Personal Learning Networks

           As I began reading chapter one of Personal Learning Networks I went into it a bit skeptical. This chapter told us about what is out there and available and how to start using it.  I believe that we should use technology to teach, but I also believe in a hands on approach. I think that I so strongly believe in the hands on approach because that is the way that I learn things best.  Luckily the book broke things down for me, such as the bullet list made by Dave Wiley. I realized that we are changing drastically from small use of technology to everyhing being connected electronically from the list, "Analog to digital, tethered to mobile,  isolated to connected, generic to personal, consumption to creation, and closed systems to open systems."  One of these things that I did see as a negative was with the isolated to connected bullet.  After the list they went more in detail on each bullet and for this one they say that you can be 3 thousand miles away and be close to someone but be right next to someone and be so far away from them.  This worries me, because students can be so against getting close to their teacher and being comfortable with them and this would cause that seperation to be even further.

            Though I have doubts on going head first into technology in the classroom I did find things that I think would be helpful for a teacher.  "How to collaborate with them in ways that go beyond sharing existing information to the creation of new knowledge."  This statement alone gave me hope that not only can teachers connect and help each other out with sharing information they can collaborate and come up with new ideas and this means that teaching won't be the same information over and over again. I think that lessons should update with the times. New things are being discovered everyday and with the technology in the classroom students get to be kept more up to date.

           The more I read into this chapter the more my skeptisim went away.  The part that pushed me into actually accepting the idea was that "students are better prepared for life and work in the 21st century" and "Intruction is more individualized."  In schools right now students are given work, told to memorize it, then take a test and forget it. That doesn't help shape you into an adult or teach you anything about the real world. If bringing technology into the classroom in full force could help ready students for their futures I'm all for it.  Also people learn in different ways and having things be individualized helps everyone learn better.  Over all this chapter has opened my views of bringing technology into the classroom. We will see if I am fully convinced by the end of the book.

The old

The new

                 V.S