Blog Post #2

Mr.Dancealot - Savanah Moore, Jacquelyne McKiernan, Shernaye James

In the video Mr. Dancealot, the professor is trying to teach his students how to dance by taking notes. The professor gets angry when the students attempt to practice the dance moves he is telling them about. He also did not approve of the students asking questions. Mr. Dancelot is an excellent example of how not to teach students. The professor did not take the time to demonstrate how to perform these dances, and when he did demonstrate the dances he was behind a large desk where the students were unable to see his feet. Mr. Dancelot never gave his students the chance to practice the dance moves and expected the students to learn by watching. In the end when it was time for the final exam none of the students were able to demonstrate the dances and most of them had the textbook in their hands while trying to dance.

The Networked Student - Shernaye James

In this video written and directed by Wendy Drexler you are given an example of a student going into college. The student starts out with very little but soon starts to build his network. The students learns to blog, and share information using sites like Diigo and Google docs. The student starts out not very studious, he does not have a textbook but soon is able to find resources from all sorts of programs and sites that relate to his field of study. The video ends with the student being connected to a top professor at the University of California Berkeley.

The networked student needs a teacher because they need to learn the proper procedures on how to create their networks. They can not be expected to just have the sites and resources fall into their laps. The students need to be guided on the proper way to use the resources they are given and how to communicate through technology. The teacher would help improve the students success rate in widening their network, and show the students how to be more organized in keeping up with their numerous forms of technology and resources.

My reaction to the video is that it is very informative about creating and continuing to build your network. I like the idea of the term Connectivism being introduced. The video stating the importance of going through the process of creating a network, how to develop that network, and understanding how to properly build your network. Also, this video showed me how to understand the proper guidelines and format of creating a network. The importance of having good information and knowing when you see propaganda. The teacher wants the student to maintain their network and use the many tools that can be helpful in building your network.This video shows the importance of being able to learn effectively.

Teaching in the 21st Century - Savanah Moore

In the video, Teaching in the 21st Century by Kevin Roberts, Roberts feels that technology is the main teacher for students. I think he brings up good points in questioning what it means to teach in the 21st Century. The position described in the video is that as teachers we have to keep our teaching interesting.We have to keep students interested all day everyday. It is important to keep students motivated by creating lesson plans that are interesting. As an educator, it is important for me to know that I am not the only source of information for my students. I can provide technology in my classroom to help my students learn. But, it is important to teach my students that learning can be an ongoing process and that learning never stops.

Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts - Jacquelyne McKiernan

In this video Vicki Davis uses technology to encourage her students to learn for themselves and to be more self sufficient when using technology. The students are able to teach themselves and other students how to use different programs on the computer. Davis when in her classroom acted more like a guide rather than a teacher. This approach of teaching can be good in letting the students become more technology literate on their own but is not appropriate for all students because all students have a different skill level. Students who do not use technology as consistently as others may fall behind because they are not as familiar with the software.