Blog Assignment 6

The Networked Student

I loved Mrs. Drexler's video, "The Networked Student". Mrs. Drexler explains reasons why personal learning networks are so beneficial and how to go about building a PLN. Through PLN's, the amount of knowledge that can be obtained is multiplied because the student will share what information he has learned with his network and in turn, they will share the information that they have, which is multiplied by other people within their PLN.

I believe that this is the way that educators need to encourage students to learn and to foster a love for learning. It is time for our education system to catch up with the rest of the world as far as taking advantage of the technology that is available to us. PLN's are excellent ways to share information but it is important that our educators make sure that the student is able to identify valuable and credible information. Mrs. Drexler addresses the responsibility of educators following the question "Why does a networked student even need a teacher?". Mrs. Drexler states that the educator provides guidance, teaches students how to communicate with others within a PLN, find credible sources, and collect and make sense of the large amount of information available on the internet.

I must admit that the question of if I am ready to be a teacher of a networked student places a lot of pressure on me but I feel confident because I am preparing myself for that position by taking advantage of what I am learning in EDM310. I am understanding better what a PLN is and I am building and learning from mine. I am also comfortable in saying that I will not know everything that there is to know by the time that I begin teaching because I do not think it is possible and also because it is a life-long journey. I will still be learning as I am teaching my students and I believe that that is beneficial to myself and my students because I will be modeling that even though I do not know all of the answers, I am determined to look for and them.






A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment

"Welcome to My PLE!" is a video about a 7th grader's personal learning environment. I was very impressed while watching this video because of how thorough the student was in building her personal learning page. On this page she included her science class blog for videos and assignments, Facebook, Youtube, her agenda, Evernote, Delicious, and her own personal blog just to name a few but she shows that having a PLE or PLN really organizes and aides in obtaining information. It was apparent through her blog that she is a hard-working student and she really has benefited from having a PLE. Her glogster was also very impressive because it contained audio, video, text, and graphics. This is amazingly different from the posters that I created when I was in school.

"Welcome to my PLE!" has answered many questions that I had about what exactly a PLN is and how it is used. I have benefited a little from my PLN but now that I understand what it is and how it works, I feel more confident building upon it and customizing it to my needs.