Blog Post 6

The Networked Student
The idea of a "Networked Student" sounds great to me. I think that there are many pros and cons to the idea and not all can be listed here. Let me first explain a few ways that I think this idea will benefit children and increase their learning experience. The idea gives children the freedom to learn in the way that best fits them. For instance, currently there are 20-30 students in one classroom. All of them have different skill levels, personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. How in the world can a teacher give an assignment to all of them, ONE way to complete the assignment, and expect it to result in the same learning objectives? It is a proven fact that some people are visual learners, some are auditory, and some learn through action or "doing". This will give them the ability to learn in a way that will maximize the learning objectives for THEM, not for completion in a grade book. Another benefit is that it opens the door to more resources than they could ever find in a textbook. A textbook is the exact same thing in a different form. The only difference is that the collaboration of information gathered is by an author, publishing company, editor, etc. In a way, the student is collecting information and creating their own textbook from which to learn and they are doing it on a broader, more up to date scale. Information changes so fast and becomes obsolete before many textbooks are ever printed. This insures that the student is getting the most current information available. The last benefit that I can see to this is that it also gives children access to information that fits into their "belief window". A belief window is the information that they are given that fits into their current social, moral, and ethical belief systems. A child, especially younger children, do not accept information well that is contradictory to that belief window.  This could be considered a bad thing as well. However, it is my personal belief that you first meet a child where they are comfortable and then slowly begin to push that belief window open a little at a time until you have a well rounded, open-minded individual. This is part of a self-discovery process and the best way to learn.
Some of the cons to the Networked Student are really all logistics. How do you convince administration to allow it? How do you convince parents that it is a good thing? I think that it would have to be a transition, especially for students. You can't take a group of students that have been taught to sit quietly, take notes, regurgitate information, and then ask them to take control of their education. It would be culture shock, confusion, and chaos. I believe that it is possible and beneficial to all parties involved, but would require a great deal of planning and a lot of growing pains.
This is definitely something that I am ready for, although I still have much to learn. As I was watching the video I thought that it would be interesting to take a sixth grade Social Studies class and have them do exactly what was mentioned in the video. Use all of the information collected to create an online textbook with proper credits and citations, of course. Just like a hard copy book. The only difference would be that it would contain audio clips, video clips, direct links, group interaction, forums, shared ideas, etc. This would prove to all of the nay-sayers that it is indeed possible. The next year, the information would be updated and changed by the new class so that it was always accurate and up to date. Perhaps I will make that my mission!

Wendy Drexler's Blog
I enjoyed Ms. Drexler's blog. The explanation about the networked student seems to be a few years old. I would be interested to see if she tried it and what the results were. I can only imagine what an undertaking it would have been. I think it would have been well worth it in the end. I think that we are still a long way away from this experience being the norm, as I said earlier it will require a transition period. This is the way, however, that education should be moving and there is no time like the present to start.
On the right hand column of her blog it had links to several up to date websites that were full of information about technology in the classroom. One article I read was about a school system that is currently evaluating their social media policies. The biggest problem they said they were facing is getting everyone to agree on the specifics. It was a great article and it is good to see that people are at least trying to get on board. Here is the link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_19022521.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
I just can't say this enough. I am constantly amazed at what kids are capable of. This 7th grader has a PLN that puts mine to shame. I am also afraid to admit that she seems to have much more command of her own education than I do. SHE'S ONLY 12? I think that I do a great job of controlling my learning experience until I see something like this. I wish more people would take time to learn about current educational trends and could see exactly what kids are capable of and what is currently available to them. The resources they are using are helpful and appropriate. I had a biology professor that told me, "You have no idea how good you've got it. When I was in college if we wanted access to another book at a library at a different University, we had to write a letter requesting it. Then we had to wait for it to be mailed to our University library. Then we only had access to it for a few days and it couldn't leave the library." I didn't feel sorry for him because I imagined what the generation before him had to do. Horse and buggy, perhaps. I'm not really sure. Each generation has access to more information and better resources that the one before. It's nothing to be bitter about or afraid of. It's something to embrace and encourage.