Great points! I definitely think that triggering the curiosity of learners is a great way to let them explore and learn things “on their own”. I think that most of the things that I have learned out of curiosity has stuck better with me. As an example, for the Contemporary Pedagogy class, we could have spent a few sessions learning about the basics of blogging and good blogs vs bad blogs etc. However, this class has been designed in a way to allow for connected learning to happen through reading some of the interfering blogs out of curiosity or for the requirement of the course. This process has definitely made me want to enhance my blog writing skills as I have been inspired by others. On the other hand in some classes when students ask questions out of curiosity, I have seen many times that professors are not really encouraging such question and want the students to just ask questions which are directly related to the context of the course! Curiosity is definitely encouraged in graduate school, however I would like to see undergraduate courses having such open frameworks.

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You might not need to worry about learning styles because there isn’t any good empirical evidence for them. Although, what you describe–student preferences–surely exist.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-teaching-to-a-students-learning-style-a-bogus-idea/

I don’t think future employers are contacting people in the Sciences, or at least not in Ecology, specifically based on blogs. This seems like something that would happen more in Engineering or a Science that Industry recruits from. The Dynamic Ecology post is geared towards people in the Sciences and in academia, but perhaps it applies more specifically to Ecology. I use ResearchGate and that is where people in my niche field in Ecology and Statistics keep up with what everyone is doing and it is a place where you can download everyone’s papers without a paywall. A blog could describe what I’m working on in more detail, but I’m not sure it is the best use of my time. I’m glad it has worked for you, though.

Thanks for sharing!

I agree with Carrie that connected learning is not limited to technology. There are several strategies that we can implement to promote connected learning and to create a connected learning environment.

One thing I disagree with Jeremy Fox is regarding the professional value of blogging for your career limited to the value that your advisor or supervisor give to blogging. I think when you become an active blogger you are able to share important information about who you are as a professional in an informal way. What value does that have for your career? The same value that an eportfolio can give you, a solid online presence. I can’t tell you how many future employers have contacted me just because they found my blog or my eportfolio. This is not limited to employers, I am involved in several research projects because the collaborators have contacted me because they found my blog.

In addition, as a former recruiter I always went online to find out about the candidates online presence. Even if we want it or not, recruiters will look for people online to see what they find. I think is better that we control our online presence.

In my experience there is a lot of value in blogging and I’m looking forward to hear your opinion after the class is over.

Thanks for being skeptical and helping us promote the discussions we need.

Anne’s desk is about 10 feet from mine! I tried out twitter, but I’m an Ecological Statistician and people really aren’t very interested in statistical models (except for the small community working on similar models, but they don’t really use Twitter). The main value I see in Twitter is forming an online community in your field and keeping up with what everyone is doing. There is some science communication involved, but if you do get media attention, it’s usually not of the sort that benefits you (e.g. getting on TV to answer which animal do you think it the cutest?).

I find a key point in your blog – “experience knowledge the way in which they would like” and I completely agree with it. I was working at a highly competitive boarding school these past couple of years and while there were teachers who lectured there were some teachers who would come up with elaborate projects that the students would have to research, complete and present. At the end of both years out department head found that there was increased satisfaction and higher enrollment in electives that were being taught with innovative strategies versus ones that involved lectures and research paper assignments. I find that the upcoming generations are open to using different ideas and modes of collecting information. I find that it also raises their self-esteem and confidence when they share something that they found which even their teacher may not have known about. I think that the concept of teaching and learning itself has changed drastically – teaching and learning “with” rather than teaching “at”.

Thanks for sharing.

I agree that connected learning should be incorporated along with the traditional educational system. However, I don’t think that is more beneficial for people at the highest levels of their education. I think connected learning can benefit students at the elementary level as well. My son is in second grade, and the things that he learns the best are the ones that have been taught using connected learning or other non-traditional pedagogical strategies, is the only way he gets excited and engaged regarding his education.

You are bringing up one of the biggest problems in education around the world. Remembering 7 out of 60 courses is a common problem for most students. I believe part of the problem is the system. If students learn for a test rather than for learning, things will be forgotten quickly after the test passes. Connected learning can help us overcome this issue. If we are able to use technology and different strategies to create a learning community where students reflect connected to each other I can assure you that the learners will not forget the experience.

Thanks for sharing.

I think it is difficult to make the change from the traditional way of learning to the contemporary one. However, we need to keep in mind that our students when we are faculty members will come with that shift. We will face students that were raised on a completely different environment that we not only need to understand but also to be prepared to adapt to it.

Don’t get me wrong I also value to read the paper book or to solve the equation with paper and pencil some times, and by this I don’t mean that everyone must change to technology right away, however, is something that we need to understand if we want to connect with our students.

Great post.

As I was reading your blog I had a flashback to a conversation I had with my nephew couple of months ago:
Me: “Go outside and play! It is so beautiful!”
Nephew: “Play what?”
Me: “I don’t know go shoot hoops, throw the football around or something.”
Nephew: “Aunty you’re so old fashioned! Why would I do that when I can play Madden 16 on my X-box!”

Yes, definitely old fashioned and a skeptic when it comes to technological adaptation. My gifts always consist of books that one can actually hold and games that you have to actually sit with someone to play….it takes time for sure in the adjustment from what we are used to and what is available now as a resource for communicating, participating and learning. I am sure there is value though…pros and cons to everything, right?!

Hi Homero,

It is nice to read your experiences and your ideas. I understand your point and I truly agree with that. My point related to Iran, is Facebook unfortunately dominate all social media atmosphere and these days few people write blogs frequently and we don’t have those phenomenon our society has experienced a decade ago. Fortunately, telegram is new app which become very popular in Iran recently ( and it can be used much easily because it is not filtered yet while facebook is filtered and it is hard to use it if you are inside Iran). The telegram groups (not channels) give a good tool to users to communicate and talk with each other and this is very good option because people can share their ideas and talk with each other more effectively compare to Facebook.