4.3 Reflection: Social & Professional Networks

I am most active on two social network: Facebook and Edmodo. I am also on Twitter, but not as active.

Here's a partial list of some of the groups I belong to on Facebook. Some PD groups are in English and some are in Chinese.

Here's a partial list of some of the PD groups I belong to on Edmodo.com

• When does the Internet help your learning?

The internet helps my learning mainly in two ways: 

1. I like to read about what's new with the education field. Being in some professional groups helps to keep me updated.
2. When I learn about a new topic, the Internet is my first go-to place to find additional information. If it's a new tool that I learn about, I can utilize many resources on the Internet to learn the ins-and-outs of using that tools, such as YouTube tutorials, blog posts, and discussion boards.

• When does it distract from good learning for you?

Sometimes there are so many interesting articles to read that I forget what my starting point is. Then I just become overwhelmed and/or lost in the sea of information. Other times, I might have too much information on one particular topic, and it becomes difficult or takes too long for me to digest all the information to be able to apply the knowledge effectively or efficiently.

• How might your answers to these questions be similar to or different from the answers your students might give?

I think my students answers will be similar to mine because they can get overwhelmed with the search results just like I am. However, we deal with the over-information challenge differently. I will always spend time filter and verify the information, or use multiple sources, whereas my students tend to go with the first few they found. Most noticeably, Wikipedia. They also do not seem to verify whether the sources they use are valid or of any academic value.

• How might you support your students in using the Internet as their own personal learning space?

Teaching students the skill to perform better searches, to set up filtering criteria for validating their sources, and to cross reference and double-check their findings, in addition to providing students opportunities to sharpen their critical thinking skills and writing skills can all help our students use the Internet effectively as a personal learning space.