My Experiences as a Member of Learning Communities
After I completed the part of the learning networks for the previous class, Concepts of Educational Technology, I started to appreciate them. I didn’t even know they were called like that and that you could affiliate to some groups where you could learn something new everyday.
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I have been a member of Facebook for a long time, but I only used it for the social part of it. Now I am following Edutopia, Bored Teachers, and Education Week and it’s really interesting how they always bring a new article about the last tendencies in education. My favorite one is Edutopia. It posts at least two articles every day with research-based information and it really gives me a better view on education. The learning networks I have in Facebook are for me to consume information.
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I joined other learning networks too, like edWeb. They send me emails but I just can give it a fast overview because it seems that I can’t find the time to read it.
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I have been wondering what the best way to really get the most learning of these networks would be. If you join too many, you will get tons of information but you might not have the time to check everything. Maybe I use my learning networks in Facebook because they are easy and short and that motivates me to find the time to read them.
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I started using Twitter about five years ago. It was a requirement from my previous principal but I really didn’t know how to use it and what the purpose of it was. After that, I created my personal account and I started following a lot of accounts about the news and the weather. I really enjoy how you can have access to the latest news in a matter of seconds or minutes after something happens. But again, I am more on the consuming side with this account. With my first teacher account I started to take more risks. I began to contribute with what was happening in my classroom. It is interesting to see how the people react or how more people follow you according to your posts. I have enjoyed that you can find different ideas of how to teach something when you follow other people that are in your same area.
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Pinterest is a dream place. You can use it for everything you want and you will always find something beautiful that you can apply to your needs. But … sometimes you need to be careful with it because it displays many good ideas that sometimes are not applicable to what you need to teach and you might end using it only because it’s beautiful. Again, I am a consumer in Pinterest.
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I love Hour of Code, I am a computer science engineer so programming for me is fascinating. I have had after school clubs where we practice coding and I give the kids the opportunity to create solutions. I have helped with some translations but I have not contributed with anything else to this.
I follow Google for Education and Apple Education. I think I would like to work for one of these companies because I admire how they work and how they keep innovating.
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My favorite part of this past month has been my blog. My daughter is always talking about her blog and her vlog and I thought it was just a young people thing just to share their lives. I have had the opportunity to share my reflections on my learning with my blog. It is scary to know that other people might read it and know you on a different level but at the same time it is interesting to be able to share with the world your learning process.
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Learning networks are very important because they keep you in the loop. With time you might become a contributor so you can share the great things that are happening around you and because of you.