Reflection on articles

When Siemens talks about the progression from formal learning to informal learning in “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age”, it is contradictory in what is actually happening in the public school setting. Tyler’s linear approach to curriculum clearly shows a subject based way of teaching our students. A majority of our public schools are teaching this type of subject based learning because of our connectivity to state standards. I know that despite the desires to teach in a more critical-exploratory manner, we are trapped in the confines of our school curriculum. I agree with the statement, “The organization and the individual are both learning organisms. Increased attention to knowledge management highlights the need for a theory that attempts to explain the link between individual and organizational learning.” This is the goal that I have as a teacher, but I feel that until we can get some backing with administration we will not be able to move forward as far as we would like. I am not strictly one side or the other with this issue, obviously, because I teach a core subject area, but I do think we need to step outside the box and become more critical about the way we have done things in the past.

On another note, I enjoyed reading the socratic article. "None of us are educational islands unto ourselves." This metaphor really hit home for me, because we should be life time learners and teaching our students that resourcefulness and to be able to not only critically evaluate things in this world is imperative to a successful life, but to be reflective about it as well.