The Connected Educator: Using tools to Support Connected Learning

Chapter 5 of The Connected Educator is all about learning which tools, and how to use them, help support connected learning. Put well by the authors is that “...tools are not helpful unless users understand the context in which tools can best improve learning” (Nussbaum-Beach and Ritter 74). And thus the chapter begins, with different examples of tools and summaries on
how to use them.


Nussbaum-Beach and Ritter provide all different tools for different areas of focus. These areas include tools for documenting and archiving learning, connecting and collaborating, social networking, and extending learning in the classroom. Documenting and archiving learning helps you keep track of information or things you’ve found helpful online, like social bookmarking (also known as tagging). Connecting and collaborating helps build your personal learning network using methods such as blogs, RSS readers, and microblogs, like Twitter. Following building up your personal learning network, sites like Ning and Classroom 2.0 help nurture and grow it, and tools like TeacherTube and Netvibes help in continuing learning and finding resources to extend learning beyond the classroom (or any job space).

All of these tools create the opportunity to connect, collaborate, and mutually share ideas with others.
This makes managing your reputation very important, as virtually any information on you can be found online and give off an impression--and you always want that impression to be good. So, in order to ensure that it is, Nussbaum-Beach and Ritter offered some tips to help manage your online reputation, including building your own professional webpage, utilizing different services and building online profiles so you can distinguish yourself from others, reinforcing a positive reputation for yourself by sharing your insights on other blogs or articles, tracking yourself, and always remaining professional (Nussbaum-Beach and Ritter 88-89). 

With a future in the health industry, it will be important for me to create and maintain a strong connected learning community. As this chapter emulated, technology is always changing and constantly growing, as is the health profession. With new technologies, discoveries, and treatments, it
is crucial to stay up-to-date when it comes to anything medical related, and is also why professionals often need to take post-licensure education classes to ensure that those new concepts are understood. By being part of a connected learning community and utilizing these tools, I will be a part of an environment that supports constant growth and learning and new ideas, a very important aspect in all health professions.





Source:
Nussbaum-Beach, Sheryl, and Lani Ritter. Hall. The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading 
in a Digital Age. Solution Tree Press, 2012.


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