Education, I believe, is on its way to finally changing. As we learn more and more about teaching in a way that allows students to construct their own knowledge, using the idea of the networked student I think fits perfectly into this frame; granted that it is used properly. I may not be the most technologically literate person, but I get better, and I know that my students will most likely be better off than me.
The idea that the students can use the internet to pick a topic of interest (within reason) and take it so far as to get professionals from around the world to personally contribute to their learning is so profound and makes the learning process to much more meaningful that I would sacrifice control in my class to accomplish this. I believe that when we allow our students to take an interest in something that means something to them, then they can find the value in learning so much more and on such a higher level.
The internet allows us to connect to so many people, so many different perspectives, that we are not just trying to make good American citizens, but aware citizens of the world- I cannot see an endeavor being more worth it. Whether its talking to someone in a different part of our country, or someone half way across the world, there is much to learn from connecting with these people. I can't believe how much potential there is out there!
This would not be worth it if we didn't have some sort of supervision/guidance, at least part of the time, in doing this and being taught proper digital literacy (everything we have been taught in this class). I can totally see myself participating in this kind of learning for every reason I mentioned above.
I found this website called Support Blogging! and it connects a lot of different educational blogs to each other, and I think this is really cool. Its got blogs from teachers, administrators, students, classes as a whole.. I think it is really cool that there is a website that makes networking a little easier.
http://supportblogging.com/Links+to+School+Bloggers
Do you guys think that there are things that could happen that could hurt our students, possibly emotionally? I could see being networked with some people as potentially damaging if they dont network with people who are mature or respectful.
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Cyber bullying is a reality. Sadly, it is something that many of our students will encounter or even be part of. I am sure there are quite a few of us that have been "bullied" in some way via the internet. As the world around us evolves so does everything else, including things like bullying. We must set an example for our students and ensure there are rules on internet etiquette before releasing them on to the internet. If they are interacting with other people outside of the classroom that are being rude to them, we need to teach them strategies on how to deal with this and how to block the individual. We must show our students not to allow themselves to become victims to such hateful people. Teach them to ignore the comments, block them, and become empowered because they did not sink to the attacker's level. Yes, it hurts when people say things to you, but you have to learn that you're better than that.
ReplyDeleteI too think that this is a legitimate fear for a teacher to have for the networked student. However, I am scared that if we keep the tools available to them from them because we are scared they we will actually be hurting them. There has a to be a safe way for us as teachers to figure out how to monitor the process of networked learning. This might include working closer with students parents if they are going to be doing a lot of work at home or maybe you can facilitate a great deal of the computer use time in your classroom and keep a close eye on the students. So while I agree this is a concern I think there are ways to still allow students to use the internet and become networked.
ReplyDeleteThe internet is prone to danger. No student is safe. But should the internet really be the object of study here? Let's face it, in reality bullying and unacceptable behavior is absolutely EVERYWHERE. We cannot pretend our students are never going to be emotionally distraught, or think we can protect them by putting them in a room of padded ideology. It is my belief the best form of emotional distress prevention is by alerting students to the reality of negativity. Life is harsh, and students are going to need to face the real world at some point. Why not prepare them now rather than later?
ReplyDeleteI think you are right in being concerned about the safety of your future students. This is why teachers will always be needed to supervise these activities. Good for our job security after graduation, right! There are so many weird and mean spirited people on the internet, but I think it is possible to shield students from this now compared with the past. Like all protection measures, nothing is fool-proof and I know we will all experience some inappropriate things while using/connecting students with the world, but compared with the benefits of networks I think we should deal with it as it comes.
ReplyDeleteI believe that students could be hurt by someone on the internet but I think that is why it is very important that we teachers respond to comments. Also, I think that if the teacher does a good job modeling appropriate internet behavior, his or her students will be able to disregard a nasty personal attack because they would have learned that the internet is full of people who hide behind their screens saying nasty things.
ReplyDeleteI think I get a little emotionally damaged just reading comments on youtube sometimes so I think students could definitely run into that problem with the networked learning model. I suppose the main point to make with regards to that statement is that networked learning really doesn't have an impact on the bullying aspect of childhood, it just moves it from getting bullied in the classroom, to being bullied by a computer screen (which is no less hurtful).
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