While few would argue that the internet isn't an invaluable resource for modern life, the enormity of it can become overwhelming. We can find ourselves bogged down under the weight of so much information. As modern, digital citizens, however, it's our job to figure out how to cull this information, how to make use of it in our lives. And as teachers, there are many ways to go about organizing and utilizing the information and resources that we find online. To fully utilize the power of the internet, though, we can tap into one of its greatest strengths: the online community. Never before in history have people been so connected, and we can take advantage of this connection to improve the lessons that we teach our students. By using bookmarking tools and joining digital learning communities, modern teachers can organize information and both give and receive help from peers.
In my own exploration of the digital learning communities, I came across five that seemed particularly useful for English teachers or for language arts students. They are:
The characteristics I sought in a DLC were usefulness, simplicity, and a community of educated members. Each of these DLC's not only met this criteria, but also provided the member with an educational and interesting experience. Through the Harvard Open Courses, for example, any person with internet access can elect to take a course at Harvard, to sit in on the lectures and feel like a part of the class. Open Culture provides a forum for members to share high quality media to the community (you probably won't find videos of toddlers laughing or cats chasing laser pointers on this one). Other DLC's had a more narrow audience; for instance, Open Study is a place where students can give and receive help with coursework. I also selected two DLC's, Connexions and the AP Teacher Community, that were specifically targeted toward teachers, and I ended up joining the AP Teacher Community for English. Even after just a few minutes of browsing the discussion boards, I was finding resources and ideas that I plan to employ in my classroom.
If we want to make DLC's more accessible and appealing to students, we need to find sites that are user-friendly, simple, and useful. Today's students don't need us to be condescending or fill pages with wild graphics or electric guitar music. Instead, they need sites that treat them respectfully. Joining a digital learning community can be a great way for students to discover more about a particular subject, to receive help on homework, to help someone else with homework (therefore learning the material even better through teaching another), or to make connections with people around the country or the world. If we can show our students the usefulness of the internet and its resources, we will hopefully be able to reduce the amount of time students waste watching those aforementioned cat videos.
If we want to make DLC's more accessible and appealing to students, we need to find sites that are user-friendly, simple, and useful. Today's students don't need us to be condescending or fill pages with wild graphics or electric guitar music. Instead, they need sites that treat them respectfully. Joining a digital learning community can be a great way for students to discover more about a particular subject, to receive help on homework, to help someone else with homework (therefore learning the material even better through teaching another), or to make connections with people around the country or the world. If we can show our students the usefulness of the internet and its resources, we will hopefully be able to reduce the amount of time students waste watching those aforementioned cat videos.
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