Best way to be a teacher is to be a learner first

Alan Levine held that we as teachers should stay connected and take advantage of technology. In his video New Media Consortium, he said one thing the network can help us effectively is that if we put our ignorance online, there will be a sea of various answers and suggestions for us available. Yes, I could not agree more. The best way to be a teacher is to be a learner first, so the network provides such a good platform to gather ideas and study for useful pedagogical methods. By constantly learning and collecting resources online, a teacher can gradually build up his/her expertise more efficiently. 

That is the reason why I joined The Flipped Learning. It is a nice social networking site that has diversified means to gather thoughts. For example, there are forums for users to discuss over issues like classroom management, students' excuse and resources and links. Those could be the best preparation "lessons" for a new teacher to foresee possible problems in teaching and to find solutions from more experienced community members. Also, different groups on the Flipped Learning also enable users to join and stay current and connected to thousands of potential flippers who are interest in the same topic. I would like to use it as a social networking as well as an efficient learning tool for improving my future teaching!

A Learner is Like a...

When searching for the analogy to illustrate today's learners, I would like to highlight the idea that a learner has a sharing characteristic as well as a ability to connect his/her learning community. From this perspective, a learner is like a BANK. As we all know, a bank gathers capital earned through interest, transaction fee and financial advice from individuals or groups, and lends it to others for their own development. In this process, the bank itself also benefits a lot with the capital to grow and develop. Similarly, a learner accumulates knowledge from others by varies means of teacher's instruction, peer mediation and, of course, internet connection. Then the learner can share with others in a larger community of what he/she has got. In the meantime, the learner grows, develops with the knowledge.

This analogy is strengthened by the idea provided in the video I just explored. In the video The Impact of Social Software on Learning, George Siemens explained that 

"social software is a very broad umbrella term that includes everything from blog to wiki to social bookmarking to tagging or folksonomy. and essentially it's where through social meets, we are able to share and connect with each other."

The Internet era enables an active learner to become more sharing. By building an online library, with lots of categorized tags and bookmarks, a learner can not only find pretty handy resources to promote his/her study efficiency and to stay current, but also provides bountiful information for ones who is in need of it. Study affairs are not individual, or intraperson. I prefer to use interpersonal study as learners' study mode today. Learners are connected together; they store knowledge in others; each of the connected learner benefits from this network, and "that is the function of the network itself" as Siemens said in The Changing Nature of Knowledge. 

In this way, learners' development can be put into a larger picture, which is the cycles of knowledge development and these elements like individuals and network are essential to it. Like what has been proposed by Siemens the concept called Connectivism that

"the starting point of connectivism is the individual. Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual."

What is important for learners is to develop learning skills with social networking tools as informal learning ways. 

Diigo vs. Scoop.it

Both Diigo and Scoop.it are so called content curator by Stephanie Frasco. Here are several aspects of what they have in common. Firstly, they have extensions on Google Chrome or small button located on toolbar, which are easy as well as immediate to use. Secondly, multiple tags are provided for  content categorizing. Thirdly, because they form a sharing community, they allow users to follow topics, other users and even groups. However, after learning the introduction videos and experiencing them, I find that they do have a myriad of differences. Among them, Diigo has relatively prominent features for choosing between them. 

Diigo:

1. allow users to highlight texts and displayed wherever you logged in.
2. can be on the top of your google research entries.
3. has relatively straightforward tag list for users to categorize resources. 
4. users formed a community can send message to communicate with each other.
5. has more effective functions such as "read later"and "snapshot".

Scoop.it: 

1. has a beautiful webpage dedicated to topics.
2. is more visualized (with pictures and charts) when browsing resources.

I do not experience all of their features, so I cannot tell all the differences between them, since I just start to use those two content curators. Yet from the comparisons above, I prefer to use Diigo with its diversified functions and features. Diigo has its most fascinating tool to me, say "Read Later", so that you can save your resources when you don't read them right now for some reasons. Besides,  as social networking tool for academic purpose, Diigo looks more concise and more formal, with less polished home page. The Scoop.it, on the contrary, has more or less a sense of entertainment with colorful buttons and posts, and it reminds me of Pinterest, but Scoop.it is good for not causing visual fatigue. As to multiple tags, the tag list by Diigo is good for my students to find related resources faster, because the list is located at the homepage. Unlike Diigo, the tag list by Scoop.it is under each topic, which means students have to open the target topic and find the filter button and click the tag(s) they want. For my students and followers, the concept of "library" shows how wonderful Diigo is. With collected what I find online, tags are like bookshelves for students and followers to find decently categorized resources. Isn't it a nice tool for a sharing teacher?

Networked Education

Want to participate lectures from UPenn? Want the world to hear your own voice? Want to manage your own learning pace? Want to debate with someone who is miles away? Then, it’s time to get networked!

The most benefitted group is the students. “ The Future ofLearning, Networked Society – Ericsson” said that the online social networking provides possibility for education system to be a “system for the kids”. Students can get what they want from open courses, lectures and other shared information online. By skyping or other distant conferences, students can get more exposure to knowledge beyond textbooks. Another benefit is that online education allows students to manage their own study process. It is them to decide when is the best time to learn and what to learn. After building their knowledge, like what “Networked Students” said, they can choose to create blogs to share what they have got, and accept comments from others from all over the world.

On the other hand, teachers should assist students in using Internet and maximize its value. According to the Networked Students, a teacher should provide guidance and teach students how to

       1) communicate properly; 

       2) find out useful information and differentiate what is good and bad;

       3) ask respectfully for information from other expertise;

       4)  “turn web search into a scavenger earn”; 

       5)  organize mountainous information.

At the same time, teachers should also

       1) maintain learning network;

       2) creatively solve problems;

       3) navigate students’ learning in the future.

The networked society provides such a great opportunity for students to get connected not only with their own teachers but with the whole world. Also, at the same time, the teacher plays an important role in students' network development. 

Using Blogs to Meet Learning Standards

Using blogs with my own students:

One thing I would do is to discuss questions that remain to be answered in class. To ensure everyone has the opportunity to express ideas, blogs is a practical way to accomplish it. For those who are inactive or unwilling to speak in front of public, interacting trough blogs is way of avoiding these issues and a way of maximizing communication. In addition, to discuss in depth and without time constraint on blogs is also a beneficial way to have everyone’s intelligence sparkled.

Using blogs for my professional development:

By posting blogs, it creates a mutually beneficial platform between potential audiences and me. They will comment, or criticize over my opinions; they will also bring their insights at the same time and keep me updated. Through those interactions, I can realize what I did is right or wrong, advanced or not. We can comment, share thoughts and opinions. Blogs provide an effective way to boost my professional development.

Two Official Standards from ISTE:

·      Communication and Collaboration

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:

a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.

b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.

d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

·      Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools, and resources. Students:

a. identify and define authentic problems and signify questions for investigation.

b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.

c. collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.

d. use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.

 ISTE(International Society for Technology in Education) standards