Journal 6 "Grow your Personal Learning Network"

Journal 6 "Grow your Personal Learning Network"

 

Warlick, D. (2009). Grow your personal learning network. Learning & Leading with Technology, Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-march-april-2009.aspx

There are a lot of different ways in which one can learn to find their PLN (Personal Learning Network). Before reading this article, I was not sure what PLN meant and whether or not I had ever used PLN before. It turns out that I have, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Hootsuite, etc. The article talks about different PLN sources out there and how teachers/students use them for their learning experience. For a long time, we have relied on our families, friends, and colleagues to supplement our knowledge of the world. But with new technology, PLN has given us different resources which one can use in order to find information and be informative. With the different PLN's out there, educators can choose the time and place where to have conversations with one another, via web of course, and they can talk about anything and everything that is of interest to them regarding education. The article mentioned that one of the most useful tools in PLN are social bookmarking and Delicious (now known as Diigo). The interesting thing about such PLNs' is that what you bookmark or research and make add it to your profile, will be viewable by the entire world. It is like having a small community within your computer with people who share the same interest as you do. Since there is new technology and different ways for society to communicate, besides face to face interactions, one needs to learn about the different applications as well as gain and develop skills not only for the use of these tools but also for future references. PLN is merely a destination for information.

For me now, my PLN is Twitter. Now that I have a more basic understanding of how this tool works, I can see that one can find a lot of interesting information regarding school, different technologies, and just important information that one might find of interest.  I think that it is a great way of staying in contact with the outside world and finding out all of their different thoughts and their new ideas.

Q: What is there to do in order to become part of one of these PLN?

A: First of all, as a teacher or student, one needs to have an understanding of what PLNs' are out there. There are so many, such as, Twitter, Facebook, HootSuite, Google, Ning, Second Life. One needs to understand and search what might be the different benefits that such websites can bring to us. If used correctly, one can gain enough information about a certain topic of interest. Each of these different websites require you to become a member of their site in order to obtain access to their different tools. Some may require you to pay in order to become a member, but for most of these web pages, they are free and only require a name and email to subscribe to it.

Q: Should teachers use these networks as part of their lesson plans in their classroom?

A: Absolutely yes. These are great tools for teachers to be informed of outside information that might be relevant to their lesson plans. For teachers, navigating this different web tools opens their minds into new resources and different ways in which they can gather information from outside resource that are interested in the same topic as they might be. Besides, showing students that one has knowledge of these tools can also encourage those students to learn all this new information and for them to want and research as well. It is always a good idea for students to have a basic understanding of where the information the teacher is teaching them comes from.

Journal 5 "Not your grandmother's library"

Journal 5

Perez, L. (2011). Not your grandmother's library. Learning & Leading with Technology, 38(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Feature_Article_Not_Your_Grandmother_s_Library.aspx 


This article is quite interesting to me. As we all know, schools have libraries were students can go and gather information that might be useful for them, in any form other than just academically. However, there are students who don't like the library. Well thanks to out technology geniuses out there, we now have libraries through the internet. There is no need of actually going to the library, all you have to do is sit in front of your computer and google the name of the library and either become a member of the library and start searching for what they are looking for. This is way easier even for teachers. Who now know that their students will have access to anything through a library website. Of course, there are those that still prefer printed books, but it always comes in handy to have other resources out there. Great article. Teacher should definitely read it and have a better understanding about such new access to the library.


Q: How does having online library affect our students:
A: I honestly think that it does not have much affect on them. It is just an easier and faster way for them to get access to any resources that they might need for school or any other based information that they might need. It is not always a bad idea to have them learn about online resources, and not just have them sitting in the library reading a book for hours, when we all know that they much rather do it in front of their computer. 


Q: Are teachers aware of the new library access that their students now have?
A: I believe they are. However, there are those teachers who are not aware that their students can research information through the internet, on the library based website and pretty much do everything in front of their computer and not in the library. Though, I am sure they much rather have their students sitting in the library and learning how to find books via Call #s, but there are also those teachers who much rather teach their students all of the new resources that they have, so that they also advance with technology. Good idea, right?!?

Journal 4 "It's Time To Trust Teachers with the Internet: A Conversation with Meg Ormiston"

 Journal 4

 Schaffhauser, D. (2010, 12 1). It's time to trust teachers with the internet: a conversation with meg ormiston. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/12/01/its-time-to-trust-teachers-with-the-internet-a-conversation-with-meg-ormiston.aspx?sc_lang=en

I think that I completely agree with this conversation. I am also amazed at how some teacher now, are not giving up on our students. Most of the time, we see teacher struggling to just keep up with the new technology that is out there and with all of the different wording that our students are now using to communicate with one another. Throughout most of the interview, I could see the main points that were been talked about. One of the main things that I found most interesting is how "teachers are not able to find a safe WEB page for their students, then how can they be trustworthy teachers". This is so true, because as a teacher, one must always be aware of what is out there, and of all the different websites that our students might be able to navigate into. In order for us, as teacher to do so, we must have a good knowledge of what is out there, the new technological features that have recently come out, and of the different ways that we can teach students to be safe and still have fun surfing the net. Great Interview.

Q: What are some of the benefits about teachers learning new technology?

A: I think that there are a lot of new benefits out there for teachers learning technology. It is not just about learning what is new out there and having fun surfing the Web, but it is about learning how to use the new tools and incorporating those into the classroom. This will help teachers have a better understanding of how their students are now learning in this new Century and how they are able to help them. 

Q: Should teachers have background knowledge of WEB surfing and safe websites students can use?

A: Yes, teachers should definitely have some knowledge of websites out there and whether or not they are safe for students. We often think that we know how to surf the web and whether or not a web page is safe, but unless we surf that web page and do some research on it, we will not know if it is correct for our students to use. It should be prohibited for teachers to say that they do not know if a certain web page is appropriate for students, then how are they capable of teaching their students what is right and wrong. Teachers should take some technology classes where they learn how to surf the web and have a wider understanding of technology.