Recent Changes

My weblog has been (aside from my kids) the most transformative event in my life, and it has changed the way I think about learning, schools, and classrooms. It has helped me understand what it is to be a part of a network of learners, a global community of passionate thinkers with whom I create curriculum, classrooms and conversations every day.
Our Kids Are Not Waiting For Us...
are forming theseinterest-basedthese interest-based groups inin any number
Shift 2: Information is Not Scarce, So, Groups Form
Between MIT OpenCourseWare and ITunesU and countless others, we now have the ability to create groups to learn whatever it is we need or want to learn. The truth is that learning can be anywhere.

My weblog has been (aside from my kids) the most transformative event in my life, and it has changed the way I think about learning, schools, and classrooms. It has helped me understand what it is to be a part of a network of learners, a global community of passionate thinkers with whom I create curriculum, classrooms and conversations every day.
Our Kids Are Not Waiting For Us...
are forming these interest-basedtheseinterest-based groups in in any number
Shift 2: Information is Not Scarce, So, Groups Form
Between MIT OpenCourseWare and ITunesU and countless others, we now have the ability to create groups to learn whatever it is we need or want to learn. The truth is that learning can be anywhere.

This is a time of self-directed, peer-based, passion-based learning. And it is creating the need for a huge head-shift in our thinking. As MacArthur says: "Youth using new media often learn from their peers, not teachers or adults, and notions of expertise and authority have been turned on their heads." And the reality is that the future of learning resides in these personal learning groups or networks that we form, manage, and participate in.
{http://myskitch.com/willrichardson/del.icio.us_network_explorer-20071017-072045.jpg} Story:
global community ofof passionate thinkers
Our Kids Are Not Waiting For Us...
Our students are forming these interest-based groups in any number of ways already, with little or no instruction or modeling from us. We need to help them understand the potentials for learning in our own classrooms. We have to create Thinwalls and show them ways to use groups to change the world.
How do We Begin Changing Our Model of Learning in Schools?
We have to begin to rethink what we do in the context of these seismic shifts around learning on the web. We have to start with the teachers. Day-long, drive-by professional development simply will not work when what's required is a change in practice, not just enhanced skills. How can we provide job-embedded, long-term professional development that immerses teachers in social learning environments.
There are Many Reasons Why This is Difficult
But change starts with ourselves. What are we doing to add dots to our maps? To model this for our teachers and our students? To bring the powerful learning opportunities that the Read/Write Web provides into our schools and our curriculum?

This is a time of self-directed, peer-based, passion-based learning. And it is creating the need for a huge head-shift in our thinking. As MacArthur says: "Youth using new media often learn from their peers, not teachers or adults, and notions of expertise and authority have been turned on their heads." And the reality is that the future of learning resides in these personal learning groups or networks that we form, manage, and participate in.
{http://myskitch.com/willrichardson/del.icio.us_network_explorer-20071017-072045.jpg} Story:
global community of of passionate thinkers
Our Kids Are Not Waiting For Us...
Our students are forming these interest-based groups in any number of ways already, with little or no instruction or modeling from us. We need to help them understand the potentials for learning in our own classrooms. We have to create Thinwalls and show them ways to use groups to change the world.
Between MIT OpenCourseWare and ITunesU and countless others, we now have the ability to create groups to learn whatever it is we need or want to learn. The truth is that learning can be anywhere.
Story: Learning is "Anywhere, Anytime"
the world. It requires us to think deeply about what it means to prepare our kids for their futures, that we show them how to "create, grow and navigate personal learning networks in safe, effective and ethical ways."
How do We Begin Changing Our Model of Learning in Schools?
We have to begin to rethink what we do in the context of these seismic shifts around learning on the web. We have to start with the teachers. Day-long, drive-by professional development simply will not work when what's required is a change in practice, not just enhanced skills. How can we provide job-embedded, long-term professional development that immerses teachers in social learning environments.

Problem: We're Not Shifting, Instead Using "Blunt Instruments" to Keep Change at Bay
Rather than embrace these shifts, we are attempting to ward them off. We block, filter, and restrict the use of these group-forming tools in schools. In New York City, kids check their cell phones in for the day at a significant cost. In Australia, we spend $84 million on a filter for schools that is hacked in under 30 minutes by a 16-year old.
blocks as
"blunt "blunt instruments" that
Problem 2: We're Not Encouraging the Formation of Interest-Driven Groups
This is a time of self-directed, peer-based, passion-based learning. And it is creating the need for a huge head-shift in our thinking. As MacArthur says: "Youth using new media often learn from their peers, not teachers or adults, and notions of expertise and authority have been turned on their heads." And the reality is that the future of learning resides in these personal learning groups or networks that we form, manage, and participate in.
We "supplement" our kids' education, and we want to model for them the idea that providing you can make good decisions around group forming, you can learn anything you like anytime you like in the context of your networks. Teachers come in all shapes and sizes from anywhere in the world.
How do We Begin Changing Our Model of Learning in Schools?
the teachers. Day-long, drive-by professional development simply will not work when what's required is a change in practice, not just enhanced skills. How can

There are Huge Implications for Educators in These Shifts
A recently released three year study of digital media and youth shows that our kids (with access) are already forming their own groups. These groups are either friendship-driven or interest-driven, and both are important.
Stories:{http://blogs.springside.org/groups/teachingandlearning/weblog/f7e7f/images/e72d8.jpg} Stories:
Sarah, a junior in high school routinely reads and sends over 600 text messages a day, all to and from friends she knows in her physical world. And these friendship-driven networks are played out very publicly and transparently in "Networked Publics" at MySpace or Facebook (to grieve) or others. Are we teaching them how to leverage friendship-driven spaces for learning?
Problem: We're Not Shifting, Instead Using "Blunt Instruments" to Keep Change at Bay
We "supplement" our kids' education, and we want to model for them the idea that providing you can make good decisions around group forming, you can learn anything you like anytime you like in the context of your networks. Teachers come in all shapes and sizes from anywhere in the world.
How do We Begin Changing Our Model of Learning in Schools?
We have to begin to rethink what we do in the context of these seismic shifts around learning on the web. We have to start with the teachers. How can we provide job-embedded, long-term professional development that immerses teachers in social learning environments.

Story: Learning is "Anywhere, Anytime"
We "supplement" our kids' education, and we want to model for them the idea that providing you can make good decisions around group forming, you can learn anything you like anytime you like in the context of your networks. Teachers come in all shapes and sizes from anywhere in the world.
How do We Begin Changing Our Model of Learning in Schools?

“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists” — Eric Hoffer
"The kind of questioning, collaborative, active, lateral rather than hierarchical pedagogy that participatory media both forces and enables is not the kind of change that takes place quickly or at all in public schools." -- Howard Rheingold
Big Premise: We Need to Feel Uncomfortable Right Now...
This is a very challenging moment for educators. Our children are headed for a much more networked existence, one that allows for learning to occur 24, 7, 365, one that renders physical space much less important for learning, one that will challenge the relevance of classrooms as currently envisioned, and one that challenges our roles as teachers and adult learners.
A Story:
Our students are forming these interest-based groups in any number of ways already, with little or no instruction or modeling from us. We need to help them understand the potentials for learning in our own classrooms. We have to create Thinwalls and show them ways to use groups to change the world.
Shift 2: Information is Not Scarce, So, Groups Form
to learn. The truth is that learning can be anywhere.
Story: Learning is "Anywhere, Anytime"
We "supplement" our kids' education, and we want to model for them the idea that providing you can make good decisions around group forming, you can learn anything you like anytime you like in the context of your networks. Teachers come in all shapes and sizes from anywhere in the world.

Problem 2: We're Not Encouraging the Formation of Interest-Driven Groups
This is a time of self-directed, peer-based, passion-based learning. And it is creating the need for a huge head-shift in our thinking. As MacArthur says: "Youth using new media often learn from their peers, not teachers or adults, and notions of expertise and authority have been turned on their heads." And the reality is that the future of learning resides in these personal learning groups or networks that we form, manage, and participate in.
Story:{http://myskitch.com/willrichardson/del.icio.us_network_explorer-20071017-072045.jpg} Story:
My weblog has been (aside from my kids) the most transformative event in my life, and it has changed the way I think about learning, schools, and classrooms. It has helped me understand what it is to be a part of a network of learners, a global community of passionate thinkers with whom I create curriculum, classrooms and conversations every day.
Our Kids Are Not Waiting For Us...
own classrooms. We have to create Thinwalls and show them ways to use groups to change the world.
Shift 2: Information is Not Scarce, So, Groups Form
Between MIT OpenCourseWare and ITunesU and countless others, we now have the ability to create groups to learn whatever it is we need or want to learn.

"blunt instruments" that are seen as "Ill-informed exercises of power."
Problem 2: We're Not Encouraging the Formation of Interest-Driven Groups
their heads." And the reality is that the future of learning resides in these personal learning groups or networks that we form, manage, and participate in.
Story:
My weblog has been (aside from my kids) the most transformative event in my life, and it has changed the way I think about learning, schools, and classrooms. It has helped me understand what it is to be a part of a network of learners, a global community of passionate thinkers with whom I create curriculum, classrooms and conversations every day.
Our Kids Are Not Waiting For Us...
Our students are forming these interest-based groups in any number of ways already, with little or no instruction or modeling from us. We need to help them understand the potentials for learning in our own classrooms.