Module 4: Connectivism Mind Map
How has your network changed the way you learn?
Networking has changed the way I learn in both professional and personal situations. Previously, my professional learning was gained through lectures and reading textbooks and journals. These textbooks were often purchased through the university book store at a high cost and journals were retrieved by going to the university library. In today’s digitial society, Since receiving my BS degree in Early Childhood Education through a traditional university, I have received my MEd and am currently persuing my EdS degree through Walden University, an online degree program. During this time, I have gained knowledge through textbooks-downloaded online whenever possible and journals directly linked from Walden’s Library. A large degree of my learning has also come from collaboration with learning communities through networks such as blogs, wikis, and skype.
Personally, as a “want to be” photographer, I am a member of several photography forums where I can learn from other amateurs and professionals by viewing tutorials and reading updates. I also enjoy scrapbooking and often visit scrapbook forums to get new ideas for page layouts. In any situation, if I want to quickly learn how to do something, I search youtube.com for videos. Last week on youtube.com I learned how to make a paper airplane for my 8 and 4 year old sons.
Whether professionally or personally, networking has made learning new things as easy as the click of a button.
Which digital tools best facilitate learning for you?
I feel that the internet is the tool that best facilitates learning. In all of the situations I previously mentioned, the internet was the source of information. I use the Google search engine to research any question that I have. When using the internet, it is important to look for credible sources of information.
How do you learn new knowledge when you have questions? When I have questions, I often use Google search engines. If I have questions about a topic and am familiar with a discussion forum related to that topic, I will also use that as a source of information. When doing this, I can ask the question and others who are knowledgable in that area can post responses. After reading responses I am able to use all the knowledge gained to form my own opinion on the topic, choose the way of thinking that works best for me, or best aligns with my thoughts on the topic. Siemens (2006) refers to this as the process of acquiring and creating one’s own knowledge.
Siemens, G. (2006). Knowing Knowledge. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/72030/CRS-WUEDUC8812-5701377/siemensknowingknowledge.pdf
Beth,
ReplyDeleteI Love the concept of networked learning (Seimens, 2006) that answers many questions about how we acquire much of our knowledge in this digital age. When we need or require additional information about a subject matter, we can use any number of social networks that we connect to for reliable resources. In our e-college environment, we can use resource database that have peer-reviewed or refereed scholarly data.
Earlier today, I used Linked In to find current positions, salaries, and qualification in different industries for instructional designer for another project that I am working on. Without this social network, I would have had to go to a brick and mortar source to get this information. Seimens talks about how our environment learns from our actions. I have observed on several occasions when I consistently used scientific terminology during my Research 8100 & 8200 course, that Microsoft would ask permission to add the words to their database. This implied that in some ways my actions was contributing to my learning environment (computer use) to increase it's knowledge base.
Thanks for sharing.
Sarah
Siemens, G.(2006). Knowing Knowledge. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/72030/CRS-WUEDUC8812-5701377/siemensknowingknowledge.pdf
Jennifer
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that we both have an early childhood degree, but are turning to educational technology. In your experience, how has technology changed the early childhood field,and what do you see for the future?
I see a change back to parents as early childhood providers. This is a result of the economy. They can play a big role using technology.
Cheers
Linda H