Blog Post #7

Why Does the Networked Student Even Need a Teacher?

The connectivism video we watched shines a light on a new type of teaching. The teaching method discussed in this video is similar to what we are doing in Dr. Strange's class. Within this method the teacher is simply an instructor that guides the student along their own path of learning. There is no text book. The student gains tools to utilize by making connections with his classmates. He builds his own network of information and shares it through blogs with his classmates. With this teaching method the student becomes more self-reliant and more interactive with his peers. He learns to navigate and search through the information on the internet more accurately.

The video brings up the question, "If a student is becoming so self-sufficient in the classroom, why is a teacher even necessary?" The educator becomes the guiding hand that shows the student how to build his network. The teacher offers assistance when the student becomes stuck or lost. The teacher helps the student differentiate between reliable information and propaganda. The teacher also helps the student organize his thoughts and information so he can better understand what he is learning. More or less, the teacher is there for support and guidance. I am beginning to believe this is a more effective approach to teaching.

Honestly, when I first heard about Dr. Strange's class I thought it was going to be a complete waste of my time. As I move through the assignments and watch the videos and read the material that is being assigned to me, I am starting to see why he runs his class the way he does. His classroom is a good example of how "connectivism" works. I have learned more about my future profession through this class than any course I have taken so far in my college career. I am learning how to express my thoughts more clearly than I did when I took English Composition as a freshman. The point of this rambling is that you don't need a text book to learn. You don't need a teacher standing over you. All you need is to be given the right tools and guided in the right direction and let yourself discover the rest. The networked student can learn far more than a textbook student because they are not being taught just to regurgitate information. I am moving through this course on my own, with some help from my peers, and I'm retaining the information.

A Seventh Grade Student's PLE

This littler girl walks us through her personal learning environment to show us how her seventh grade paperless science class is conducted day-to-day. She uses a personal page to organize all of her educational information and social networking cites. It is very similar to how we conduct business in Dr. Strange's class. We organize all of our thoughts and opinions through Blogger. To access our class assignments, we have to go through our class blog just like the little girl in the video. I am growing more and more partial to this type of learning environment. I feel I have learned, and retained, more about my field of study through this type of learning than I have with any other class. The students in that seventh grade class will benefit greatly from that PLE. Whether or not I would be able to manage a classroom with this type of style is still up in the air.