Reflection on Social Network Learning Course

We do not learn from experience...we learn from reflecting on experience. - John Dewey

For the past 8 weeks, I have been taking a course called Social Network Learning. As a fairly new user of social networks for professional learning, I took the class hoping to gain insight about the ways in which I could use social media tools to engage learners, and discover strategies I could use to encourage students  to be more self-directed and purposeful seekers of knowledge. Throughout the course, I tried to tie my new learning to two things: 1) the demands of the Common Core State Standards; and 2) the communication and professional development needs of an administrators.

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For me, one of the most valuable aspects of the course was the scaffolding for self-directed learning. In many cases, there were different avenues for learners to both gain information and demonstrate their understanding. Although many of the tools we covered were familiar to me or were ones that I intuitively grasped, I think it’s fair to say I never would have engaged in a Twitter Chat if it hadn’t been required for this course. For me, the jury’s still out on whether that particular use of Twitter will be a valuable tool for my professional learning, but it was a great learning experience to realize what smart people are out there, and what they are talking about.

I always enjoy the reflective process, thinking about my own learning and growth, so I really appreciated the opportunity to revisit the structure and organization of my PLN. I also found it valuable to develop a list of criteria for evaluating content for curation. I found myself frustrated at times by the seemingly random numbers of things required - 15 criteria for curation, 3 webinars, 10 examples of student uses of social media, 4 new professional networks. I understood the purpose behind the assignment, but sometimes the numbers made the experience feel like just checking off boxes. In the classes I teach, I need to think carefully about the ways in which I have my students demonstrate their understanding, and whether quantity or quality, or some combination of the two, is needed in order to show mastery.

 It was nice to take a course that had the flexibility to allow me to tie my projects into what my own goals were, and I also appreciated the opportunity to learn from and with classroom educators. I feel like I grew as a learner in the course, which is really the most important thing!