Blog Post # 6

The Networked Student Wendy Drexler
I loved the way this video was done. The irony of the very simple video to talk about the extremely advanced 21st century student made it interesting. The three days spent in the classroom with no book and no lecture were obviously used for instruction on how to build their own personal learning network. This will eventually be used in further research and post from the student that could help others on the same subject he or she may be studying.
It helped me to understand the actual technological tools are not as important as the connections that students are making. The 21st century student has a wide range of connections each one provides a new learning opportunity. New tools are emerging daily. These ultimately help the student to connect with new contacts and learn effectively from the contacts they already have.
The teachers role in this networked learning experience is to instruct. Without someone to instruct it would be like holding a computer in your hands but never turning on the power. All the ability is there but until the power is turned on it is not being utilized. Teachers are a guide,cheerleader, modeler,mediator, and much more. The teacher's main goal should be for their students to take what they have learned and continue to purse fresh knowledge using that to help better our world.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment. Welcome to My PLE

The student starts by telling about her personal learning environment. She tells how she has organized her personal page with her school work across the bottom. She uses this in her science class and daily she goes on science agenda to check out any videos or work that has been posted there. It makes for much more interesting projects when you can use technology. Everything is available to you at the click of the mouse. The resources are endless and the information is abundant. The world is condensed with technology. She talks about even sending her finding for one of her projects to a scientist in Australia. The freedom of how and when to do the assignment is what she most enjoyed. Although many would think this freedom would cause kids to abuse their rights to the internet, but in most cases it causes them to want to be responsible and take pride in their work. They are exercising self regulated learning. Being responsible enough to know how and when to do their work without being told exactly what and when. I think it is great preparation for the future. Self regulated learning will be used throughout the rest of their lives.