Blog Post #6

1.) Wendy Drexler's Video The Network Students 
   Wendy Drexler's video is about how a student in the 21st century can learn better, meaning that they are not bound everyday by textbooks and lectures, when they use all forms of technology properly. Here it shows a young high school student who is learning much more than in a traditional classroom setting because he is using different forms of communication, finding valuable research information and knowing how to share/comment to the world. He is shown that he had the tools to do these and more the whole time but that he did not know how to use them. This video is how the teacher in the 21st century will need to change and adapt to our continuing flow of information in order for their students to be ready for a world that no one even knows will look like in five years. Before, a teacher used books, field trips or pictures to teach and what they learn they could not share will those around them and this was the existent of their requirements. Now technology has condenses our world so small every person can share their thoughts or opinions on any subject and present this to the world for others to read it, comment or use in their own discussions. Teachers are not alone in their classrooms anymore because now they can be linked to others across the world or see a event happening in real time and use it in their classrooms to show that something as everyday as a cell phone can do wondrous things.

   The program shown in the video is much like the class set up in EDM 310 and I love that there are others who want to us this in their own schools. No one comes home from school and talks about how great their teaches' three hour long lecture on rocks was but instead they talk about how they talked to, who did what and the latest news. So why not combine this two and show how they can use what they already have to find answers. Where are the Monarch Butterflies today in their migration? Show how you can use maps and interviews to find them or even track them to see if they will be coming near you. How do I change a flat tire? Show how to find the company website for instructions, where to find the right tools and what you need to do after the tire is fixed. What would it mean if all of the people in South America were to learn English this year? Show accredited websites to compare the number of English speakers today, how much it would increase should this happen and what changes might happen as a result. Each of these can be used to show where to go to find the right information, comparing it or explore it further by first showing how to find this information. Teachers of the 21st century must understand that the hunger to know why is in every student but the skills to find the answers are what they need to learn. 

   At the very end the viewer is asked "why does the networked students even need a teacher?" and I was happy to see that our answers were the same: to teach. I did not know how to use Twitter, how to compare information from the internet or even how to correctly comment on another's blog until Professor Strange taught me. I knew how to use the computer and he showed me how to push those boundaries by learning new skills and sharpening old ones. When classes like the one shown in the video are made they must be run by someone who is willing to see where a student is, show where they need to be by the time they leave the classroom and the patience to explain again and again what they are doing. Our first day we were told to set up an e-mail address but there were those who did not know how to do it and they were helped. We then had to make a blog and even two months later we can look and see what we are doing wrong or can do differently but even after all of this the main goal of both this class and the video is being accomplished: we want to learn more and are using what we have gained from the class to do it. 

2.) My Reactions to A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)

   I am very glad that this system of learning is being used in classrooms today because it helps to teach much more. Here you are in charged of not merely when to do an assignment but also how to do it and present it. In this short video I saw a student learn about time management, how to use the internet to find her answers, what she needs to do to correctly site her sources and how she wants to present these for peer review while still learning science. She also seemed very excited about how her class is set up because she said that it does not feel like she is doing homework but instead she is having fun. When compared to my own it shows that I need to expand it more and to find a similar way to organize my searches and findings. I also want to look into the Glogs so that I can have multiple blogs about different subjects at the same time. I believe that since she is using these skills so young she will continue to learn from them and by the time she keeps to college she will be ready because she will know where to go and what to do in order to succeed.