Blog Post # 6

In "Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student," we learn about a true story of a student studying American Phycology. In his classroom his teacher uses the method of Connectivism. This concept is based on learning in a digital age. Using social networks and websites students can find the information they want to learn by themselves and share it with others. This is a more hands on approach to learning, and it helps you find information by yourself on the internet. Using this method students learn by finding information themselves and checking the information to make sure it is credible.
The question was asked in the presentation "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" This is such a great question because it does seem like the student is basically doing all of the work. In this day-in-age it is so easy for anyone to just google a question and instantly it gives you a long list of information to go through and find out what you want to read. As a teacher we need to make sure we are helping the students by showing them what is credible in the internet. I have always hear in high school that we were not allowed to use Wikipedia for any sources. It was not until I was a sophomore in college when a teacher gave us an example of why it is not a good idea to use it as a source. There is so much for students to get involved in on the internet and it is important for teachers to help sharpen the students eyes on what is actually credible.
At first I would think using connectivism in an elementary school would be too much for the students to handle. But, after reading many of my comments for kids and looking at their blogs I feel like these students really enjoy using the internet to learn more about the world we live in. These young students need to be taught early on not only how to use technology but, to learn what information is even worth the time to read. Teachers in the 21st century have such a huge responsibility to make sure students are ready early on for the technology in this world. I have said it on this blog page many times that technology is not going anywhere and we need to teach our students early on how to use it right. I enjoyed Wendy Drexler's post, and I hope she does intend to start connectivism as soon as possible!

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment

Watching the presentation of a "7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment" about a real student using her PLE made me feel like I knew nothing about the internet. She did such a great job explaining what she was doing and how she was doing it. She showed how easy it is to keep her school work and have her social networking websites all on one on web page. I use Safari as a web browser and it keeps all of my websites organized but, I have not used a PLE to keep all of my school information organized. I enjoyed watching this presentation and look forward to building my PLE in the near future.