Journal #6 NETS-T (2&5)

Journal #6

Change Agent Interview by Anthony Rebora

APA Citation:

Rebora, Anthony. (2010, October 11). Change Agent Interview. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01richardson.h04.html?cmp=clp-edweek&intc=bs&sms_ss=delicious&at_xt=4cb7dc75d0303b73,0&print=1

Summary/ Reflection:

Without doubt, people can see that Will Richardson is a very dedicated man to what he does. In his interview by Anthony Rebora, Will exposes his views about technology and education. He wants to change education in a way where teachers could implement more technology activities. Richardson wants teachers to become technology savvy. And even though he says that it is not a simple thing to do because it is a cultural shift, he says that all this could be accomplished, if everyone learns to independently teach themselves using technology. 

Question #1:

What does the term “Googleable” means and how can you make yourself googleable?

Googleable means that people can search for your name and they can find it easily. However, in order to be googleable, one needs to leave a footprint online. One needs multiple sites and blogs, and each of those must have valuable content on it. For example, Will Richardson is an educator googleable and that’s what he also wants from other teachers to become as well.

Question #2:

How does building a personal learning network help teachers in their classrooms?

Just as the article said, we are in the 21st-century which requires us “network literacy” as one of the key skills.  Therefore, now days, a personal learning network, could help teachers make their lives easier in terms of education. Building a personal learning network is really important in order to communicate with peers and learn from educators, students all over the world. With the help of others, teachers can effectively integrate Web 2.0 tools and discover other learning resources for their classrooms to help students learn better. A personal learning network not only will provide people with useful information, but it will also help others in the network learn. Richardson also brings an important point to his interview which I strongly agree: “[students] don’t know how to learn with these technologies, or how to connect with others from a learning standpoint as opposed to a social standpoint.” Students, teachers and administrators too, need to understand how to share their knowledge and work collaboratively with other people as well. They need to learn to communicate over the internet. Overall, they need to learn to sort through different data to discover the information that will be most constructive to them and teach themselves with this information in order to engage in professional growth.