Blog Assignment 6

1. I think this video is a perfect depiction of what education is becoming in the 21st century. Thanks to technology, students no longer need to learn straight out of a textbook. Instead, they can search countless places on the Internet to find information. Also, they can connect with experts on subject matter and learn directly from them. Students can gather this information and share it and communicate about it with others. It is very appropriate that they are called networked students.

I think that I would be prepared to be the teacher of networked students. If all of my students were out researching information, they would find many different views and opinions. This would help to instigate stimulating discussions and debates in my classroom. Students would expose themselves to multiple viewpoints rather than one side of the story as provided in textbooks. I would love if this kind of learning could take place in my classroom.

As for the question of why the networked student needs a teacher, I think the teacher has one of the most important jobs. Teachers are there to teach the students how to set up this type of learning environment. They help the students communicate effectively with others, including experts, and they teach them how to organize the good and bad information they receive. If it weren’t for the teachers, students may not get involved in this type of networking.

2. This 7th grader’s PLE is extremely detailed and set up very well. It is a lot like my PLN. Her PLE keeps her connected to her schoolwork, teachers, classmates, and various others. She communicates with people from around the world. Her PLE givers her freedom and makes her responsible for her own work that she is assigned. She doesn’t get to choose whether or not she has to do it, but she can choose when and how she does it. Some of the differences between her PLE and my PLN are the fact that she does not use Twitter to stay connected, whereas I do, and she is far more advanced with her PLE than I am with my PLN.

3. The authors of the two articles we were given to read criticized smartboards. They believed that they were wastes of money because you can do the same thing on a smartboard that you can do using other tools. One of these authors suggested that smartboards don’t allow students to cooperate in their learning if all the teacher does is lecture using the board. One blog I found that favored smartboards is the RSA Blog. This blog states that smartboards engage students more than regular chalk boards because teachers can liven up lectures with colors and fonts. It says that the smartboards are tools that are beneficial for both the students and the teachers. One main point that all three of these posts share is that unless teachers are trained to successfully use their smartboards, they are nothing more than expensive and useless equipment.