Education: A Network of it's Own!

The Networked Student:

  This week we were asked to view a video posted by a doctoral student, Wendy Drexler called "The Networked student". The video focuses on the reality of students learning through various forms of networking. It shows how much the web and other media has positive effects on the 21st century student network. There are so many stems for students to connect with new contacts, tools, and resources. It also explains how important it is to keep teachers involved and help guide and navigate students to not only education, but the future of education- that is technology. As teachers we are reliable to help show our students how to use this information. 
  I found it very interesting the way Drexler explained her ideas. She helped viewers look into the idea that although not everyone is completely and fully knowledgeable on the subject, technology has a way of opening new doors to the entire world, especially students. She named so many different options of incredible experiences to discover on the web such as connecting with people from other cities, states and even countries to explore their world through blogs and social networks, as well as using itunes U to watch top-notch professors give a lesson from any university of their choice. Even early childhood and elementary education students have an abundance of opportunities at their fingertips on the web. There are educational games and ways to help classmates interact and learn. And the coolest thing about the Internet is that it gives students the choice to go their own route and find what interests them and build upon it. Drexler states that networking “empowers the student to take control of their learning.” This gives our students inspiration and they become excited to look into what they are interested in. They get to chose where they find their information, how to go about it, and it can all be controlled by the teacher, which leads me into my next subject of interest. 
  Drexler explains how important it is for teachers to be informed and trained when it comes to technology so that they can safely guide their students to web hunt. Students love having freedom, but the web can be a scary place with very inappropriate material that is either not age appropriate, or not on the suggested topic. There is a way, though, for teachers to create a safe world wide web for their students, that will lead them in the right direction every time. 
  I love how Drexler makes it so easy to understand the significance of networking in every way, shape, and form for students of all ages. I think if more teachers were introduced to this information, more "non-technology" based teachers would jump on the bandwagon already and get this web show on the road!!


Drexler, W. (2008). The networked student. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA.