Confessions of a Networked Learner - Dean Shareski

In class last Tuesday was our Skype lecture with Dean Shareski. This was my first time involved in a lecture on Skype and was surprised at how effective it was! Dean did such a great job not only stressing the importance and the usefulness of technology, but actually using a wide range of technology in his presentation as well. He made it look so easy! Dean’s lecture was very refreshing and inspiring which definitely made me more open to the idea of using media in the classroom.

 Dean began his presentation by saying how teaching is complex and that technology is the ‘new tool’ of today. Apparently this involves media being “more than uploading videos to Utube,” which I actually don’t know how to do! However I do see the point that Dean was making. Instead of spending hours trying to find information in a book, you can find it faster on the web.

“If you think the media is used to ‘look up’ stuff you’re missing the best part”

So, in addition to using technology to ‘look up’ stuff, Dean stressed how “we are in this profession to share, it’s important for teachers to blog.” He says how teachers can use blogs to reflect and other people can help/offer suggestions. Teachers need to be open and reciprocate back into the community and blogging is a way to do it. He used the example of a math teacher named Dan Meyer to stress this point. He spent 18 hours planning a lesson, shared it with 6000+ people, which made his “18 hours of cost time, much more worth the while.” This was when I had my “aha” moment. Teachers spend an incredible amount of time planning, but by sharing resources we can cut our prep time. I need to do this.

I’ll leave you with Dean’s concluding statements and by far my favorite statment:

“Maybe what’s obvious to me is amazing to someone else… point is don’t be worried about judgments, let the world decide.”

Until my next post... JD