Blog Post 6

The substantive information I received from Steven Anderson's interview is the idea of connecting and sharing knowledge and information with educators all around the world. Mr. Anderson articulated the value of collaboration with fellow educators through resources and tools including twitter, Skype, and blogs. Mr. Anderson also articulated that he doesn't know everything, so it's important for him to be an active learner and thinker. A personal learning network takes a non-traditional approach to education because it allows for students to share their thoughts and ideas in the classroom. It's the idea that that the teacher is not the sole possessor of knowledge and information in the classroom. I also was immensely fascinated by the video of a 7th grade student informing the audience about her personal learning environment. I found it intriguing the idea of connecting with a scientist through email or twitter and allowing he or she to peer review the scientific work. I also learned it's key for students to be active and engaged in the learning process. The 7th grader in the video also harped on the importance of having the freedom to explore educational sites and resources for substantive information about interesting topics. I also learned from Mr. Anderson about the importance of asking questions. As educators, we should be continuous learners outside of the classroom and revise and reflect informative and insightful topics with fellow educators around the world.

Personal learning networks are formed through resources and tools such as email, twitter, Skype, and blogs. As an educator, once you connect with a fellow educator, you can express and share thoughts and ideas about interesting subjects, teaching in the 21st century, or even share recipes. I learned a lot of valuable information from Michael Fawcett's video. Mr. Fawcett articulated that he didn't personally know a few of the educators he added on twitter. Mr. Fawcett also talked about investigating, connecting, and sharing important information with fellow educators through twitter, YouTube, and class blogs. I thought it was fascinating to hear Mr. Fawcett talk about the time he sent out a question on twitter and within thirty minutes he got a reply. Mr. Fawcett challenges his audience to seek out and create their own project learning network and start investigating the amount of knowledge and information out there waiting to be shared. I am also intrigued by Symbaloo. This social service will be the Genesis of my own personal learning network. It's an excellent tool for students and teachers to connect, share, and learn about interesting and informative topics.

An area of study that I am interested in is physical education. My passion is to educate and inspire the next generation of students to live active and healthy lives. I have already browsed the World Wide Web for informative and insightful blogs and videos on the topic of physical education. I was amazed by the number of tools and resources available to create and enhance my personal learning network. I have already started to add educators of physical education on twitter. My goal is to connect and collaborate with physical education instructors. I want to hear their thoughts and ideas about proactive approaches to educating and inspiring students. Another interest of mine is coaching basketball one day. So, I have started researching and adding coaches on twitter for their thoughts and advice. Hopefully, I will be able to Skype or iChat a basketball coach in the near future and ask some informative questions. I believe it's important for an educator to build a personal learning network to connect and collaborate with educators and thinkers so an individual can share valuable knowledge and information with their students.