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| My Network Connections |
I have had or been part of networks for as long back as I can remember. These networks help me to navigate new environments; assist me in attaining my academic and professional goals; serve as a source of encouragement and support; and keep me connected to the goings-on in the world. So, I can’t say how my networks have changed the way I learn but I can tell you how they have been part of my learning.
I am a learner that needs to interact with my learning material. When I am not given the opportunity to talk to a video or to argue with a podcast, I reach out to my network to find people that will talk through concepts, events, formulas, and the like, with me. That usually starts with some kind of random question that I post to my Facebook status and typically results in comments and lists of resources from various friends. When I don’t have time to wait, I will reach out to classmates via text message or Skype. Oh, and for those times when I am so far from understanding something that I don’t know how to even ask the question, Wikipedia and You Tube have been there for me every time!
4 comments:
Dolly,
I agree with your comment that you can't state exactly "how my networks have changed the way I learn."
I truly believe that the internet has provided a vast number of resources at every learners' disposal for learning. Clever students use it to identify methods for circumventing the school's network which blocks music and social media. Graduate students use it to locate research information. Granted, the internet has some capacity which is not available in previous resources (the capacity to remember what you've searched for to make future recommendations, or feed recent information directly to you as it becomes available). However, the methods used to locate information, read it to comprehend, synthesize information from various sources remains the same, regardless of the source of information.
For me, as a learner, I am less socially engaged in general. However, the need to know something, or learn it, does provide an incentive to seek out other students in class, or informational sources online such as a search engine provides, or even You Tube and Google.
Lori Oren
Dolly,
I can’t begin to tell you how much of an impact my network connections have made on my life. They’ve helped me to organize, locate information, discuss ideas, find old friends, and ask questions and much more.
You stated that you’ve always been a part of networks; can you imagine not having any?
Trissa,
I am not sure I would be the person I am today without having my networks. I dropped out of high school and if I didn't know somebody who knew somebody, I may have never gone to college. As someone who was raised under the belief that education will set you free I'm fairly certain I would have been a caged bird without my networks.
Lori,
I am a very social person but I'm often overwhelmed when navigating social circles that consist of people I don't know and that has worsened with age. So I have to say that technology has given me the opportunity to be as social as I want to be but without feeling overwhelmed or anxious and I truly embrace that.
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