Happy Day-After-the-Day-After Groundhog’s Day!

I have no idea if Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow the other day.  I haven’t had time to check.   I’ve been at the Florida Educational Technology Conference convention in Orlando this week, and I am in information OVERLOAD mode right now.  While I am sitting in meetings and workshops, learning about all the new techniques and technologies available to use in the classroom, I am also meeting new people, talking, and exchanging ideas.  In other words, I am creating my own personal educational technology NETWORK.

Then, yesterday morning, I read chapter two of our textbook: “Communications, Networks, the Internet, and the World Wide Web.”  Whoa.  Can we say IRONY?

Basically, the whole idea of networking, whether personal or electronic, reminds me of the old shampoo commercial:  One person knows about something, she tells two friends, they each tell two friends and so on… until everyone knows about it.  The same is true for how our students can use networking to enhance their educational experiences.   Dr. Wendy Drexler beautifully illustrates this concept in her video, The Networked Student.  This student, who represents the possibilities of what can be achieved as a result of a strong technology background, is typical of today’s students – who is already technology-savvy, is driven to use different types of technology simultaneously, and has built up a substantial technological community (generally, an informal one, mostly made up of their friends and relatives).  Because they have had such varied technological experiences, they are more prepared to create an electronic learning network, in which they can access numerous learning resources to augment their education.

In our textbook, the authors refer to the World Wide Web as a service of the internet.  I, like others I am sure, thought that the Internet and the World Wide Web were synonymous, when the World Wide Web is just a part of what it can do.  However, it is the “most widely-used service on the Internet” (Shelly 78).  Initially, when I was teaching, the World Wide Web was accessed in the classroom to access websites, view videos, and do research.  It was not an active participatory activity – it was passive, but brought the world into the classroom.

Now, with the Web in version 2.0, our students are not just observers of information on the www, but they are participants and CONTRIBUTORS.  And, isn’t this the goal of education:  to create future contributors to the world?  By creating contributors, we give our students a voice.  Their voices are strong and creative; their voices are already being heard in chat rooms, on their Facebook status comments, and in their blogs, emails, and discussion boards.  Kids want to be heard.  They want to be a part of something bigger.  Giving students the skills to network, they are opened up to the world of communication.  Next up is Web 3.0, in which the www will become more intuitive, more informative, and more personalized.  “In essence, the Web will become one huge searchable database, and automated agents of every type will retrieve the data you request.  Some researchers predict that this next generation of the Web will perform practically any task imaginable” (Shelly 79).

The idea behind student networking grows exponentially.  Just as one computer is connected to another computer which is connected to a server which is connected to the Internet, which is connected to millions of other computers, the same is true with students.  By providing students with the skills and knowledge to create contacts, students can make connections with people all over the globe.  When I think about that, I smile, because suddenly our big world becomes smaller.

When I was a child, I was lucky, because my parents loved to travel and took my brother, my sisters, and I all over the world.  I had the opportunity to see the inside of the Sydney Opera House in Australia, hear music played in an ancient church in Salzburg, Austria, watch giraffes graze on tall grasses in Kruger National Park in South Africa, smell the scents, both good and bad, of a street market in Guatemala, and drink from a coconut that had just fallen from a tree in Fiji.  I actually made friends with children from all over the world, and became pen pals with two kids in New Zealand and Honduras.  I had so many varied experiences in my life that made me aware of the world and my surroundings, that my classmates had not had the opportunity to have.  I could tell stories, and show them pictures, but nothing compares to being there in person and living it.  I was happy to see that there are sites like www.epals.com where kids can email with other students in a safe environment.  While it is not the same as visiting, making a personal connection makes a big impact. Then being able to go online to Google Earth brings the world even closer.

Perhaps if we, as educators, can help our students develop personal, positive relationships and learn to communicate with others around the world, we can show our students how to become more tolerant and compassionate.  And I think that is the most important lesson of them all.

Happy Networking!

          ~ Christi



References:


Drexler, W. (2008). The Networked Student.  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA

Shelly, G.B., Gunter, G.A., & Gunter, R.E. (2010). Integrating technology and digital media in the

      classroom (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Course Technology.