Blog Post #6

The Networked Student
First of all, this was a very creative approach for a video. I was impressed on how sucked into the video I got even though there were not actual people in it. I thought that was very clever. This video showed all of the different technological ways that students can learn on there own. They can make professional, personal, and educational connections all the time. So, the question Wendy Drixler has asked is "why do we need teachers?" Her answer entails many reasons about why a student still needs a teacher. She says that the teacher is the one who helps their student build these connections and take advantage of learning opportunities, gives guidance to students when they get stuck, shows students how to communicate effectively and ask questions respectfully to their connections, how to differentiate between good information and propaganda, how to turn a web search into a scavenger hunt, and shows their students how to organize the information they find.

All of the reasons that Wendy gives are great. Building connections is so important for students so that they can continue learning on their own once they do not have a teacher. Being able to communicate effectively and ask questions respectfully is one of the most important things I think a teacher can teach their students. Without being able to do this they will not be able to build those important connections for their future. For students to continue learning accurate information it is the teachers responsibility to show them how to find "accurate" information. There is a lot of inaccurate information on the web and our students should know how to recognize the difference. Obviously, there are many reasons why students would still need their teacher even when technology is such a big part of the learning experience. I think this video did a great job showing this.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
This 7th graders PLE was very much like my PLN. A lot of things on her PLE were organized and can be viewed by other people. This is similar to my PLN because I can be "Googled" and people can look at my work. Just like this 7th grader I can add videos, text, and pictures to my PLN. I can add links to my social networks, and links with my contact information. This 7th grader spoke about peer review and reflection. I think this sums up my PLN. All of my peers can see my work and comment on it. They can tell me their views on the topic and give me some insight I might not have thought of otherwise. I think having a PLN, just like her PLE, gives me a lot of room for reflection. I can look back at my work and see what I have done, and what I have thought about certain topics. I can also reflect on the comments I received to help shape, and sometimes change, my opinions on the same topics. Just like in the 7th graders PLE I can edit my work and add things constantly. This helps us continuously learn, and improve our own knowledge and our work. The 7th graders PLE is very similar to my PLN in many ways. Since this is the first time I have ever done anything like this, and she started in 7th grade, it looks like I have some catching up to do!

Smartboards
How Smart is a Smartboard is a blog that I found that comments on how effective smartboards can be.  It talks about students being able to use the smartboard to choose their lunch for the day.  They mark which lunch they want and a list goes to the appropriate person in the school.  They can watch the morning announcements done by students at the school on the smartboard every morning.  The teachers can have their lessons, calenders, web-site links, videos etc. all on the smartboard... and the markers never dry up!  I can see how all of these things could really make a classroom run smoothly and get the students interacting.


Why Are We Still Wasting Money on Whiteboards is a different blog that talks about how big of an expense and waste interactive white boards are.  Bill Ferriter talks about all of the different types of technology that he could buy with the money spent on interactive whiteboards.  He makes the point that he could buy things that each student could use at their desk, and prescriptions to educational magazines.  He could buy things that would benefit the students more.  I agree that interactive white boards are expensive, but if they are used correctly (teachers are proficient at working them) then I think that they could be very beneficial in a classroom.  I also think that with any technology used in the classroom  the students need to learn how to use it also.  If they don't it could cause some anxiety for them in future projects where they might need to use it.