Blog Post #7

The Networked Student

     Dr. Wendy Drexler posted a video on her Teach Web 2.0 blog that puts the concept of the networked student and the new and expanded role of the teacher into a clear perspective. While the video itself is not high tech and fancy the message is clear. Today's student literally has the world at their fingertips. The amount of information is limitless since it can change on a daily basis. The teacher for this student is not the all-knowing, one dimensional lecturer. Today's teacher wears many more hats than when I was in school.

      Building a solid learning foundation is crucial and depends on many ideas. The networking student still needs advice and guidance through grey areas and around misleading content sites. Separating propaganda from useful information is an important skill to hone. Like the teacher of the 20th century the modern teacher is still needed as a grammar coach. Proper communication skills are a must when one is plugged in and networking around the world. Self taught courses as well as those that do not depend on a traditional classroom lecture format are becoming more predominant and ask a lot of the student. Time management is also a skill to be focused on. As always the teacher is the student's personal cheerleader at the end of the day. There are always large victories to be celebrated and small hurdles that need to be acknowledged.
                                                          
     In a post from her blog dated February 27, 2011, Dr. Drexler recalls an analogy of Kristin Hokanson. She states that the traditional college classroom is similar to a walled garden in that the perspective is predominantly one-sided. In that type of classroom there is the lecturer and audience. By being networked and in communication with other classrooms the content would surely change and quite possible positively impact the quality of the course for all that are included within the network. Other changes were alluded to but left for the reader to ponder.


     Dr. Drexler is also a fellow Geocacher. She and her son have gone on several adventures: hiding and seeking. She has a site devoted to their excursions. I like that idea. My Geocaching pictures are on Facebook. This is exactly the type of highly engaged and outgoing person I need in my PLN!


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

     What an amazing production this 7th grader has put together. Her speech alone is most impressive, but add what she has learned through her PLN and I am just speechless. Today's student has the ability to do, create, and simply work with so many new and classroom-friendly tools. Her PLN is so much more efficient than a planner and puts her informational, organizational, and personal interests all in one spot. Simple. Efficient. Effective. Glog?-I have something to investigate.