http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEIs3tq5wIY
The internet undoubtedly is a very dynamic, interactive, social place, where teachers and students can communicate, share information, and challenge each other's ideas. There is no doubt that Teachers can use this medium to guide student learning by posing problems, encouraging student creativity, and offering opportunities for students to find solutions to numerous problems through research and discovery. It is therefore quite evident that the Internet can assist both students and teachers in reaching their educational objectives.
In looking at the video “Welcome to my PLE” the use of technology in the teaching/learning process is impressive. In my opinion this is not the typical twelve year old student. This student is organized, her information for socializing is separate from school work and her manipulation of the internet is remarkable.
Based on the information presented, this twelve year old has utilized a number of networks in her everyday learning. She has created and publish documents using Google account, she has utilized delicious for research and book markings, created blogs, made online presentations, digital posters, sent email and videos and even web calling on Skype. This to me is outstanding work for a student at that age. She obviously enjoys learning in this setting because of what she describes as a lot of freedom. I think the feeling of being "in charge" of her own learning is what motivates her. I can’t help thinking, how many twelve year old is this verse on utilizing the internet in such a responsible organized manner.
As a teacher I am inclined to say this should be typical of the everyday classrooms, especially in an age where the use of technology is so predominant and with school administrators’ imploring teachers to include more technology in their lessons. This however, is not typical because many state laws governing the use of internet in schools are still very restrictive. For example in the county I work for, outright forbids the use of social networks like Facebook and Skype at school. Staff and students alike are blocked from accessing these sites.
I would absolutely love to have this student and thirty others like her in my class. She seems structured, responsible and very mature for her age. Each process she explained seem thoughtful and well put together and I must say this is not the average twelve year old student.
What excited me about this video was how motivated she was; she was also very pleased with her work and even commented that she enjoyed the beauty of having everything online. My concern is, how many students would be so committed and responsible; with the internet being used for so many other things. She spoke about the freedom of being able to get information from "anywhere" on the net; as an educator I would be concerned about student coming across information that they don’t need to be seeing or reading. This to me is the greatest concern. With the many student restrictions from a number of social websites at school where I now work, I have learned that the more the students learn, the more they are able to manipulate the system and view what they want. The reality is that with a lot of these new applications that gives students such freedom, also comes numerous responsibilities; this twelve year old student admits that it can often be distracting adding to my concerns as well.
While we will have a few great students, the truth is that a number of them will get bored and distracted and will stray from what they should be doing. The use of the internet by this student is exactly what web 2.0 is about; the ease to which it can be used by almost anyone. In my opinion this twelve year old has modeled how easy it is to use and manipulate this application for various purposes. However easy to use, we can’t pretend that not all student will do like they are suppose to. Think about it, if they are distracted in our daily one on one classes why then should we assume it will not be the same when given such freedom?
Well said my friend!! Trust me most of what she did I cannot do myself but she has turned on my "light". If we really had more students in our classrooms that are so much engaged in technology I believe we would have high achievers. This is also a learning process for me. The video has motivated me so much that I NEED to be more proactive and reach out for more technology in this 21st century!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts. This twelve year old demonstrates the self discipline to utilize the internet for positive learning. I too wondered how many of her peers would do the same? While I agree that technology is an awesome tool for the classroom I also am nervous about about the distractions that it also bring.
ReplyDeleteI share your views. This child is definitely not the norm. However, she would be a joy to teach.
ReplyDeleteI do agree, this is not our typical 12yr old even though i'm fully aware that with the rate of technological advancement, we should definately follow suite and allow our children to do the same. I do share some of the same "fear", how will our students handle such freedom of the web? I dont think there is a quick fix to that question but i do think children should be guided and monitored in their use of the web ( for examble, at school, the technology department monitor students web activty and hold them accountable they get inappropiate. Another concern i had too, was how can we ensure information found on the web is reliable?
ReplyDeleteYour thoughtful post addresses many of the positives and negatives. As I just commented at http://bit.ly/bdkqXd, I think that our role is to accentuate the positives we find our students doing online and redirect any students straying into poor decisions online (rather than freak out). We are at an interesting time period of enhanced capabilities unfolding faster than local and state laws and policies having the ability to meaningfully adapt. We will explore that in depth in Module 3.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Michelle. This student is so in charge of her learning. She is focussed. She is learning so much on her own in and out of the classroom. Could we call it the hidden curriculum? WOW! She excites me for what the future holds for the children we teach and our children.The traching and learning procees is fast changing.
ReplyDeleteGetting a student to be intrinsically motivated about their own learning is a problem many techers face within the walls of the classroom. But, as you have mentioned, this student has taken responsibility for her own learning. If nothing else was learned from her use of the web 2.0 as her Personal Learning Environmet, I think that one majoy fact would be enough.
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