self organization

The post I chose to discuss is by Steve Wheeler about Self Organization and Virtual Learning. In his power-point he concludes that, “Self organised learners do not need management, they need facilitation.” Although I completely agree with the concept of  self organized learning and the benefits of developing personal learning environments, I imagine that such freedom might result in loosing some students.

As a middle school teacher, I’ve noticed that two of the most vital skills in middle school are the ability to focus and personal organization. The lack of these skills in our struggling students is striking. Recently, I took a group of my 8th grade french students into the lab to work individually on self assessments from the French textbook’s website. The students were directed to stay only on the textbook’s website but to move freely throughout the exercises there with the goal of assessing how well they have understood the chapter so far. Most students were productively working at their own pace and benefiting from the exercise. But there were a handful who were merely typing nonsense into the fields just to give the appearance of working. I have noticed this type of classroom behavior repeatedly not only in my classroom but in other disciplines as well.

I was impressed by the 7th grade science student’s PLE in our reading this week but I have trouble imagining how the students I mention above would be able to navigate such freedom. Of course this dilemma does not diminish the obvious benefits of PLEs. It should only be considered in how we teach all students and how we balance between managing and facilitating.