Response to Song and Hill Article

Throughout elementary and middle schooling years, children are taught that that they have to start classes at a certain time, sit in certain chairs or rooms, and learn certain subjects. Then they are pushed on to high school (that is if the teacher has decided that they have memorized enough information taught to them) and are given a slight bit of freedom of choice. This freedom of choice is mostly in relation to the level of motivation and interest each individual has for each subject. After this they are put out into the world to fend for themselves…it is their responsibility to decide whether they wish to educate their brains or leave them to deteriorate. Kind of scary is it not??? For approximately 13 years of our lives we are told what to learn and how to learn it, and then the tables are quickly turned.

After careful reading of this article it has become clear to me that the acquirement of good Self Directed Learning (SDL) skills is a major support to have when encountering an online learning environment. When taking an online course, not only does an individual become faced with an environment (in this day and age) that they are still quite unfamiliar with, but also, they are faced with a situation of finding complete self-motivation and resourcefulness.

The Song and Hill article seems to be on the right path in trying to find a way to show people how to survive in this quickly changing environment. Once research provides people with an explanation as to how an online environment can provide them with many advanced opportunities, I believe that it is human nature for people to want to learn…and thus they will adapt.

Prelude to my response to the Song and Hill Article

So, this may be a little off topic, but I'm not one to let schooling stand in the way of my education...as stated at the top of my page.

Although it has taken me a little longer to respond to this article, due to the fact that I was away on a soccer tournament with a group of women from my community (of which love to hog the computer and leave me with no privacy to write down my thoughts when I did get a chance to get online)...I am somewhat glad that I was forced to take the time to read over this article a few times. The reasoning for my joy? It provided me with the "forced" opportunity to look into this article in-depth and truly focus on what it could teach me.

Some of the thoughts that flowed through my mind while reading over this article were: "I'm not an extremely motivated person at times (although I love to learn, its more so done on my own time), this being the case, am I bound for disaster?"; and my favorite "Is Lorraine trying to send her students a message that this class is going to be harder than we all would expect?" (LOL)

After all my questions came spilling out, I came to a realization.... This article is going to motivate me to learn something from this class...whether I like it or not! And yes, this class will push me to my limits, mainly for the fact that my entire life I have been taught to learn in such a way that has enabled me not to strive to question or look outside of the box...but now is the time to open my eyes a little wider and experience a challenge.....and this, I look forward to!

Using Blogs to Enhance Online Learning

When I first sat down to this assignment I thought I knew exactly what blogging was...ranting and raving about your day, keeping a journal about happy times from your past, or simply informing people of upcoming events. I mean...those were the only uses I had for a blog, and it seemed to me that anything else that did not fall into this category must have a different name.

After reading the literature in preparation for the blogging assignment, I have come to realize that blogging is not simply used only to rant, journal, or inform but rather it has so many more uses, such as providing a link to a popular political topic in the media for discussion or allowing teachers to communicate with students outside of the classroom on a more individual basis.

Although I am not in the education field, I have dedicated most of my time over the last five years to teaching children and youth about sports and recreation. Currently, I am the Senior worker at a youth centre which means that I am the one who initiates and runs the programs. I am always looking for ways to use our Community Access Program computers (CAP computers) and I believe that blogging will become a very trendy program for my kids.

Some of the ways that blogging could help the kids at the youth centre is by: providing the Inuit children and youth with an avenue to practise their English reading and writing skills; allowing them to share their culture about storytelling, traditions, and life in the North with children in southern Canada and around the world; and teaching them about other technologies that is out there (i.e. podcast).

I believe that blogging will be a very beneficial tool for the children and youth that I work with at the Youth Centre. It will help them a great deal with their online learning as well as their learning in general.