1: Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student;
The Networked Student was a short film based on a student’s impressive ability to be responsible and motivated to learn on his own, and to share his knowledge with others. The student attends a class where books are not needed and he does not need to sit through long lectures. In the beginning of class he will be taught the basics of building his personal learning network. The network is where he will be posting his findings to share with others. He learns to access and validate his findings in order to make sure that it is creditable information. His main resource centers to find information will be Google Scholar and his school’s library data base.
The question that was asked was “Why does a networked student even need a teacher?” Well without a teacher the student would not have been able to get started. It is his teacher that teaches him how to setup his network and get the ball rolling. The teacher will be the point of contact if the student needs any advice. They will also be the ones to teach the students how to comment, post, and ask the experts proper questions about their topics. A teacher is needed because not only will they be the student’s biggest supporter and encourager, but they are the ones who will be giving the students the initial building blocks towards taking control of their learning experience.
As a future teacher I love this idea. We are becoming more and more dependent on technology so incorporating it into our learning experience is key. In today’s society we are all about expressing our thoughts and emotions through social networking. The idea of encouraging students to take control of their learning experience and to teach and learn from others is great. While watching this video I realized that in order to become a great teacher I will have to become the back bone for my students and I will consistently have to educate myself to keep up with my students.
2 A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment
I was very impressed by the professionalism and organizational skills this young girl showed in her video. It was exciting to see that schools are becoming more involved with teaching students not only to learn on their own but being creative. The young girl was obviously well educated on how to navigate around the internet. I was also very impressed by her knowledge of the different programs, which she knew how to use as well as her ability to share her knowledge on topics with others.
When comparing her PLE to my PLN it obvious that this young 7th grader is way more advanced than I am. She has definitely inspired me to challenge myself. It's impressive to know that only after a few months of practice a 7th grader could be the one standing in front of me, teaching me these new tricks. After watching her video I was very excited and interested to learn some of the things she’s done to her PLE. After all, that was the purpose of her video, to teach others what she has learned, that way others can go on to teach others and thus perpetuating the cycle.
3 Critiques of Smartboards
Why Smart Boards Are a Dumb Initiation-
After reading Michael Stantons post I have to say I agree with what he had to say. Smartboards are just overpriced and overrated projector screens with a few gadgets. Stantons goes on the mention that purchasing a smart board is an administrative cop out. Instead of spending money on what the school and classrooms needs, administrative personnel purchase these outlandish pieces of equipment so they can look good on their evaluations. Even with these fancy new pieces of equipment many teachers are teaching their students the same way they did before they got the smart board. Indeed they try to find ways to get the kids interactive by having them use the board but rarely does that happen. One of the main reasons they don't use the smart board might be because the teacher themselves don't know how to use them. Stanton believes that with the amount of money spent on IWB’s we can find other ways to invest the money and purchase things that are truly needed to better our children’s education.
Switching off the Interactive White Board for Good-
Like Michael Stanton, Kevin McLaughlin also believes that IWB are overpriced and unnecessary pieces of equipment. McLaughlin makes it clear in his post that IWB’s have seen their days and now it’s time to stop wasting money on them and start spending money on tools that will better educate our kids. Both McLaughlin and Staton agree that teachers are not educated enough to use the equipment on a daily basis. They also agree the sooner schools stop buying these over rated toys the sooner they can start providing the students with tools that can get the whole class involved and interacted, as opposed to just one small group at a time.
The blog I found is ”What Are Disadvantages of Using the Smart Board in the Classroom?”. This blog discus the extensive cost of the smart boards.
eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_7996547_disadvantages-using-smart-board-classroom.html#ixzz1Pn3JJBFQ
Sean,
ReplyDeleteJust imagine what it will be like as a teacher to have quite a few students who are already comfortable with computer and internet use and can set up their own PLE quite easily! I think the SMART Board might have been an attempt to keep these tech-literate students entertained. But you are right, they really don't make that much of a difference and teachers are still using them to teach the exact same way. I have personally seen that they can be interactive and helpful at times, but they also have some glitches. They are very expensive and not quite worth the amount of money that they cost!
Also, be sure to edit your post before publishing or have a friend look over it for errors, just like you would a paper for any other class. :)
Hi Sean,
ReplyDeleteThe day in which we become teachers in the classroom will be much different than we remember leaving it as students. Kids today already know how to do much more on the internet or even electronics for that matter than the average person over 30 years old. They will always be looking for something in class that will spark their interest and engage them in the way that computers do. So we as teachers must attempt to be one step ahead of them by using tools such as Smartboard. Great post, really liked your self comparison between your pln and the seventh graders pre. We should all try to dive into the electronic world more and gain the knowledge and perspectives that come with it.
What about a positive view of smartboards? Did you find any?
ReplyDeleteYou need buttons, not just URLs. See the instructions on p. 11 of the Instructional Activities Manual. I just created a button linking you to the manual. You have to be able to do the same. The instructions we use are the same as those used by Mrs. Yollis with her third graders!