A teacher is like an anchor

A teacher is like an anchor.  

Today, in a rapidly changing digital world, it seems almost daunting to keep up with all of the newest technologies and even more difficult to decide which ones are worthwhile for educational purposes.  But, the time has come.  We need to take risks in order to ensure that our students are learning and engaged.  It is our responsibility, as teachers, to take advantage of the never ending sea of knowledge that the internet has given us and that enables our students to connect with others.   George Siemens mentions in his video, The Impact of Social Software on Learning that "The social software that we see today in the form of blogs and wikis developed in order to enable these individuals in a quickly changing knowledge field to continue to stay current and to continue to learn from each other".  This shows us how important it is to utilize these tools since they are there to encourage our students to connect with others.  After all, "we derive our competence from forming connections" (Connectivism, Siemens, 2005)

I came up with the analogy, "A teacher is like an anchor".  I believe that teachers of today are there to guide our students in the world of digital education and to be there for support, stability and security.  Today´s teachers should act as anchors in order to provide our students with the opportunities and knowledge that this digital era offers us.  As mentioned in Siemens´ Connectivism Theory, nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.  By using a more "informal" style of teaching (like chatrooms, blogging, wikis and so on), we are allowing our students to nurture and maintain connections which is crucial in the learning process.  According to George Siemens,"Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks. "(Siemens, 2005).  Technology is changing quickly and in order to keep our students connected in the world, we as teachers need to be the anchors that support continual learning through connections.