I’ve been trying to assimilate some themes in what Will Richardson talked about on Tuesday and things I heard at the TCEA conference as well. Some reflections in no certain order–
How our students learn is changing. How we learn is also changing. (In a presentation at TCEA, Ysleta ISD called it “PJ PD”—Pajama Professional Development—because you can take professional development courses online in your pj’s.)
Will Richardson shared MIT’s Open Coursewhere, where every course at MIT is available online. The Open Courseware Consortium site links to open sourceware college courses around the world. (Five universities in the U.S. offer courses compared to 222 in
China)
There are a lot of opportunities for global connections for our students. These connections can make things more real and bring world events closer. Our students are programmed to “wait and learn” (and are we also?) How can we change our classrooms and our own professional development models to reflect more active learning styles?
Passion is important.
The importance of students as editors is growing. They need to be able to edit Wikipedia, edit their own published work, edit for appropriateness, etc., because with sites like Lulu.com, they can print their own books.
Students can get “learning” from lots of places, 24/7. So do we. That changes our mission, doesn’t it? Because we no longer have to carry the responsibility of being the sole purveyors of information, but we do need to provide guidance, community, and feedback. We have to become more literate in how to manage all this “stuff” and we need to help students learn to manage all this “stuff” as well. And that is going to be a challenge.
It already is a challenge. And in terms of libraries, I think more than ever our role involves helping others manage all this “stuff,” providing support, feedback, collaboration, guidance, and community. What challenges or thoughts did you take away from the sessions?
I’m glad you mentioned Ysleta ISD’s “PJ PD”—Pajama Professional Development — I sat through that session also but for some reason didn’t have that in my notes 🙁 And I loved that they called it that!
I’ve written a few posts on my observations and reflections from this year’s TCEA (on my blog), but to sum up everything — My biggest takeaway from this past week is that there are a lot of educators out there really jumping into this work, being innovativve, being rebels if the work isn’t totally supported or approved by their administration or district, and trying to make the necessary changes in their own practice (their professional learning and in their classrooms) because they know it is right for our students.
I am returning home and to work refreshed and encouraged that the change is happening (even if I don’t see it in my own building yet), and I’m returning with more passion for being the change that I want to see by using new technologies in my own work and by modeling their use for my teachers.
Stephanie
I am really excited about LuLu. I can see that changing publishing as we know it today. I wonder how the libraries will keep up with all the new books? It looks increasingly like people will eventually get all of their information online, including news and books. Although I love the ease of the internet and the immediate gratification, I think it is hard to curl up in bed with your computer at the end of the day for that good read! So, maybe print will live on for a while yet. Anyway, the idea that you can publish your book for any group or everyone (LuLu) and market it so inexpensively is fabulous.