Ch-Ch-Changes

I recently viewed two extremely interesting videos for educators. I was shocked by the information I received, although I probably shouldn't have been. The first video I watched was The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler. At first the video seemed a bit odd, but give it a chance. It is all about connectivism. It is a theory of learning which emphasizes the role of social and cultural contexts. It is definitely something educators should look into. Students could benefit greatly by building a personal learning network. And learning a tremendous amount from others. Sharing information with the rest of the world is how we continue to grow. Connectivism makes is easier for student to connect and can make learning new information fun! So, why do we need a teacher? They teach the 21st century student how to build a network by offering guidance and support. The teacher is there to help the student also differentiate between good and bad information as well. 

The other video is a long one, but well worth the watch! The Future of Learning, Networked Society puts a shocking new twist on teaching! First the video  touches on the fact that all learners are different. This is extremely important to realize as a teacher. I surprisingly found out that the origin of the education system came from the military. If you take a good look at a school, how we process students is like a factory. Sadly,students that don't conform to the system get medicated, such as students with ADHD. 

Now a days, if students want information they can simply look it up! "Knewton" is a brilliant new adaptive learning platform. The course figures out how and when you learn best which could be detrimental to some learners. Not everyone learns great in the morning. We can predict and prevent failure in advanced. It's genius! Showing every student has a path to success. So, why is our system failing? Standardized testing. You only take them once in your life, such as the SAT and that determines what colleges you get into, and then what? As stated in the video, it's a big scam and corrupting education. At the same time, we can't completely do away with assessment, and it is not going to change in a day..so what do we do?