Social networking has completely changed the way I learn. While I am relatively young at only twenty eight the way I was taught to learn is no longer the way that I am learning. I was taught the act of learning through the lecture, write, and retain method which is just not what learning is today. Social networking has changed the very core what learning is. Social networking has provided a world that is connected through a click of a mouse. Gone are the days of wondering something, then going to the library to look it up; today all kids have to do is look at their cell phone or jump on the internet from the hundreds of available sources. Social networking has created an immediate world where information can be found in seconds or minutes rather than weeks and months.
Social networking has also provided a completely new platform and style of education. And while online learning is really just at the beginning of the diffusion of innovations it is rising in popularity. Face to face classrooms are not the only options any longer. Social networking is the reason that I am a Walden student, for after researching schools, programs, costs, credits and options (all on my instant access computer!) I found that Walden even located thousands of miles away from where I live had the program that best fit my needs.
The digital tools that I have found to be the most successful in facilitating my learning are the programs and databases that I can process my thoughts and gain scholarly information easily and quickly. Specific digital sites, tools, and resources that I have personally found to be most useful are sites such as myWebspiration, and databases such as Eric and ABClio. These are the sites that I have found that allow me to expand on the information that I am trying to process or that ultimately lead to my “ah ha” moment where everything sort of came together.
When I am looking to learn new knowledge I am much like my students; I require some instant gratification. I find my self using the internet as one of my main resources to gather information; while I am a bit more picky than my students with what information I choose to use and trust I still find it a valid source that offers a plethora of information on any topic that I could want to research. If for some reason I can not find exactly what I am looking for on the internet search engines I usually find myself going to databases or social forums where I can pose the question or topic that I am interested in learning. I enjoy the timeliness of the responses that I can gain from these sources.
Social networking has revolutionized how we all gather process information and for the younger generations social networking will be their main source of information.
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Kassidy,
ReplyDeleteYesterday in my class, as I was helping one student with the Hexadecimal Colors, another student said “don’t worry I have them all.” She pulled out her iPod and opened downloaded the Hexadecimal Colors application. I remember when the only way to see the palate was on the web or to purchase a hard copy. New York Times technology columnist David Pogue was a keynote speaker at CUNY IT conference in 2009. He discussed connectivism through social networks. He gave an example about Twitter http://twitter.com/pogue; he said he posted a question during the conference and in a short period of time he began receiving many replies. The point is that we connect through social networks with people who we never meet, which means that it gives us opportunity to listen to opinions which can be very different from ours. This can only generate a better understanding of different topic and perspectives. There is always somebody on our network who knows somebody who knows something. . .
The MacArthur Foundation sponsored a five year research about how kids learn through media and social networks. This is a video about the research:
http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/video_interview_with_mimi_ito/
Hello Kassidy,
ReplyDeleteI like the depth of your approach to each branch of your colorful mind map. Authorstream for power points and myWebspiration were new to me. I find the students in our school are much more adept at the social networking than their teachers and I am hoping to help our teachers in this area. The videos posted on Joyce Seizinger’s whatmyplnmeans.wickispaces.com (from Orit’s discussion post this week) inspired me to collaborate with one of the teachers and start implementing a community PLN for our high school science teachers. You and Orit have been helpful to me, especially in your mind maps, in presenting resources of which I was not even aware. PLNs provide global colleague collaboration and that is the key to making these internet resources relevant and applicable. In other words, it’s the people behind the process that are going to enrich our lives, our discoveries, and influence our best practices. It’s the collaboration of social networking that is driving us into the fourth wave - connectivism.