Reflections of Week 4

I really enjoyed the reading that was required for week four. "Minds on Fire, Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0," was a very interesting article. Much of the content was common sense, but I had not given much thought to it. I particularly enjoyed reading the authors opinions on how the ways in which students learn has changed. I agree wholeheartedly with their assertion that many of our students today work much more effectively in subject specific group settings, and that the internet provides a great opportunity to create these groups. I also enjoyed the time that I spent contemplating the usefulness of social networking sites in education. While I can see that they have obvious benefits, particularly when it comes to student engagement, I do not see them immediately replacing tools such as Moodle or Blackboard.