The Connected Educator: Building Your Connected Learning Community
Chapter 6 of The Connected Educator opens with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. It reads, “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” This chapter is all about opening doors to create a personal learning network and embarking on a personal path of learning. With technology growing in its presence in all areas of life, including in personal life and career life, it has never been easier to form connections with others. It gives us the opportunity to develop positive and working relationships with people who share common ideologies or goals, whom we may never have connected with otherwise. This enables us to expand our horizons of knowledge and learning by introducing new perspectives and ideas. As the book puts it:
To create a healthy, well-maintained, and productive learning community, you must find the right balance of interaction and structure, sharing and reciprocity, and diversity and commonality. It is important to engage in the content and adopt roles for yourself and others, and let the community evolve based on the needs and strengths of its members. And, of course, don’t forget to ask questions. Challenge the status quo and remember that you, along with all others members in your community, are a learner first, and a teacher second, no matter what the subject matter. With this approach, you can not only further your knowledge, but you can create a new path for learning for yourself and others.
There is always something new to learn and another perspective to consider. In my own future career as a health professional, it is important to remember this. I will have to work with and care for people with different backgrounds and beliefs, which may cause them to view health and health care differently. I must be aware of these differences and value them the same way I value my own ideologies. By creating a diverse network of connected learning, I can interact with new ideas and expand my knowledge base, thus preparing me to work interactively with them better in the future and perhaps even develop new methods of care to best fit each individual patient and his/her personal needs.
Nussbaum-Beach, Sheryl, and Lani Ritter. Hall. The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age. Solution Tree Press, 2012.
In these times of constantly changing, ever-increasing information, it is impossible for
any individual to access, much less know, everything. Instead, knowledge, learning, and
innovation can be managed within virtual networks and communities and then leveraged
to amplify learning for all (Nussbaum-Beach and Ritter 92).
To create a healthy, well-maintained, and productive learning community, you must find the right balance of interaction and structure, sharing and reciprocity, and diversity and commonality. It is important to engage in the content and adopt roles for yourself and others, and let the community evolve based on the needs and strengths of its members. And, of course, don’t forget to ask questions. Challenge the status quo and remember that you, along with all others members in your community, are a learner first, and a teacher second, no matter what the subject matter. With this approach, you can not only further your knowledge, but you can create a new path for learning for yourself and others.
There is always something new to learn and another perspective to consider. In my own future career as a health professional, it is important to remember this. I will have to work with and care for people with different backgrounds and beliefs, which may cause them to view health and health care differently. I must be aware of these differences and value them the same way I value my own ideologies. By creating a diverse network of connected learning, I can interact with new ideas and expand my knowledge base, thus preparing me to work interactively with them better in the future and perhaps even develop new methods of care to best fit each individual patient and his/her personal needs.
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Hi Jenna! It is so interesting to see how many people in our class are health care professionals, and how helpful everyone will be for networking in the future for everyones career. It would even be great to start networking with everyone in our class that are health care professionals, because in a way this is a social form. There will always be someone with a different view point, but like the chapter pointed out, everyone should be respectful of these view, so I appreciate that you will take this into consideration for your networking.
ReplyDeleteJenna, I found that this chapter also did explain how social media platforms can put you in contact with people in a similar field this way your not limited to your own thoughts on the subjects and the thoughts of those around you. It think is always best to keep thinking and learning new things about your field of study to have a deeper understanding of the career itself.
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