Wrapping it up...and tying a bow

Social Networks

It was so true to read Richardson’s observation that youth of today hare using social networks

as a way to communicate with their friends, but to also access “peers and adults outside of their physical spaces, people who they don’t know but with whom they share a passion” (131). As I view both my daughter’s technology uses, this is very apparent – and it is NORMAL to them – it is a part of their everyday lives. I agree with Richardson when he states “kids engage in ‘self-directed, peer based learning’ that looks very different than most of their experiences in school” (132).

I was curious to read Richardson’s view on Ning. I hadn’t heard of it before this course, yet it has been around since 2005. Taking a look at it again (I recall looking at it a few weeks back) I notice that there is a price involved – minimum $25 per month. Seems kind of hefty when there are free networks available.

It was interesting to read Richardson’s stance on Facebook, as this site continues to be a hot topic with educators. I have not allowed my daughter’s to sign up for facebook until they are 16, however, they have found other avenues to be socially connected – through instagram, text plus, email, and now snap chat. By the time they are 16, facebook may not even interest them with everything else that is available to them. I do agree with Robertson, though, after taking this course, that “no teacher should be denied exploration of a technology that with good pedagogy could be a valuable learning tool for students, or, more importantly, could provide important context for learning in general” (134).

It is fantastic to read about the educational uses of social networking sites. Richardson describes the use of Ning (which at the time must have been free), and the uses could likely be applied to other social networking sites. The collaboration of the Marine Biology students (142) and the ArtSnacks (143) pulled in people from other parts of the world to contribute to student learning. To me, that just seems amazing and incredible for today’s students…something that certainly wasn’t available when I was in school! …But hey, it is now!

The “Big Shifts” that Richardson describes, indicate to me that the way we teach needs to undergo some changes. Learning is a lot different than when I was a child in school, and as educators, we need to adapt to the changes in order to be effective for the sake of the students. All educators should be aware of these “shifts”:

• 1. Open Content – the vast amount of information that is available is staggering. The teacher is no longer the primary source of learning information.
• 2. Many, Many Teachers – students (and teachers) now have access to professionals, authors, scholars, etc…many people who can contribute to the education of students. Tapping into these resources is a huge benefit for student learning.
• 3. Collaborative Knowledge – the key point that struck me was Richardson’s comment: “That work can have real purpose and real meaning for the audience that reads and consumes it” (151).
• 4. Teaching is Conversation – “By inviting students to become active participants in the design of their own learning, we teach them how to be active participants in their lives and future careers” (151).
• 5. Know “where” learning – be able to find answers to questions, and to be able to evaluate which sources are accurate and relevant
• 6. Readers are No longer Just Readers – “readers themselves must learn to be critical consumers of the information they consider” (152).
• 7. The Web as Notebook – our society is becoming more paperless, as we move to storing/retrieving information on the web.
• 8. Writing is no longer limited to text – this is one area that I have particularly enjoyed learning about, as putting together information into multimedia presentations can be enjoyable, and informative for the audience that “reads” it.
• 9. Mastery is the product, not the test – I had to chuckle at Richardson’s comment: “Would you feel safe in a world where kids were awarded drivers licenses by just passing the written test? I don’t think so” (153).
• 10. Contribution, not completion, as the ultimate goal – “teachers will have to start to see themselves as connectors, not only of content, but of people” (154).

Richardson makes a good point, that through many of my courses, I have felt that this will become more of my responsibility in the near future: “teachers need to find ways to use these tools to move away from the more traditional paradigms of instruction on their own terms in their own ways and recruit others to follow suit” (155). The school that I have been “learning” from during my courses uses very little technology. When I gave one teacher the suggestion of a class blog with her students (kidblog) she was so excited after setting it up, she couldn’t wait to stop me in the hallway and tell me about it. I think this was just the tip of the iceberg, and this made me want to share with other teachers the vast amount of tools and information that is available to create exciting learning opportunities with their students!

Reading the Epilogue, it kind of made me jealous! The teacher effortlessly maneuvers his way through all these tools, knowing how each of them work, and he seems to have them all organized so well. Taking this course, it feels like I have been introduced to so many new tools, but I don’t feel as if I am proficient with them yet. For instance, RSS feed – it sounds like an amazing tool, but I don’t quite have it figured out yet. The teacher also has tools linked together (158), and that seems like a great strategy, yet I am not that familiar with it yet. Certainly I would like to be that proficient; I just feel I have a little ways to go before I get there!