In this video by Wendy Drexler, the pros of the theory of connectivism are discussed. This theory suggests that students learn by building personal connections and learning networks to teach themselves. These networks can include connecting with bloggers, academic writers, and professors through a wide range of mediums such as skype, itunes university, rss feeds, google scholar, and numerous others. It also allows the student to explore and delve deeper into specific points of personal interest within the given subject as well as easily connect with other students to share and express ideas and opinions. This video: Welcome to my PLE by a 7th grade science student is a prime example of that. After watching it I'm honestly quite a bit jealous of her PLE. It was a good refresher and motivator to continue to grow and improve my own.
With this theory, the question of why networked students even need a teacher arises. While I like the idea of connectivism in education, I still believe it is important to have a teacher. While this teacher may not be traditional in the aspect of lecture and testing, having a teacher experienced in the subject matter can help supplement the learning of the networked students. The teacher could and should also be networked and be able to help the students build their personal networks. I also believe that while a lot can be learned by connectivism, the traditional classroom lecture should not be completely banished. In this video, the students met in class three days a week and had online work two days a week, but the teacher never lectured. While I like this set up, I personally would still like to have a traditional lecture at least one of those class days and if I were the teacher I would lecture one of those days.
With the way technology is ever evolving and improving, all educators and future educators must ask themselves if they are ready to be the teacher of a networked student. I personally embrace this educational challenge. I believe having network students will be beneficial for both me as the teacher and my students as it will be easier to grow and learn together cultivating a unique educational experience. Having this type of technology and teaching style makes it easier to connect with students on an individualized personal level and really get to know how they feel and what they think on various subjects as well as what really interests them. All in all I look forward to the future of education and seeing how connectivism can positively impact the learning of both teacher and student.
Josh,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog assignment this week. I thought it was well-written. Like you, I am not completely ready to retire the traditional classroom lecture. I believe that this is still an important aspect in schools and can provide students with both knowledge and guidance. I do believe that in today's ever changing technological age that we, as teachers, need to be prepared to be the teachers of networked students. I like the point you made about this challenge being beneficial to both teachers and students. I think that was an excellent point.
Josh,
ReplyDeleteI think it is so important to realize that teachers ARE NOT becoming obsolete! I think that teachers are even more important now that information is so readily available. We have to be there to filter information and guide the students to find the best possible way to research topics and expand their PLNs - wasn't the PLN impressive! I agree that tradition should not be totally abandoned, but by becoming active filters and challengers, I do not think that the transition is "too much" to ask.
Thanks,
Rebekah Lloyd