Blog Post #7

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

The connectivism concept is definitely a learning technique that can be very effective in the 21st century! Social networking has opened the doors to connect with others that have the same interests so why not connect with others that are interested in learning the same topics. As the video points out, students take control of their learning through networking with others. They not only share the information they have learned but can learn from what others have found.
The one thing that concerned me was the statement that “others can learn from his hard work”. This could make it easy for some students to just “copy” the websites and information others have found and use it for their own credit. I am sure some guidelines have to be set because as in any group work, some will work harder than others.
As for the question, “Why does the networked student even need a teacher?” the video points out several good reasons. The teacher is needed to help teach the student how to build the network and guide him when he gets stuck. The teacher is there to help the student learn the difference between credible information and the information that is not and how to organize the amount of information that is found. The most important role of the teacher is to teach the student to use this networking technique to not only navigate his learning but also his future. This will be of value to all of us as these students learn to creatively solve the world’s problems.