Blog Post #6

Wendy Drexlers' The Networked Student

I just watched "The Networked Student", a video made by Wendy Drexler. The video was made to help students, parents, and even teachers, and professors to understand how important networked learning is now and will be in the future. I like how it said in the video, that the tools aren't as important as the connections made possible by the tools. Wendy Drexler encouraged her students to self-teach themselves and learn how to connect with other people on there own. I think this is important because it is helping to make connecting with other people around the world a popular way to learn and grow as individuals and teachers.

Creating a PLN (Personal Learning Network) is not a hard thing to do. It just takes some research. You find different websites, search engines, or any tool that can help you to enhance your learning experience. You can also connect with other people to see what websites they use, and vice versa. The video lets you know that blogs are a good tool. Not because they are all 100% fact, but because other people's opinions can help to give you better insight.

The 21st century student diagram is a great process. It helps you to get started on your PLN and lays it out for you in a simple form. It's a great start to help you understand how networking works. So why does the networked student even need a teacher? I don't know if he/she needs a teacher but he/she definitely needs an instructor. It's the job of the instructor to show how to get started communicating, offer guidance and insight, how to search for the right sources, to know the difference between a scholarly source and a not-so scholarly source. Wendy wants the students to leave her class and be able to maintain their learning network and to be able to communicate and help make a positive change through being a networked student.

I watched another video about a 7th graders personal learning network and all I have to say is, Awesome! Mine isn't that advanced yet. She has it organized and really knows what she is doing on it. I may be only 20 years old but all my science classes back in middle and high school were textbook and paper oriented. I bet learning the way she is has to be funner than when I did. She does her own research and is able to look at stuff her teacher post about assignments and lessons. I thought it was really cool.