It is interesting to look at the change in my use for the internet in the last few years. When I was in my undergrad or even way back when I was in high school, the internet was used for socializing with friends. When I was in high school I would IM people using messanger till the wee hours of the morning. My parents would get angry because no one could call when I was on line. Then came MySpace and from that Facebook emerged. This was basically my extent of socializing on line before I entered Education.
I am not naive to think that high school students of today are only as connected on line as I was when I was in my undergrad but I still believe they use the internet primarily to connect with people they know personally outside of the internet. The only interactions they may go out of their way to create is random comments on you tube videos or messing with information on a wikipedia entry. To me a connected student would have a PLN like this:
Mine, on the other hand, connects me with people I don't know. I use the internet to gather and export information to/from fellow educators around the globe. My PLN looks more like this:
Connecting with people is an awesome experience and has many positive implications. For me it provides support when creating lesson plans. It helps me gather perspectives on issues and helps keep me current on the changes happening in education.
The internet is a great place to gather information and connect with friends but the more you connect with people on line you realize it is so much more. This is something our students haven't learned yet and something we can teach them so they can be ahead of their peers when they enter the work force and/or higher education.
It is so interesting to see a visual representation of your PLN! It's particularly interesting because most of these either didn't exist, or I didn't know about them a year or two ago. Now, like you, these are a part of my every day life - especially when it comes to school and teaching.
ReplyDeleteIt's also entertaining that things that were relevant to me while I was a high school - like MSN Messenger, Encarta, etc - are nowhere to be found nowadays.
Great post!
Everyone's visualization is so different, I love it! Haha I must be honest, I had no idea what MySpace was until about 1 year ago. I always thought I was up with the times but apparently not (time for the walk of shame).
ReplyDeleteI like your visualization Anna! I find that lots of students used similar tools to create their visualizations and yours stood out in my RSS Feed because it was so different :) I think it is very eye-catching and I like that you have all the logos too!
ReplyDeleteMiss L
Miss L’s Whole Brain Teaching
Anna, I really like your PLN as well. It looks like some kind of crazy sea creature. There are a couple of your connections that I have never heard of, and some I have never used. I will have to give them a try.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I used imindmap, it is so easy and free! you just download it onto your computer and you can use it any time you want!
ReplyDeleteHey Anna, I thought you made a really insightful comment there when discussing what students use the internet for - while their potential is much greater than our own was at their age, I believe that there is a 'developmental' aspect to their networks. Without a doubt I imagine that ours (on average) reach much farther and are more diverse than the average students. Thanks for sharing!
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