Blog Post #6

The Networked Student


In this assignment I was asked to watch, The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler. This video boggles my mind to think of all that information out there and it is all available with the click of a mouse. This class is the first class where I have been required to do most of the learning by myself. To do this I have had to make friends with some of the people in my class and we have gotten together to do our work and learn these new applications and learning tools together. It makes it easier when you have people to talk trough ideas with and get feed back. This is just like the student in this video who had to network with other classmates and people around the world to find information and share the information found connectively.
This idea of connectively finding and sharing information is absolutely brilliant. I think this will change the way school as we know it, will run. There are so many different search engines that are now available and ready for us to use as we expand our minds to the technology that is ever growing. These search engines make it so much easier to find specific data we need and Google is now one of my favorite. There is so much information available and all we have to do is reach out and grab it.
Now in this post I was also asked, "Why does a networked student even need a teacher?" Well my answer is that we as students do not know everything and need someone to guide us when we get stuck or are just not getting something. Teachers are there to help us understand and give us all the advantages of their years of experience.I hope to a networked student when I am done with this class and I know that with the help of Dr. Strange and the whole EDM 310 team, I will be.


A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLE)


To be honest I do not see a difference in her PLE and my PLN. I know that I use mine for learning how to use technology and communicate with people and she uses hers for mostly it looked like her science class but we both use them for learning. I wish I would have learned how to use these tool and programs when I was in the 7th grade so that I would have some idea of how to use one for this class but I know no matter what I will use this for the rest of my teaching career and my social life. My PLN make learning and organizing easy and from looking at her PLE I know she will use hers for a long time too.


The Machine is Changing Us


WOW is what comes to mind. This video is amazing and exceptional inspiring. The way he presents YouTube and our generations idea of the meaning of "whatever" is jaw dropping. This video makes me think about how I act and react to the world around me. I can't believe that people see themselves as a spec with no identity but they are somebody and the way television and the media have make young people today believe that they are not important unless they are on either MTV or some silly get rich show like "I Love Money" or "Deal or No Deal" is stomach turning. I do not feel comfortable talking to a camera and would almost never consider post or even making a video of myself because that is just not me. I am too private.
Although in my college life I have come to see how helpful these videos are in teaching and networking with others in the same profession to get new ideas and to continue my learning. This video was a lot to take in, but it was fascinating to me how connected people are on YouTube. I do not get on there a lot but I have seen many of the video he used in his presentation. I guess I am part of the Media generation. The idea of self before the whole however is foreign to me. I was raised to put others feelings and needs before my own. I will admit that I struggled with being selfish but in my heart if someone needs something, I will go without for them. I have never been inconvenienced because somebody needed me or something from me.
As far as this applying to my teaching career, I am not sure how to use this. I know that YouTube is a great apparently social networking site and has tons of information but I just wonder if it is a little too much to handle. I know I could find videos to use in class as visual aids but I'm just not use how else to use it.