I had no real “network” until I began the Walden program, except for book clubs, because I didn’t have any reason to increase real learning. Looking up more information about Dan Brown or Greg Mortensen satisfied curiosity but didn’t increase knowledge. Learning to navigate through new software is interesting, but looking into someone else’s thoughts helps me to grow in ways that I never could in a regular classroom. Walden has turned me into a thinker, again. Every time I read a discussion posting or a blog site, or follow a “rabbit trail” when someone share’s their interests, I learn something that I never would have considered before, and it is amazing! Trying to become a better communicator – ordering my thoughts so my discussion and blog input is clearer – is a side benefit to being a member of this network.
I am using Power Point more in my job. Together my students and I are creating “word family” and vocabulary lists. When I add icons to their vocabulary words they have more access to the information and have more interest if they have input. Together we are creating background knowledge by “frontloading” information. They may not know what “glimmer” means but when they see a picture they have a better idea.
Power Point lets us revise and revisit the information (Thanks to the constructivists theory I have been using more culturally-connected icons; thanks to the “behaviorists” we practice frequently; and thanks to the “cognitiveists” my students help create these illustrated lists!).
I think that mind-mapping, using graphic organizers, will be wonderful to teach them to organize their thoughts. I am going to create a class blogsite, and even though it will be just for us the fact that some things that they’ve said will be published and archived will lend importance to their learning.
I have used search engines and Yahoo! to gain new knowledge. Several times, recently, I have gone to the Walden Library and browsed, and I know that will do this more and more often. I have also gone to “ask the expert” blogsites and read questions and responses more often since I have joined the Walden community.
As a learner being connected with other learners and other ways of gathering information is now a part of my academic life. When I actually had to identify the learning networks in my life, through the mind-mapping tool (an adaptation of the “visuals” emphasis of “Connectivism”), I understood how the past 13 weeks has changed my perception of being a both an adult learner and an eventual instructor for adults, how I fit together in “connection” with my fellow students, and how I can connect with others using Web 2.0 as a “collaborative mapping tool” (through which I found good websites pertaining to the classroom teacher). Hopefully, I can use Web 3.0, if I can understand it better, as another tool to increase my “Connectedness” to others on the web. So, yes, I support the central tenents of “Connectivisim,” even though Web 2.0 started out as a type of marketing tool.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Mind Map entitled Connectivism Mapping Learning Connections
Please read the corrected Mind Map found at http://www.mywebspiration.com/view/278645a3572a.
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