Blog Post 7

The Networked Student 
By: Wendy Drexler 

In “The Networked Student” by Wendy Drexler I learned about connectivism. Connectivisim is the theory that presumes that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties which is made possible through various tools of technology. Connectivisim was developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes to explain the effect that technology has had on how we live, communicate, and learn.


In this video you see how a student uses websites, bookmarking, Skype, wiki’s, iTunesU and more to build his personal learning network. Connectivism allows a student to have control of his or her learning experience and access to professors and students across the world. The teachers role in connectivisim may at first seem obsolete but, it may indeed be the most important factor. The teacher acts as a guide to students. Teachers must show the students how to communicate properly, validates sites, gives guidance when a student is stuck, and demonstrates how to properly ask for help from experts. In connectivism the teacher’s role is almost like a G.P.S. guiding the student through unfamiliar roads. As time goes on, and the roads become familiar, students are able to learn on their own without getting lost.

I think connectivisim is a fool proof theory. I also think that connectivism is slowly but surely growing and will soon take the place of the more traditional style teaching. I think this is a great thing! Students would no longer have to be bored into a textbook or lectured until they fall asleep. They will no longer have to come to school five days a week for 8 hours. I also believe that we as future educators must be prepared for this. Having knowledge of the tools available and the capability of fully functioning them should be a must and a want in this career as a future educator.

A Seventh Grader's Personal Learning Environment

In this video a seventh grade student walks you step by step through her PLE (Personal Learning Environment) . She did a wonderful job at creating and organizing her PLE. She separated work from play and went into detail with each item shown. I believe a lot of people can learn from this 7th grader organization is a key role in being successful.

I too have many things in my PLN. Mine mainly consists of social networking  things such as Facebook, Skype, Twitter, and blogger. However, I do have delicious, CNN,and YouTube. I am going to use this 7th graders idea to separate work from play. I am also going to check out glogster after viewing this video. It seems to have fun and creative things that could come in handy!