Yes, And . . . I Still Want to Try Connected Learning

Apologies to everyone for falling behind on my posts. I’m going to post several today in an attempt to get back on schedule. Forgive me if I seem to be overflowing with blogginess this afternoon.

I’ve been talking about connected learning in the composition classroom for over two months now. Why? Because the connected learning model offers possibilities for engaging students in authentic learning experiences that take advantage of their interests outside the classroom in ways that broaden and deepen their learning.

Still, the connected learning model brings many challenges to the typical college composition classroom. Just last week, for instance, I wrote about the difficulty of addressing student interests in a diverse classroom of randomly assigned students. The more I learn about connected learning, the more questions I have about whether this model is possible in a traditional college classroom. I understand how it works in libraries and after-school programs, but I still question how it would work in a customary college writing program. I’ll even confess that, recently, I have been wondering if I have been pursuing something impossible.

But despite my pessimistic questions, I respond: “Yes, and . . . I still want to try Connected Learning.”

Watch the video that convinced me, and ead more about my decision in my post on the Bedford Bits blog.

 


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