My network has definitely changed the way I learn. I used to go to the library and look up books or periodicals to find my answers. I also used the phone to call people I knew who I thought might know the answer. Now, I still look things up and still contact people I know who might be able to help. It’s how I go about these activities now that has really changed. I depend on my network to know pieces of information that is pertinent in their lives or work. When I need that information, I call upon them for it. I no longer need to know the specifics about DOS commands even though I am quite familiar with them but have not had a need to utilize that knowledge in a long time. So when I do need DOS help, I contact someone in my network, in this case, any one of my techno-geek friends. I call upon them because they can give me the answer as quickly as “What color is the sun?”
Knowing how and where to find the information is key to how I learn and how I teach. I tell my elementary school students that you don’t need to know everything. You just need to know how to find out what you need to know. For instance, when I teach word processing, I tell them right at the start that we will be learning the very basics. They will not be experts in word processing and all it can do because there’s too much and most of it they won’t need. I tell them it’s important to learn the basics and be aware of the potentials. But until they need those potentials, they don’t need to know them. If they never write a chemistry or physics or mathematics paper, then the likelihood of them needing to know how to do subscripts and superscripts, especially in elementary school, is slim to none; erring on the side of none. I tell them it is more important that they are aware of the tabs and pull-down menus of choices available so they know where to look when they need something. I teach them to utilize the help “?” when they cannot find something. I tell them they must ask 3 other classmates for help before asking me for the answer. Through this exercise they begin to build networks of their own. They know who is good at word processing and who is good with KidPix, etc.
My two favorite digital tools for learning are the computer with internet and cell phone with text messaging. Text messaging allows me to contact my go-to people immediately and receive feedback almost as fast. This works better than a phone call as sometimes my contacts are not in a position to take a call but can text. The computer and internet are my other favorite tool. You literally can find just about anything on the internet; even other students’ work from the same course at the same university if you want. I love YouTube. Whenever I want to know “how” to do something, I search it out on YouTube. Almost inevitably someone out there has made a short video, cutting through all the distracting bells and whistles, to teach exactly that which I am looking for.
Kop and Hill (2008) discuss “nodes” as “connection points … found on a network” (p. 2) and these nodes represent information that can be accessed by the learner at any given time. They continue on to stress that connectivism is made up of two important skills; “the ability to seek out current information and the ability to filter secondary and extraneous information” (p. 2). I utilize the nodes in my network to cut-out the information I do not need at that time in order to obtain the pertinent information I do need.
And when I don’t know what it is I don’t know or don’t know what I am looking for, I begin with Google. I type in what I think I don’t know or might need and then read through the results. Sometimes that actually helps me get a hold of what it is I actually need to be looking for. For example (this is kind of morbid but it happened) when my father died from suicide, my brother and I had to find a company to come and clean up his apartment (biological matter is a special cleanup process). It is not like on TV, the police department nor the coroner’s office has a detail that comes in and cleans up. You have to find these people on your own. We had no idea what to even look for. So we began Googling (I’ll spare you the details) and eventually found that we needed to be looking for a “death and crime scene” cleanup crew. (Yes, that’s actually the name we had to search out.) And when we knew what we were looking for we were then able to search them out, find them, and hire them.
So, my networks and my digital tools are invaluable to me and learning. I would be at a loss if I had to solely depend on information found only in books and periodicals. Most of that information is dated before it is available, depending on the topic.
As Siemens’ (2004) stated, “Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where (the understanding of where to find knowledge needed)” (p. 2). I cannot agree more with this statement. Information is constantly changing and being updated. The best thing I believe I can do for my students and myself is improve our skills in seeking, finding, processing, and handling knowledge in a timely, effective, and efficient manner.
References
Kop, R., & Hill, A. (2008). Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 9(3), 1-13. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from http://elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
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For Module 4, I responded to the following blogs:
Bradley Gogan
http://gogans.blogspot.com/
LaTonya Simmons
http://latonyasimmons2.blogspot.com/
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