Chapter 6
The Social Web
Learning Together
Refection: Random thoughts the author has inspired…
One becomes very philosophical, after the passing of an individual that in our time is equated to Albert Einstein. Steve Jobs, passing is an enormous loss for the technological community. The following article may interest you about his life, the loss, and our future:
After reading this chapter, one can only be amazed by the fact that the Worldwide Web connects with over 1 billion people. That sure is a lot of sharing, creating new ideas, and taking the sting out of long distant relationships.
For me as an educator, this innovative technological stream of power needs to be harnessed in just the right way; so that my students get out of each experience a valuable understanding of new knowledge. The most significant aspect of this new learning process is eloquently stated by the author, “This vision is much different from the traditional classroom in which most students work is done in isolation, never finding connection to a larger whole that might be produced by the class in its entirety. That’s not to say that in this new world students don’t do their own work. But it does mean that responsibility for that work is in some way shared by those interacting with it, the readers and communicators from within the classroom or outside, if allowed. Learning is a continuous conversation among many participants.” P. 86.
In my classrooms, I can utilize the program Renzulli to help my students to create a forum for making connections on what they read. This also creates a climate for my students to participate in valuable conversations on what they are reading in the areas of E.L.A. and Social Studies. This system also enhances their social skills development as well as newly found friendships.
On a personal note, I too, need an army or a secretary to help with organization of all this technological data. The tag system appears to be idiot proof with Diigo and Delicious accounts. Retrieving information can be extremely frustrating without an organized system. One frustrating part for me is that when you find a great site and you go back to that particular site it’s gone. No more, this invaluable tool Diigolet tools, you’re not just capturing a link; you are making a copy of the whole page. These tools will teach my students how to organize their materials and this system will make a monumental difference in my life as an education.
Most significantly, for me as an E.L.A. educator is the social bookmarking story cataloging system. According to the author, the following two sites:
are excellent ways to catalog all of your personal books. Most importantly, you can add notes, tags, and your students can comment as well as the community of readers can also make contributions. As far as the impact on students learning thru time, they have successfully chronologically tracked their reading growth as well as observing through time their writing development. This would positively impact student’s academic development.
Signing off till next time…
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