Week 5 Reading Responses

According to November (2010) there are many benefits to online learning for a wide range of learners (p. 84). Schools can use online resources to help students of all different types. The use of the Internet amongst our society continues to grow and cannot be avoided. Therefore, it is important for teachers to use online activities in traditional classroom settings. Online activities provide students with the ability to share their thoughts and ideas that they might not otherwise share in a traditional classroom (November, 2010, p. 89). For some students sharing their ideas and thoughts feels safer online. The online environment allows for a more anonymous nonjudgmental sharing of ideas and opinions. Students are also able to share these thoughts and ideas with their peers in a less formal setting. Teachers can also form meaningful relationships with their students through online activities (November, 2010, p.89). It can be easier for teachers to give and for students to receive corrective feedback online. This provides a less confrontational approach for teachers to give corrective feedback to their students.

According to Richardson (2010) “all roads now point to a Web where little is done in isolation and all things are collaborative and social in nature” (p.85). With sites such as facebook and twitter our students’ are constantly exposed to all types of social networking. As teacher’s we can use these tools to create rich learning environments rooted in social interactions and networking. I can see students working on projects with other students from around the world. Students will also be using social networks to educate themselves with topics of interest found outside of the traditional classroom (Richardson, 2010, p.131). Teacher’s can also use these social networks as a way to share instructional ideas and practices with teachers from other classrooms. The 21^st century learning environment will be based around students and teachers building collaborative relationships with each other and with others outside of the traditional classroom.

Resources

November, Alan. (2010). Empowering students with technology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.

Richardson, Will. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.