I started off this week as I usually do reviewing the various things
that I would be required to do for my assignments. Then I saw it, Mind mapping.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw that on this week’s assignment tab. How was
I going to complete something that I had no idea what it was or what it looked
like? In reflecting upon this week’s assignment of creating a mind map of our
personal learning network I gained a new understanding for how my network has
changed my learning, digital tools that I use, why I do what I do when I have a
question, and how my personal network truly does show the connectivism theory
of learning.
So, above
you see what I ended up creating this week. I truly learned a great deal about
my learning doing this assignment. I am what we learned in our studies this
week and as Marc Prensky would call it a “digital immigrant". A digital immigrant is one that was born
prior to 1970 (I was born in 1961) and who has had to learn to use technology
to survive in the business world. (laureate-media.com) I would certainly say
that describes me. I still remember years ago going to the library and the one
computer they had pulling up one long page of listings when I did a search on
the search engine. We learned in our video this week that George Siemens defines the learning theory connectivism
as a learning theory that integrates technology, social networks, and
information. And as we can see from above, that certainly describes the way my
personal network works. Gone are the days of not so old that I sat for hours
reading books to try to understand the information presented—now I just use the
World Wide Web.
Digital tools are like a new toy to me. This week while I was exploring
the web to understand what mind mapping, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 resources were I
ran across some wonderful new toys such as animate.com. It seems like there is
a never ending supply of new things to discover with regard to digital tools.
To have a favorite, would be hard to say. However, one thing is for certain, I
would not want to have to do without the Internet!
After I settled down a
minute from reading the instructions for a mind map, I did what I always do
when I have a question—I went to the Internet and used the Yahoo search engine
to pull up photos first, (I am a visual learner) and then reliable resources
that would describe what a mind map is. From there, I began evaluating various
software to use for creating a mind map. I found a wonderful easy program
called Mind Genius.
In retrospect, I can truly
say that my style of learning truly depicts the new theory of learning,
connectivism. I am a graduate student in a course about how to design
instruction with technology, learning online, searching for answers to problems
or info I need online, and interacting with friends, family, classmates and
fellow colleagues via online! Yes, I would say my personal learning network
truly depicts connectivism!
http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/Walden/EDUC/6115/01/mm/tec_timeline.html
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