Connectivism believes that learning occurs as a result of many social networks and diverse ties. I believe that this idea is beneficial in so many more areas of life than through Delicious and GoogleScholar. These are helpful tools for projects and discovering knowledge for one's own benefit, but should not encompass the entire class. The class described in the video is a high school class. So, I do not even see why the question of needing a teacher is even introduced. Perhaps if it was a college class. It's called an online class. However, I do not know many 15-18 year olds that could make that many connections by themselves. Not in my high school. Not in any other high school I've heard of. My librarian tried introducing us to Delicious, we thought it was a joke (and a good excuse to get out of class to play in the computer lab!) and we used academic journals in my Psychology class to write a 10 page research paper, so it is not as if we were not shown these resources.
I think it would merely be the problem of motivation. Nearly every student, high school or college, will only do the minimum amount of work necessary to finish a project or make an A. Why would someone look into all of these different sites if just one has the answers to the questions you are looking for? Maybe I'm wrong. Lazy. Or just efficient.
A teacher can show how to build the network and differentiate between good/bad information, but it is the job of the student to take that farther. Regardless, the teacher has to be there to keep students on track, provide checkpoints, and answer questions. They could provide side assignments so that the students could use the information they have been finding along the way. Isn't this "research" and "social networking" usually called homework anyway? Sorry to burst any bubbles, but I do not think this would be effective in a middle school classroom. The tools may be helpful in a student's career and future projects, but only if the resources truly interest them. And if they write down the passwords to the million networking sites.
A 7th Graders PLE
It is interesting to see how all of these networking sites are actually put to use. I like the resources Evernote and symbaloo the student suggests. I agree with her assessment that it gives the student more freedom, because as she said, she can do her work how and when she wants. It allows the student to be creative in putting the projects together and to be proud of their work. I think this process could be very beneficial in a classroom. One question, how is this an effective science class if all they do is blog, research, and make online posters? Experiments? Hands-on learning? Maybe in high school I guess....
How to do it, when to do it.
I had a leopard gecko. It bit my finger once.
Hi Jenna,
ReplyDeleteI agree that motivation will play the key role in classes that practice connectivism. I also think maturity counts as well. College students are more apt to researching things that interest them for theses and projects. Tools that are taught through connectivism will help make all of that easier.
However, I think it's important to be introduced to all of this stuff very early on like elementary schools. I believe including ipads (which i just bought and LOVE!) to young students and teaching them throughout their educational careers about technology and its beneficial uses will help maximize motivation.
Sorry about the gecko!
Mary Bishop
My Blog
"Nearly every student, high school or college, will only do the minimum amount of work necessary to finish a project or make an A." I'll focus on college. Why do people go? To get a degree and not to learn? I think you are correct, but we are continuing to find out that having a degree no longer assures a good paying, interesting, challenging job. Maybe we would be better off just saying we need to hire baby sitters and not educators. Then establish some other methods for providing learning. That would save society a lot of money since baby sitters certainly would not need degrees and we cold hire them at a much lower cost. So what do you really want to be? An educator or a baby sitter?
ReplyDeleteFor your Skype project I want you to Skype Dr. Drexler and ask her if her experiment with connectivism was successful in middle school. Talk to me and we will set up your interview together. This is an assignment, not a suggestion.