A learner is like an apple

A learner is like an apple. Apples come from different places, were taken care of in different ways, are different kinds of shapes and colors, some have bruises, some are crispy, some are sweet. Apples, like learners are all different. Learners can come from different places, prior to schooling were taken care of in different ways, learners are all different shapes and colors, some learners have different features than others, and they all have different kinds of personalities.

In the article by Siemen, he quotes Landuar and Dumais (1997) in their statement that "people have much more knowledge than appears to be present in the information to which they have been exposed." This statement is very important to remember about our learners in the classroom. Referring back to what was said about apples, when we see an apple in the grocery store and bring it home, we sometimes forget that this apple has been on a journey that we are unaware of. The apple could have been dropped on the ground, it could have been licked by an animal, or it could have been sitting in the grocery store for days. Looking at an apple you might forget about all of these factors, just like our learners. Learners have gone through journeys that affect their present learning in our classroom. We must acknowledge the interactions they have had because it shapes them as a learner and may have a heavy influence on their knowledge base. Although learners may not be exposing all of their capabilities to us in the classroom, as educators, we can never make assumptions about our learners knowledge base without challenging them to show it to us.


In his video "The Network is Learning" Siemen states, "What we know today is not as important as our ability to stay current. If what I know today is going to change because knowledge changes rapidly, if I am not continually learning I am becoming obsolete in my field." Classroom teachers have to ensure they are staying current in the field so they can be changing with the tides and continually learning, just as our students are. We need to continue to expose our learners to knew knowledge bases and as educators we need to utilize the most current tools to do so to make learning meaningful. Technology is a great resource to stay up to date in the field and to expand our knowledge base. Our students are growing, and changing as time changes. We need to make sure we water our apples with the best water so they can grow nice and ripe.