A teacher is like the sun...
We stand in front of students, expose them to our "brilliance", let them "soak up" what the information we are attempting to fill them with, and hope that they are able to feel its (or our) affects later. George Siemens has said, “learning must be a way of being – an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast of the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring events…" As in the action of "tanning" and exposing ones self to the sun, learning is a a process which develops over time. The more information we expose our students to, the more we hope that they gain both academically and intellectually towards life long situations. This is why I feel that it is important not only to teach our students the basic content area knowledge, but preparing them for the outside world.
The Impact of Social Software on Learning
In the video, the speaker says, " Content is a conduit towards conversation. The content leads in to our ability to talk to eachother." This is important because it goes back to my analogy talking about how the student are exposed to the "brilliance" and are "soaking up" the information through different resources. Technology can allow students with social anxities to express themeslves to the teacher and to their fellow students through different forms. It also connects students in new and exciting ways through the content area. This new form of learning will promote skills such as communication that are necessary to have in the post-education world.
1 comment:
I can understand some parts of your analogy better than others. Actually I think that Siemens would object to the idea that a teacher is the only or main source of information for students because he emphasizes the interactivity in the learning process. On the other hand, your comments that the "tanning/learning" is a process that develops over time fits nicely into his view of life-long learning.
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