Student activity is my core philosophy on how students learn. I believe that students learn through active participation; however Web 2.0 technologies provide a new participatory medium where students can actively learn in a social network. Students learn by connecting, communicating, and collaborating with others who have common interests. Different points of view and learning occurs through these social connections, which ultimately affects the role of the educator and student. John Brown and Richard Adler state “Web 2.0, has blurred the line between producers and consumers of content and has shifted attention from access to information toward access to other people. ” (http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/minds-fire-open-education-long-tail-and-learning-20)
In Web 2.0 learning, students acquire knowledge and skills from other people, based on personal interests. The learning principle that addresses learning outside oneself is Connectivism . This is different from traditional philosophies that focused on principles that looked at individual learning within, instead of the perspective learning through outside connections or organizations.Connectivism allows updated learning in a constantly changing environment, where a person connects with others to develop personal knowledge and understanding. Therefore, learning how to access information through people is more important than trying to know everything. I like Karen Stephenson statement on this:
“Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. Since we cannot experience everything, other people’s experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge. ‘I store my knowledge in my friends is an axiom for collecting knowledge through collecting people.’ http://www.netform.com/html/icf.pdf
Because of the new learning principle of Connectivism, the role of the student changes. I think that the concept of the learner in the digital age of Web 2.0 is to be an active participant in producing, creating, or reflecting on personal interests in a learning community as shown in the YouTube video of a networked student https://youtu.be/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA Another video that shows connectivism is Rethinking Learning. An example of a connected learner is Clarissa, a case study in “The Connected Learning Report.” Jeff describes Clarrisa establishing a “third” space to attain learning goals in this Animoto produced by Dr. Priya Sharma, Animoto – 3rd space.
The role of the educator also changes. The role of educator changes to a facilitator mode, whereas instead of controlling content and conversation, the facilitator guides student learning by helping them develop and shape their own learning network. According George Siemens, facilitators they will need to develop a:
“…persistent presence in the learning network……to amplify, curate, aggregate, and filter content and to model critical thinking and cognitive attributes that reflect the needs of a discipline” http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=220
Facilitators also need to design content and learning experiences that incorporate student interests, that changes according to their needs. This is a flipped version of traditional philosophy, whereas instead of establishing student interest, you let the students use their own interests to guide their learning. I liked Katie thorns comment on establishing a culture of learning in her classroom:
“My goal is to create a culture within my classroom, and this culture will change with every group of learners. Within our own culture, we bring in the French culture and the French language. I teach the language to my students, but I give it to them to adapt. They have opportunities to create with the language and to use it in new ways. I want my students to take the French world and make it a part of their world… and vice versa, http://sites.psu.edu/katiethorn/”
Finally, facilitators need to be comfortable in using new Web 2.0 technological tools. Web 2.0 technologies enables students show and enhance their learning experiences through Blogs, Wikis, Twitter, YouTube, Animoto, Prezi, Voicethread, Flikr, Diigo, Feedly, Yammer, and other technologies. Keith Pritts mentioned the importance of this by stating:
“Teacher’s roles need to change pretty fast. If you don’t take a leap and jump into learning how to use technology in teaching, you’re going to be missing out on incredible opportunities to help future learners.” http://sites.psu.edu/keithprittsedtec467/
For example, facilitators can use blogs that helps shift learning from surface learning to deep learning as mentioned in Blogging to learn (Barlett-Bragg). Bloggers can link content to experiences, self-reflections, and to other links on the web. Also, students can benefit learning through podcast or video media. Wikis can develop collaboration and social networks, such as Yammer and Facebook are capable of increasing student engagement and social interactions, as Victoria Raish states:
“When transitioning a traditional face-to-face class into an online format there are several Web 2.0 tools that can be used to enhance the experience. These tools often have a social directive to help people come together in the often-isolating experience of using a personal computer. Tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Google Drive, Voicethread, and Pollshare are used in both physical and virtual classrooms to improve collaboration, participation, and critical reflection on the part of the students. http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=2517042
Overall, Web 2.0 technologies and learning allow students creative ways to learn and represent their work through connections with other people. This changes the viewpoint of how learning occurs and how to facilitate that learning within this new philosophy of learning.
References
Animoto – 3rd space. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2014, from http://animoto.com/play/LMN9ZK61PEE0rYZnwXPT1w
elearn Magazine: Yammer in the Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2014, from http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=2517042
elearnspace. Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2014, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
It’s Blo-og! It’s Blo-og! | Just another weblog. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2014, from http://sites.psu.edu/katiethorn/
Keith Pritts’ site for EDTEC467 | Blog for EDTEC467. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://sites.psu.edu/keithprittsedtec467/
Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE.edu. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2014, from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/minds-fire-open-education-long-tail-and-learning-20
Networked Student (2008, Nov 26). Wendy Drexler (Producer). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA
Rethinking Learning (2010, December 1) MacArthur Foundation and Pearson Education. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0xa98cy-Rw
Ito, M., Gutierrez, K., Livingstone, S., Penuel, B., Rhodes, J., Salen, K., Schor, J., et al. Connected Learning Report. Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/17070/ConnectedLearning_report.pdf?x-r=pcfile_d
Stephenson, K., (Internal Communication, no. 36) What Knowledge Tears Apart, Networks Make Whole. Retrieved December 10, 2004 from http://www.netform.com/html/icf.pdf.
Teaching in Social and Technological Networks « Connectivism. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=220
Dana, thanks for a very detailed learning philosophy v2 – I think you did a really nice job of integrating how your peers’ thoughts and writing in this course, as well as the texts that you read helped to shape your thinking. You mentioned both in your essay and your video about the view of learning changing from being individual to social and I think that the network graphic you provided is interesting, because it looks similar to the blog social network analysis I did for this course and which you can see in page 3 of this week’s lesson. I think that the individual/social dimension is one of the most interesting shifts when thinking about a view of learning, so you are expressing what many people have started to see as the contemporary view of learning. Good job!
Hello there Dana!
I agree that student activity is a key concept in how they learn. Reading or just listening to lecture can’t be the sole means of a students’ experience in education anymore. I really feel the digital natives are going to require educators to get Web 2.0 tools integrated into their curriculum. Those that resist integrating Web 2.0 tools into their curriculum are doing a disservice to those students. I also feel/agree with you that facilitators need to design the content and learning experiences that incorporate the students’ interest; it will make them be more vested in their own learning. I think one minor challenge to that is comfort level in using technology. Some folks are just naturally capable with using it; some not so much. But, that’s where the role of teachers/instructors/facilitators can help fill that gap.
I really liked what you mentioned in your video about facilitators providing their students with the freedom to use these Web 2.0 tools to enhance their learning. It was one of the things I expected and found in this class – we actually got to use some tools and on projects like the video, we were not given parameters with respect to the tools we chose to create our videos. I’ve seen quite a variety of tools used and I think that is just awesome!
Like you, I also learned from peers in this class. Primarily through the blogs, and more so than I ever imagined. I especially liked it when blogs contained links to other resources. I highlighted this in my own blog entry for this week as well as my video. I found those links to be extended learning opportunities; I took advantage of a few during the course and have a folder of additional things organized that I can check out beginning next week!
Thanks much Dana!
Keith