The School of Tomorrow
In Wendy Dexter’s high school students project, “The Network Student”. It explains that there is no textbooks, no lectures, and the course is done mostly online. The teacher practices “connectivism”, this is where the students use tools of technology to do their learning. The students create a learning network. They research on the topic of the course they use bookmarks if they like the site about the topic. They use blogs to write discussions and to get opinions about their topic. The students use their Ipods to get podcasts from some of the greatest professors on the topic. With all the tools of technology, the student organizes the information they have found to teach themselves and others.
"Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" The video explains that the teacher is there for being a learning architect, modeler, learning concierge, connecting learning incubator, network Sherpa, synthesizer, and change agent. The teacher teaches the student how to use this network to learn and to understand the topic. She offers guidance when they get stuck, how to ask for help respectfully from experts, how to find reliable and unreliable sources, how to become organized with their work, and most importantly maintain the information so they can solve the world’s problems in the 21st century.
I liked this video. I thought it was put together very nicely for high school students. Did I agree with the video? Well, I thought this method would be great for upper high school students and college students, but that is a lot to learn and to be responsible for as an elementary school student and even middle school student. I know as a child I would not have liked this method of learning. It is too independent for my liking. I think these skills are good to learn once you are older but not for younger students. Since I want to be an elementary teacher, I might start them out on a computer learning how to use it and how to do research on it. But complete learning on it I would say no.
My Blog VS. A 7th Graders Blog
"Welcome to My PLE" is a video done by a seventh grader explaining her science "personal learning environment". She showed us how she organizes her page for personal and learning use. She explains how and why she uses google docs, blogs, note taking, skype, and peer review. She likes how she has more freedom to do things how and when she wants to.
My PLE is similar to hers but also very different. I also use skype, blogs, and google docs for my EDM 310 class. Both of our classes are paperless and have to meet deadlines but we have our freedom to do it when and how we want to. I think her technology network is a little more advanced than mine is but that is okay. I am still building my PLE.
Thank you Kelsey! I am so happy that you agree with me on the issue of PLNs in elementary classrooms.
ReplyDeleteYou write very well. The summaries you provided were clear, and complete. My favorite part was your reactions. Not only did you disagree with the video, you said what you would have done differently.
I do have one question. Have you considered a class blog for your students? After doing research, a blog will provide them a place to show their work.
Keep up the good work.
Hey Daniel!
DeleteI would have a class blog for the parents to see their child's work,to get the work if their child has missed, contact me, or to get information. I think that is a great idea, but for a child to have their own in elementary school I would say no.
Thanks for commenting!
-Kelsey
Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteYou did a good job summarizing the information given in the videos and including your own opinions about what you watched.
I liked your picture, and your links worked.
You did have a few grammatical errors. These could maybe be caught if you read over your post before publishing it to check for errors you may have not noticed before.
"In Wendy Dexter’s high school students project, “The Network Student”." This is a fragment.
"They research on the topic of the course they use bookmarks if they like the site about the topic." This is a run on sentence. The first sentence ends with course. The next sentence should begin with "They use". You could also have used a comma and conjunction to combine the two sentences.
"the student organizes the information they have found to teach themselves and others." You changed from a singular noun (student) to the plural form of the pronoun ("they" have found to teach "themselves"). I would have said "students organize", so you would not have to use she or he and herself or himself. Make sure you do not change tenses in the middle of a sentence.
"Since I want to be an elementary teacher, I might start them out on a computer learning how to use it and how to do research on it." This is a good idea. It is always good to make sure your students at that age know how to use a computer effectively.
"Both of our classes are paperless and have to meet deadlines but we have our freedom to do it when and how we want to." You need a comma before your conjunction (but).
"I think her technology network is a little more advanced than mine is but that is okay." This is the same kind of error. A comma is needed before the conjunction (but). When you have two independent sentences, they need to be separated by a comma and conjunction.
"I am still building my PLE." Me too! It takes some time, and PLEs are always works in progress.
I enjoyed reading your opinions in your post. Good job!
Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteThis is a well written blog post. I am glad you expressed your opinions rather than agreeing with everything presented to you! I can understand your concern about being networked in elementary school. However, you would be surprised how much young students can accomplish if they are given the task. Keep up the good work!