Blog Post #7

I just finished watching The Networked Student by Wendy Drexel. I enjoyed how simple this video was. During the video someone talked while laying down paper images. The video explains how a student attends a high school one day a week in person and two days online. It states that the student does not use a textbook, and the teacher almost never lectures. The teacher believes in Connectivism. According to Wiki, Connectivism is a theory of learning based on the premise that knowledge exists in the world rather than in the head of an individual. Students using this method would use technological resources such as Google, blogging, and YouTube to learn and share new information.
The 21st century student will most likely use tools such as an MP3 player. He will not only use it to listen to his music, but to also listen to podcast from different professors. Professors from Yale, Berkeley, and even Harvard record podcast for students to listen. One question that was asked was... Why does he even need a teacher? He stated that the teacher is there to help students take advantage of new learning opportunities and helps students if they need help.

I liked the concept, but I am not sure if this is a method that I would 100% use while teaching. I know many people who take online classes for the convenience of hours. I also know people who take online classes because they are able to cheat. I think that if taking classes online that the test should all be in a school setting. I know you are suppose to have trust, but you will still have students who will cheat. I know cheating will only hurt the cheater, but it can also hurt others if that cheaters becomes an educator and does not know the information. I am not 100% on this method. I think it's great but more work will have to be put into online schools to prevent people from cheating.

















I watched My PLE which was done by a 7th grader. She did an awesome job. She explained how she was able to do work on her own time. I think it was awesome that she was allowed freedom to do the work on her own, but she said at times she felt it was a lot of responsibility. By using this method she was not allowed to skip any work or be late on it. I think the method is great for students who still have to go to a school setting. It allows them to use less time in a class setting listening to lectures. I still think this method should be used with classroom time.


I just watched a video about Thomas Suarez. This 12 year old boy is amazing! It is awesome that a child his age is interested in creating apps and games. Instead of wasting time playing them all the time he learned how to create them!!. He seems really mature for his age. He has created an app club at his school for other interested students to learn to create apps. He stated that when it comes to technology that the students know more than the teachers. I found that funny and in some cases not true!! Teachers are starting to use technology more now than they used to. I really enjoyed the video. This video fits very well with the other videos that I watched in this post because it shows how young children are using technology and advancing!!