So before my flight home got canceled, I had a great day just outside of Green Bay speaking to superintendents and principals at the FIEL conference about the Germanic influences on the English language. I mean…um…the Read/Write/Connect/Reflect Web.

But here was just a classic teachable moment:

I’m showing how the last 500 edits in Wikipedia occurred over the last 2.5 minutes and how that translates to something like 300,000 edits a day when someone raises his hand and says “so take a look at the very last edit on the list…the one about Ronald McDonald.” I look at my own list, and of course, due to the deluge of edits on Wikipedia, there is no Ronald McDonald edit listed, and so we go to the site and see (Caution: vile and unpretty stuff ahead) this. I say something like “yep, this is the issue with Wikipedia isn’t it? So let’s fix it.” And silly me, I start going in and deleting the picture and erasing the bad words, and by the time I’m done doing all of that I hit save and wouldn’t ya know, someone else had come in and reverted the page back to a more appropriate version.

“See?” I say. Vandals come in at 14:27 and start mucking it up, page fixed within 10 minutes.

That’s why Wikipedia is worth a second, third and fourth look from educators.

Amazing.

Technorati Tags: wikipedia, literacy, education, learning, collaboration

So there is no question, right, that there are a lot more teachers using blogs and wikis and Read/Write Web tools today than ever before. And even though most people still report huge obstacles standing in the way regarding implementation of these technologies in their classrooms, it just feels like the winds are starting, ever so slightly, to shift in a different direction. (And no, I don’t think this is a “tail wind” from the EduBloggerCon love fest we just had in Atlanta.) More people are opening up to the conversation.

But here’s the thing that’s been sticking with me of late. For all of the talk about Classroom 2.0 and School 2.0 and Addyourwordhere 2.0, there still isn’t much talk about what fuels the 2.0…the network.

A couple of purposely vague examples. I listened to a presentation of late that attempted to define School 2.0 and did so pretty much solely on the grounds that we can have our students create and publish meaningful work to the world. Now I have absolutely no problem with infusing these tools into classrooms to allow kids to publish what they know to large audiences. That’s a great first step. But that’s not School 2.0 (is it?) And in another conversation I had recently with someone who is doing some really interesting implementations of social technologies into her district, the main success was that her teachers and students were now able to communicate more effectively with each other and parents. That’s not it either (is it?)

I know I visited this theme a couple of weeks ago at NECC, but in the time since, it feels like it’s been jumping out at me more and more. (Except when I was on the beach where even the fish weren’t jumping.) I’ve been trying of late to convince folks that until they understand the uses of these tools in their own learning practice they’ll be really hard pressed to deliver the different pedagogies that go along with them in compelling and effective ways. Yes, we can have kids create movies and podcasts and wikis and all sorts of artifacts that have meaningful purposes and messages. And yes that’s all good, but at the end of the day, all that’s about is being able to use the tool to do the same stuff we’ve done in the past only put it into a new form and offer it to a wider audience. The pedagogies haven’t changed.

But here is the bigger question, I think. Through teaching them to use these tools to publish, are we also teaching them how to use these tools to continue the learning once that project is over? Can they continue to explore and reflect on the ideas that those artifacts represent regardless of who is teaching the next class? Can they connect with that audience not simply in the ways that books connect to readers (read but no write) but in the ways that allow them to engage and explore more deeply with an ongoing, growing community of learners? Isn’t that the real literacy here?

It’s not just the Read/Write Web, is it? It’s more than that. (Someone already came to this conclusion a while back, I know, but I can’t dig it out right now.) It’s the Read/Write/Connect/Reflect Web as well. It is, in the words of Jay Cross in his book Informal Learning (which I’ll have more to write about later,) the “Learning is Optimizing the Quality of One’s Networks” Web. I love this other quote by Jay as well:

“What can you do” has been replaced by “What can you and your network connections do?” Knowledge is moving from the individual to the individual and his contacts. (18)

He’s right. This is our “outboard brain”. This is the power that the publishing facilitates. And this is what we need to get the conversation to, now that the tools have “arrived”.

Photo “The People I Follow on Twitter” by CC Chapman.

Technorati Tags: connectivism, JayCross, education, learning, NECC07, NECC2007

I’m still catching up with all of the reading I missed during my little hiatus, so this may have gotten more attention than it seems, but is anyone else a bit interested in the fact that one 21,000 student district in the UK has decided to close all of its high schools and open learning centers instead:

In the words of rock legend Alice Cooper’s most famous song, “school’s out forever”. Knowsley Council in Merseyside, which – for years – has languished near
or at the bottom of exam league tables, has abolished the use of the word to describe secondary education in the borough. It is taking the dramatic step of closing all of its eleven existing secondary schools by 2009. As part of a £150m government-backed rebuilding programme, they will reopen as seven state-of-the-art, round-the-clock, learning centres with the aid of Microsoft – which has already developed links with one school in the borough, Bowring.

Graham Atwell says “I see this as the first big crack in the present model of schooling
which dates from the first industrial revolution. And it won’t be the last.” And Stephen Downes writes “This is pretty much the system I and many others have been recommending
for years, so this is a program which will be well worth watching.”

It’s dramatic, no doubt. And the way they’ve envisioned this space is, well, radical to some extent: no formal classes, no timetables, and “They will be given their day’s assignments in groups of 120 in the morning before dispersing to internet cafe-style zones in the learning
centres to carry them out.” And they can access it all from home as well.

I think we’ll all be interested to see how this works, but is anyone else niggled by the Microsoft connection? If big business is going to carry the empowerment juice for educators being able to implement bold changes and ideas, is that real reform? Or is it Microsoft’s?

Technorati Tags: education, schools, reform, learning

Powered by ScribeFire.

So I have a few questions that I’d love to hear reactions to. Thoughts and things that have arisen since I turned my computer back on yesterday after basically a week’s downtime.

1. Those of you who are a Twittering, what are you doing less of now that you’re updating the moment and tracking what your friends are doing? Blogging less? Reading other stuff less? Mowing the lawn less? Or has Twitter been an add on? Are you spending more time online because of it?

2. When was the last time you took a week off, totally shut down, and how did you feel when you got “back”?

3. EduBloggerCon and the Blogger Cafe at NECC showed the zeal that we have for these technologies. But to what level can we expect other educators to embrace and adopt these tools in their own practice?

Just wonderin…

Technorati Tags: twitter, education, learning

I spent a couple of hours yesterday watching “Live Earth” being generally uplifted by the music but generally disappointed by the musicians trying to show and talk about how their lives had changed. (How many water bottles did you count?) Nonetheless, I was moved to once again revisit my own footprint on this world this weekend and answer some tough questions about the future from my kids not just because of the concerts but because of two really interesting interviews I watched in the lead up.

The first was on Thursday night on CNBC with Al Gore. I’ve written here before that I’ve always liked Gore; in fact I did some volunteering for his presidential campaign way back in 1988, and I’ve admired most of his politics for a long time. I think the world would be a much different place had 2000 not happened, and, on a comparatively minor note, I think more people would be connected to broadband at this point if he had become president. But, enough of that. What I found compelling on Thursday was the obvious passion he has for this cause. He has said repeatedly that he doesn’t see himself running for president, that he thinks he can make more of an impact with what he’s doing (which in and of itself says something about the dreary state of governance in this country.) And I hope he sticks to that, because he is right. And I loved the way he framed the fight in terms of how future generations would see this moment. Hopefully they’ll ask “How did they find the will to change?” rather than “What the heck were they thinking?” (Those are not verbatim, btw.)

The other interview I saw was Friday night when Bill Moyers had scientist and author E.O. Wilson on to speak about the climate change crisis and the Encyclopedia of Life, which, if you haven’t checked it out yet, is an amazing, collaborative undertaking that is a best practice for the Web we know and love. I really urge you to watch the video as, in it, Wilson makes his own passionate case for action, noting that if we don’t make change in the next 10 years, over half of the mammal species currently alive will be extinct. His new book The Creation: An Appeal fo Save Life on Earth was written with a Southern Baptist preacher in mind, he says, in an attempt to bridge the schism between science and religion on the issue. (Read the summaries on the Amazon site for an overview.)

Anyway, while I know a lot of people will debate the urgency of all of this, I’m past the point of trying to understand why we wouldn’t do better by the environment just for the simple reason that it’s the right thing to do. And while I can’t always stop people from idling their cars and wasting water, (though I try) I can do that for myself. My amazing wife Wendy wrote a book about the things we can do to change our footprint, btw, and we’ve been trying for some time now to soften our impact. And so, not in any way to claim some moral superiority on the issue or to raise myself up as a poster child (because I am in no way even close to perfect) I just want to take a moment to document (once again) the steps we are trying to take:

• We buy organic, and preferably locally grown foods. (That last part is the key.)
• We don’t eat meat, chicken and certain kinds of fish due to environmental effects the production of those items cause.
• We buy things that come in recyclable packaging or no packaging at all.
• We recycle everything we can. (See this site.)
• We bring cloth or plastic IKEA bags to the grocery store for reuse (and we get 3 cents a bag back!)
• We give away rather than throw away.
• We use Freecycle
• We ask for no bag when we don’t absolutely need one.
• We reuse plastic bags (of which this country throws away 15 millions a day.)
• We have plastic coffee and water cups…my wife insists on NO PLASTIC BOTTLES (of which this country throws away 2.5 million every hour.)
• We buy bathroom tissue made from recyled products.
• We buy carbon offsets for all of the plane travel and road travel we do.
• We buy biodegradable dish and clothes washing soap.
• We buy used clothes for ourselves and our kids.
• We turn our thermostat down to 60 at night.
• We use flourscent light bulbs.
• We replaced our gas heater with a wood pellet stoves.
• We replaced many of our old appliances with energy saving, efficient ones.
• We replaced our old toilets with water saving ones, but
• We still flush every other time (unless of course…)
• We make sure our faucets don’t leak.
• We trap the cold water that starts every shower in containers for use elsewhere (plants, dishes, etc.)
• We turn off every light when not in use.
• We only buy stuff that we really NEED (82% of the time, at least.)
• We compost kitchen scraps.
• We reuse plastic utensils.
• We reuse aluminum foil, and we try not to use plastic wrap.
• We are involved in political campaigns.
• We sign petitions.
• We volunteer at soup kitchens and such, though not as much as we’d like to.
• We’re still saving to buy a Prius.

This year, Wendy and I really want to try the 100-mile diet, though it will be tough. But buying locally produced food is one of the best things we can do to lower carbon emissions. (If you want to read a great book on the subject, try Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, and then give it to someone else to read.)

Anyway, I hope that’s making a difference. Try explaining to a seven year old why the Earth as we know it may be gone in his lifetime and you get pretty motivated…

Powered by ScribeFire.

I won’t be blogging again today…maybe a twit if I catch something.


Or not.

Technorati Tags: balance, beach

My wife Wendy grew up in Georgia, went to Georgia Tech, and spent a lot of her summers as a kid with her “Granny” down in the southwestern part of the state. The last couple of days, we headed down that way to visit with one of Granny’s best friends, Miss Francis, who is 88 years old, still works a farm, dips snuff, and drives a pickup truck with a shotgun in the back. She’s without question one of the most amazing people I know.

To say that life for the kids where Miss Francis lives is a bit different from my own kids’ is obviously an understatement. Most of the homes in her town are either for sale or falling down. It’s a town that even Wal-Mart has decided to bypass. Unemployment is high, there is a great deal of poverty, and, not surprisingly, the school systems are not the best. As I watched my barefooted kids play with the barefooted neighborhood children, I thought about how different their futures would likely be. The opportunities there are scarce.

That’s not to say that there aren’t a lot of things from Miss Francis’ world that I would wish for my kids. We spent a full day at a country pond catching bass and sunnies, watching the clouds build as the afternoon wore on, listening to the deep, rolling thunder rumble in the distance. It was the slowest day I’ve had in years, and it felt good. Everyone in the town knew Miss Francis, and even though it wasn’t technically true, everyone seemed genuinely pleased to be meeting her grandkids and great-grand babies. And the fried egg sandwiches for breakfast, the eggs cooked up in bacon fat, well…let’s say they beat Dunkin Donuts any day. There is much that appeals about a simpler, less complicated existence.

But after coming off of five days of heady conversation about blogs and the Web and technology changing the world at NECC, I kept looking at those kids playing in the streets and wondering how much a connection might change their lives. Would it bring them more opportunities? Would it allow them to find new passions that in some way might help them build better lives? Or is it just me imposing my worldview on a place that I really have little understanding of at all? Obviously, it’s making me think.

On the way out of town, we took Miss Francis to the local Eckerd’s Drug Store where we showed her how to plug the chip from the digital camera she got at Christmas into the print-making computer they had. She said that now that she knew how to do that, she couldn’t wait to take more pictures.

And I started thinking some more.

Technorati Tags: necc07, georgia, education, life