The
introduction and chapters one and two in the book, Personal Learning Network by Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli, discusses
the changes taking place in education and how school districts, staff and
students can transform those changes successfully.
The
introduction highlights the need to transform the education system to create a
new approach altogether. Students are
being “dummy downed” when they work into most schools because of the no cell
phone policy that still exists.
Richardson
and Mancabelli give an overview of the WHY of Personal Learning Networks and
how the system has not changed much from the Industrial Revolution model, and
if we do not change as a profession, then the customers will go around us. The authors also encourage educators to take
a more active role in their professional development by creating our own
personal learning networks. Richardson
and Mancabelli (2011) describe learning networks as “The rich set of
connections each of us can make to people in both our online and offline worlds
who can help us with our learning pursuits.”
By the end of the first chapter, the authors made a compelling argument
that the education industry must make the shift to PLN’s.
Chapter
two provides strategies and the responsibilities for becoming a personal
learning network educator. Richardson
and Mancabelli tell you how to create, navigate, and grow your own personal learning
network using Twitter, Diigo, Google Reader, Blogger, and Facebook. “Nothing that you post online can ever by
assumed to be 100 percent private” and “once you hit the “publish” button with
any tool you can’t take it back” are two excellent reminders that educators and
students need to always remember. (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p38).
Richardson, W., & Mancabelli, R. (2011). Personal learning networks: using the power of connections to transform education. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
The authors make great points about districts not embracing change. Embracing change will be difficult but the outcomes have the potential to be very rewarding. Students writing will become more meaningful, learning can be tailored to student interest, and not all learning has I be done at school.
ReplyDeleteOnce educators embrace this change and shift their mindset to educating our students on how to responsibly use the internet. This I believe needs to start at an early age with good old fashioned manners! If we teach our children this at an early age it will become much easier as they get older and transistion those same values and beliefs online.
Thank you so much for your post. Your post is a great summary of the sections and is very thought provoking. I too found these sections concentrating on the desire and need for a change in how we teach and how students learn. The professional learning networks that are occurring are constantly evolving into new and interesting ways to learn. I think it will be very difficult to educate the new generation because of the plethora of resources and the strict guidelines on curriculum and student growth. I am very intrigued to see where the future takes us in the education world.
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