In the video Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student the author talks about a student who is given an assignment for American Psychology that can be any topic. He attends class three days a week online, the other two online, and does not have a textbook. Also, the teacher almost never lectures.
My first reaction is: how can a student learn without the guidance of a textbook and lecture? I had to listen to this video twice as well as rewind several times. I can see this working in a college class but not middle school or high school. If this was a class assignment given to me in middle or high school I would feel so overwhelmed.
The video described many ways for the student to find information about the topic he chose, and all of them were online. When I was in high school my teachers encouraged us to use sources not on the web. In every paper for English class, we had to have at least one or two book sources. I do not believe all of the information students are receiving should be from the web. Anyone can post anything, and it can all be wrong.
I do believe that starting young with learning the tools to do an assignment like this would be helpful. That way when the student is older and given an assignment like this, they will know what to look for, where to look, and will not be so overwhelmed.
It makes me wonder how much students are actually learning in school now. Our teachers, parents, and grandparents all worried about how much we were online. Now, there is a huge push for everything to be done by technology. I am not sure what to think about this. I am going to need actual physical proof that this works.
In the video Welcome to My PLE! a 7th grade girl shows how she does her school work in her science class. She has pulled everything together on a person page that has her music, Facebook account, and many other things. Her science class is paperless, and she uses many different accounts to keep her projects and work organized.
My “PLE” is not so high tech. I use sticky notes on my MacBook Pro dashboard to keep all of my passwords and usernames straight. I also have a datebook that I write all of my assignments in. If I knew how to use something like what this girl has explained I probably would. However, before this class and before this video I have not heard of such a thing.
Hey Lyndsie!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Very well written and I love you pictures. I am glad someone mentioned how they were required to have non internet sources for EVERY paper in high school. I did too and it was annoying. But I agree with you, non internet sources are important too and I think students should still be taught how to go to a library, find a book, and use it for the information they need. After all, this is why we still have libraries.
Well done! I can't wait to read more.
Meghan
Hey Lyndsie!
ReplyDeleteMy classmate that I was suppose to comment on has not posted anything in awhile, so I picked you :)!
I think you did a great job on this post. All of your links worked and your images were very cute. I liked how you summarized each video then you wrote your thoughts on it. I think your PLE is getting pretty high tech, you have been using IMovie and you have done great with that! See you this week.
Kelsey
Lyndsie,
ReplyDeleteIntegrating technology into the classroom is not without it's problems. However, with the networked classroom format, teachers fulfill the role of guide and counselor. They are there to help teach students what constitutes a proper "source" and how to find it. You mentioned the dubious nature of many of the things found on the Internet, and you're right to point it out. Overall though, this was an excellent post.