The first article, Collective
Intelligence: What it could mean for education, argues why collective
intelligence can benefit education. The
article states that “we tend to teach as we were taught according to familiar
cultural patterns”. According to Tyack
and Tobin, traditional teachers do this because of being familiar to patterns
called “grammar of schooling”. Bullock
argues through the article that Web 2.0 digital technologies can have the
potential to reform education in powerful ways.
Bullock goes on to say how Web 2.0 has created an innovation to the
technology where people are able to “produce, co-operate, and collaborate” in
ways people have never before. Some
examples given of digital technologies were Wiki’s, blogs, and social
networking like Facebook and Twitter.
With the use of these technologies, they can help improve students
learning in the classroom. The article also talks about the education
system in North America and how it has “geared toward
individual achievement and the completion of individual tasks”. This type of teaching
strategy is becoming less effective.
Teachers today though have a chance to change that and use digital
technology to help with collective intelligence.
The second article which also talks about collective
intelligence, How collective intelligence
redefines education, is comparing and contrasting formal education system
to collective intelligence systems. Ilon
first discusses the formal education system which was designed for giving the
knowledge and skills people could not obtain every day in their environments. To be able to incorporate collective
intelligence, schooling must be redefined.
Ilon describes how formal education was based on a top-down management
system which were viewed as government-controlled. With the government controlling education,
they want to see the results from the students.
The article also talks about standardized tests. It says that the schools success is based on
the results from the tests. Ilon also discusses
the structure of formal education to collective intelligence system. Collective intelligence is not in the schools
yet, but to keep up with the demands of our students today, we must start to
implement collective intelligence. To do
this, the schools need to make changes.
It would need to start with the government since they are controlling
education. The administrators need to
also be willing to make changes.
The article 7 things you should know about Personal
Learning Environments, tells you about personal learning environments (PLE)
by answering seven different questions.
First, what is it? As defined in
the article, a PLE “describes the tools, communities, and services that
constitute the individual educational platforms leaners use to direct their own
learning and pursue educational goals”. PLEs
are often contrasted to LMS (learning management system) because LMS are course-centric
but PLEs are learner-centric. The next
question is who is doing it? Examples of
who is doing PLEs are University of Bolton in the UK, University of Mary
Washington in Virginia, Baylor University, Penn State, and the University of
British Columbia. These students around
the world are using PLEs as “tools for discovery” to “expand their learning
experiences beyond campus boundaries”. The
third question goes into how it works.
Instructors provide the framework for student study which could be desktop
applications or web-based services.
Students are encouraged to use the networks and external resources to
discover and expand their learning experiences.
The fourth question explains why it is significant. PLEs are a way students can “consume
information” through different sources such as the library, books or LMS. This puts the student in charge of their
learning and challenges them to find tools and resources that can help them
learn best. The fifth question talks
about the downsides of PLE’s. One
downside the article talks about is data can easily disappear because
references to sources might not be enough in such an environment. It also requires students to be self-directed
and be able to reflect how they learn best where less experienced students
might not be ready for that responsibility.
The sixth question talks about where it is going. According to the article “a PLE is a result
of the evolution of Web 2.0 and its influence on the educational process” and
is “likely to become a fixture in educational theory”. Finally, the seventh question goes into the
implications for teaching and learning.
PLEs can take a role in the resources of teaching and learning. The students will shift from collecting
information to drawing connections from it.
PLEs can create a greater emphasis on metacognition in learning.
The video of
a PLE example by a 7th grade student was about how she set up her
Personal Learning Environment (PLE) that she created. She showed how she has organized her
information she found online on her personal page. It even included non-school items such as
Facebook and her blogs. She talks about
how she was spending time researching how to find information online and put it
on a personal web page. The student
states that she likes using the PLE because most of her work doesn’t involve
papers so she hardly needs to have a pencil for class. This video was great because we got to hear
from a student who is experiencing this type of learning. The way it took you through her day and
allowed the students to view the assignment and learning task or choices for
activities for the day was helpful to understand how it works, especially
coming from a student first hand. A PLE seems
it was very helpful for this student because it allows her independence.
After
reading the articles about Collective Intelligence, I feel that Collective
Intelligence seems to be a reasonable step to take for a learning environment
in this digital age. The first article
talks about how digital technology and Web 2.0 can drive education. The very first sentence in the article talks
about “apprenticeship of observation” which is about student teaching in which
provides the students with “hundreds of hours observing teachers” and their
behaviors. Thinking about my student
teaching, which was 6 years ago, I still do many of the same things my teacher
did. I have modified certain activities
that I feel needed to be changed. My
area of teaching, physical education, is also very difficult to incorporate
technology into the program due to the environment and objectives of the class. By getting my masters in technology and what
I have done so far, I feel that I am changing what I am doing to try to
incorporate technology into PE that will still allow them to be active the
majority of the class. With the digital
technologies available now, and what the students are able to do, I am seeing a
different reaction to how the students are learning.
After reading and watching the video, they both did a good job of
explaining what Personal Learning Environments (PLE) are. I think a PLE could be a great thing for many
students but not all. I agree with the
article and the PLEs downsides. Students
that are less experienced might not be ready for managing and building their
environments along with the responsibilities.
The girl in the video is definitely someone who has benefited from a
PLE, but not all students could be that organized and take on the
responsibility of a PLE. Thinking about
my students, many of them need reminders for what they are doing. There are
student though that I think would benefit from a PLE. It just depends on the student. I agree with what the article states about being
a result of Web 2.0 and could become a part of learning environments. Students would just need to be able to
self-direct themselves that works best for the student. It would provide the students to
collaboratively learn more.
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