Blog Assignment 7

Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student

This video, The Networked Student, was very interesting. This video by Wendy Drexler covers the experience of a student in his contemporary issues class. He attends class three days a week physically and two days online, and his teacher hardly lectures when in class. It is also interesting to know that high school students are now taking classes that are offered online, which was not the case when I was in high school.

Through the video the student explains that his teacher is a student of connectivism, which is the "theory that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties". Connectivism is also how the student in the video is taught. The teacher teaches the student to take control of their learning and to also use their peers to strengthen the learning process. The teacher is there to encourage the students on building their own networks and to take advantage of learning opportunities. The teacher is also there for the student if they are having troubles with anything and also reaches out to experts if other help is needed.

This video taught me a lot about wanting to teach to 21 century students. In my opinion, if children in the future are going to be doing most of their work, inside and outside the classroom, online then they do need a person to distinguish good and bad information, that they may find on the Internet. I like the concept of the 21st century classroom, because that type of classroom can be compared to our EDM 310 class.
Being enrolled in a course where class is not required weekly makes a student independent. It does not handicap the student into being lazy and not finding the answers to questions in which they are capable of finding themselves.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

This video is amazing. It really surprises me that this type of learning goes on in a 7th grade class. If students are learning and mastering what we are learning, as college students, in the 7th grade, just think about what the future will be like. It is amazing that children are enjoying and are excited about learning new things dealing with technology. Videos like this gives me butterflies to think about the job that awaits me in the future of education.