing themselves on YouTube. I had not really thought about YouTube as a community, but it makes sense that some people could see it as such. Overall, this video helped reiterate the fact that our world and our communication styles are changing.