Networked learning is a really, really cool concept; basically it is a personal learning environment that empowers the learner to take a hold of the learning process. All too often, teachers are the focus of the learning process, merely lecturing the students who are supposed to simply sit and absorb the information (think chapter 2 of
Pedagogy of the Oppressed/ banking pedagogy). The human network is so vast; we are all part of it! A networked student uses many tools. To name a few: websites, google scholar, social bookmarking sites, blogs, podcasts/iTunesU, VoiceThread, and Wikis. Students choose a topic (with guidance from the teacher) and sort of do a "scavenger hunt" for information. If someone's Twitter says something about the topic you are researching that leads you to a podcast by a Harvard professor which in turn causes you to research something on google scholar which shows that something you read on someone's blog was inaccurate...! ahh! Networked learning is fun and EFFECTIVE because it is the students that are doing the action/work. Taking action in one's work is so much more powerful than just sitting there listening (although that can be effective at appropriate times as well)! The teacher is very crucial in networked learning. They are not the "bank of knowledge" as is seen in traditional classrooms, but they are a facilitator and a motivator. The average student is not going to simply take it upon themselves to to correctly complete a networked learning assignment; sure students are curious about things, but they need a teacher to both encourage them and put them back on the path of knowledge if they somehow stray. Teachers can assist students with assessing the accuracy of things that they "stumble upon"--no pun intended, as that is also a technological aspect of networked learning. The teacher somewhat sets the end result for the students; it's up to the students to find their way. The teacher is an integral part of the whole process because, after all, it is GUIDED inquiry that builds critical thinking skills!
Both the teacher and the students, especially, need to exercise digital literacy in networked learning or else it will be completely ineffective. Students need to know how to navigate through things such as blogs, twitter, iTunesU, etc. They need to be able to evaluate and organize what they come across through their findings.
I will DEFINITELY use networked learning in my future classroom! As we all know, history is not black and white facts (as it is all too often presented); how great would it be for students to use networked learning to solve "history mysteries?" Or even just back up a historical claim with evidence they found through their networking. I really like how the students ultimately should share what they found through their research with others (sort of like a give and take relationship). What an amazing network we have out there!
While it might be difficult to give up some control in the classroom, 1) isn't our job to help the students learn as effectively as possible?? and 2) we still facilitate the students!
Through twitter, I found this thread about networked learning, and guess what?! Professor Drexler was one of the people that commented!
http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/index.php/forum/topic?id=15
How would you use networked learning in your classroom??
I like 2 things you talked about the most. First, it is so important for us to allow our students to have some control over their learning so they can build important critical thinking skills that will help them be life long learners. Also, the idea that history is so often biased can be alleviated to such a great degree by student networking is something that is pretty new but also very profound. To see for example a Japanese person's perspective on WWII is something that can be very valuable to implement in our classroom, and can create better "citizens of the world" out of our students.
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