Online Connected Learning

I would first like to add that in idea #1 of the prompt, you used the wrong "it's/its."  You used "it's," the contraction of "it is," when you should have used the possessive "its."

The article "World Without Walls: Learning Well with Others" can be summed up in one sentence: teachers need to update their teaching methods to include modern technology, in order to better teach and prepare students for the rest of their lives.

I particularly liked the quote,

"The technologies we block in their classrooms flourish in their bedrooms. Students are growing networks without us, writing Harry Potter narratives together at FanFiction.net, or trading skateboarding videos on YouTube. At school, we disconnect them not only from the technology but also from their passion and those who share it."

The best way for students to learn is to teach them more about the subjects they enjoy.  We will learn and collaborate with or without the support of the school, and if we do have the support of the school, all the better.  If teachers want us to learn about something , the best way to do that is to tie it in to something that we enjoy.

I thought it was surprising that the eleven-year-old girl from the opening anecdote had a worldwide-viewed blog.  Considering that sites like Google and Tumblr require an age minimum of thirteen, the fact that an eleven-year-old has a blog at all is surprising.  That she shared her age with the author of this article is also surprising.  It reminds the reader that personal security is as important as sharing, because the internet is not exclusively comprised of cooperative information-sharers - there are those who would be quite interested in her age, and such people should be deflected whenever possible.

I think that connected learning is an excellent idea, and an exciting one.  It would be quite easy to do poorly though - I have a feeling that (no offense) the teachers would completely miss the point.  They would give us too much structure and make even the fun concept of collaborative learning echo the dull, guided "learning" of the traditional classroom.

I would really like to learn more about how exactly the internet works, and how internet-based markets like iTunes work.  I would also like to learn the legal implications of the internet.  Not an entirely CAP-related topic, but one that I would really like to know.

Annotated article: http://diigo.com/0sw5x