Something about The Educator's PLN

     This Ning site is a platform for educators from all subjects to share recourse and exprience. It supports many functions, for example, users can invite their colleagues to join this group and in the column of "my page", users can find their recent activities that involves them  in this website. You can also chose several sub-groups which you are interested in to join, such as "Edtech","Online educators", "Special education" and so on. It also has a "video page", where users can find some useful multimedia material. Another thing about this website is that it needs a verification before you can use all of the functions. Therefore, the material and information there is comparatively reliable. Are you eager to have a try on this site now? Please simple click the picture above, then you will be there!

A learner is like a sponge

       Modern learners are like sponges in water. Water represents the huge amount of information. A learner getting knowledge from Internet, teacher or friends just likes a sponge absorbing water. A learner who uses more social source to get knowledge is like a sponge which immerses larger part into water. Nowadays, since the development of technology and information explosion，informal learning has become to a significant aspect of our learning experience as George Siemens says that "formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning". More knowledge is obtained through interaction between people out of classroom.  So whether a learner can use social community well is extremely important. For sponge, it is like how much water there it can absorb. George Siemens said in his video that "the social soft that we see today in form of blogs and wikis developed in order to enable the individuals to quickly change knowledge feel to continue to stay concurrent and continue to learn from each other.” Since application developers have invited so many useful tools for learning today, learners should learn to use those technologies to learn more efficiently; and as teachers, we should instruct and encourage our students to use them in their learning process. 

       There is a problem for sponge, that is when it absorb enough water it can not absorb any more， then it needs a place to store the water. A learner also needs a place to store the various knowledge. Sometimes only brain is not enough because the amount of information is too large, and some knowledge also do not need to keep in mind since you may use them for only one or several times. Using archive software such as Diigo appropriately is also important to modern learners. After squeezing water out, sponge can reabsorb more water. For learners, by storing some knowledge in “archive”, they can learn more new knowledge and at the same time will not lose the old one.

Use Google Drive on iPad!

       I comment on the post A Short Guide to Using Google Drive on Your iPad from the blog named Free Technology for Teachers. The author give extremely detailed instructions on the post to direct reader how to use Google Drive on iPad. He posted a lot of pictures, there are just several of them below.

    Google Drive is a useful and convenient tool for both teachers and students. As a student, I use it frequently to share my opinions with other group members when doing some group work. As a teacher in the future, I can also use it to communicate with my students. They can post their questions there, then I give them some instructions. Now I learn how to use it on iPad, it becomes more convenient. IPad is much easier to carry than laptop, therefore when I think of some ideas I can post them in no time before I forget some points.
    The author direct the readers to install the app and use it on iPad step by step. So I think it is a valuable material deserves to be known by more people.

At the crossroads of tradition and technology

As the rapidly growing popularity and availability of computer all over the word, Internet has become to such an indispensable part of our life. Internet is so powerful that just as the video “Social Media Revolution” shows that 1/5 couples in the word meet on line and 3/5 gay couples know each other through the Internet. Although the video says that China does not welcome Facebook, Twiiter and Youtube, I should say that government forbid these website out of consideration of politics，actually many people in China still use those websites through some private designed softwares. Moreover there are many social media like Facebook and Twitter in China, therefore social media revolution happens in China just like in other countries. From my experience, all of my friends use social media, both of my 9 yeas old cousin and my 50 years old college professor use “Weibo” --- Chinese Twitter. Internet has become to the main way for most people to obtain knowledge, to share their life with friends and to meet new people.

Nevertheless, few teachers take the advantages of Internet and social media to optimize their teaching just as the video “AVision of K-12 Students Today” shows that 60%-70% of teachers do not use Internet, computer or other technology in their teaching. Since new technologies will become to important tools for students to use at work in the future, it is really necessary to bring the new technologies into class. Indeed, new technologies can also serve as efficient tools of learning, however although students may use those technologies frequently outside class, they do not know how to use them in learning without teacher’s assistance. If teacher can really combine learning with technology, the process of learning will be more attractive. In addition, teaching students to think critically is also one of the most important goals of teaching. Nowadays, Internet can provide numerous materials for students to use. For example, when twittering students can learn about different opinions from different people towards a same topic, they need to judge which one is more convincing by themselves. In this process, students need to apply their knowledge to think and judge; therefore Internet can be a really helpful tool to student’s improvement and growth. 

To sum up, new technologies should be an important part in teaching. But the fact is that few teachers utilize them in their real teaching. Why are teacher reluctant to use it? How to use new technologies and social media appropriately in class? These questions still need to be answered.