Four Resources: One Theme

In which I review four resources....

Oxford English Dictionary Word

PLN and Twitter

WordPress

EduBlogs

As a teacher of literature, I have the habit of viewing most of what I approach in terms of its theme. Therefore when asked to identify commonalities of the above mentioned resources, I see a common thread of "connection". All four serve to connect people in some way. For example, every human born in the year of 1966 can look up his or her birthday word and find that computernik is a newly invented word during the year in which he or she was born. The blogging platforms connect people with like interests as do the various PLNs such as RebelMouse, PaperLi and Twitter.  I see them all as connecting people who are looking for or are willing to share interests and information on the same topics. The birthday word site from Oxford English Dictionary would be the one resource here that does not allow for any sharing within its own platform, so it does not connect people as the other do.  Above all, the resources make learning personal by providing a means for any person to share how the information she acquires applies to her experience and her prior knowledge.
   

For my learning goals, these resources set a stage or present a platform that allows for others to engage in inquiry. When a student or person can scroll through a feed on twitter, or search for a blog post and find millions of resources that anyone can post, the idea is overwhelming. I have one particular goal in my desire to introduce Inquiry Learning into my classroom in an organized and systematic way. I want the experience to be manageable and  fairly easy to navigate for my students and for me as well. The most prevalent thought that pops into my head  is that not only do I need to find a way to sort through and digest the information coming in, but I also need to provide a way for my students to organize it, apply a meaning and use to it, and have a means to share it and express it.- A way that connects them to other learners. It is almost like a never ending cycle, search, find, sort, compose, share...and then the process starts all over again.