Blog Assignment 6

Mrs. Drexler's video Network Student is very interesting. My first thought about it was," This is exactly what Dr. Strange is doing with our class." I wonder if this video is what gave Dr. Strange the idea for how EDM310 is set up? We are now learning how to teach ourselves and not be just taught. I love this. I like finding out things on my own and not just taking other individuals word on how things work or have been done. Things are more interesting to me if I am able to find them on my own. It makes me feel as though I become smarter everyday. I know it is a cliche thing to say, but I want to be a person who learns something new everyday, and with this class I ca honestly say I do.

I also noticed that the video alludes to using Delicious quite a lot. I am still having trouble figuring out how it exactly works. All I can figure out about it is how to bookmark my own stuff on there. Could someone please help me figure out how to find other relevant material on there?

As far as the question, " Why does a networked student even need a teacher?" is concerned, we have to be able to teach students how to do these things, and give them a place to start. We need to be able to teach our students how to find out which information is relevant, and how to find it. We have to teach them which people to listen to. We all know that information is powerful, but bad information can lead to terrible things. If students aren't taught the correct way to sift through the things they find, they may come to false conclusions and skewed views of reality.

I do think that this way of teaching and learning is the future, but I am still a little worried as to how well this type of education will be taken in the public school system. Our students still have to pass these standardized test that the government mandates. Our jobs are on the line if our students don't pass these tests. I, so far, have not seen how we will be able to use this method of teaching to get all of the information to the students. I enjoy learning in this fashion but sometimes I think it would take to much time to use it in a classroom.



I was really impressed by the young lady's PLE in the Welcome to My PLE video. This was one of the video I wached when we began building our PLN's and have been trying ever since I started it to mirror what she has done. I haven't really gotten mine to work as well as it seems she has, but I am trying. I have found several great things to keep organized and help me understand some of the stuff I am learning in my other courses. I am planning on using this new found knowledge of PLN's to help with a paper I have to write in my British Literature class. It also turned me on to Evernote. Evernote is what I use to take notes in all of my classes. I am able to find notes easily and study by using the application on my smart phone when I dont have time to take out a notebook or computer.

"Why Smartboards are a Dumb Initiative" is a blog post that states the problems of spending money on interactive whiteboards. The points it makes are that smartboards are just a more espensive way for teachers to do exactly what they did before they had one, and that they are a way for administrators to show what technology they are spending money on instead of taking a risk and spending money on changing the way students learn or teachers teach.

I found a Survey from a Minnesota school system that kind of puts a hole in the argument above. It shows that 90% of teachers from that district with Smartboards say they agree or strongly agree that a Smartboard makes them a more effective teacher. It also says that 90% of those teachers say that their students find the use of Smartboards more engaging than traditional methods. To me that would make them worth the money spent. If teachers find themselves more effective and their students more engaged isn't that the goal of this educational movement.

In the post Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards Mr. Ferriter makes the argument that interactive whiteboards perpetuate the same style of teaching we are trying to get away from. He basically says that they are a more technologicl version of standing in front of the class and presenting notes. I see where he is coming from, but I don't think he tried very hard to find out a better way to use it. In a post I found, Make the Most of Your Interactive Whiteboard, the idea of recording the lecture and screen for children that miss class is proposed. Isn't that part of what we want to do? We want to be able to teach our students outside the classroom, and that seems to me to be easier that setting up a camera and recording what's going on. It also talks of "borrowing" other teachers lessons for help with your own lesson plans. The use of interactive whiteboards seems like a great way to collaborate with other teachers.