Saturday, July 11, 2015

New gear for new heights

Early in the book Personal Learning Networks, Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli compare schools to the newspaper industry. This hits home for me since I have spent much of my adult life in the printing industry as a designer. I think about how many industries have been so hugely impacted by the information age and the technologies that are here are not just part of our lives but on our persons. Think of politics, medicine, music, art, business in general– mobile devices, have literally changed the way humans operate and think. For a while industries just tried to incorporate the web as an add on tool, but now I think we all realize that the tools of the web have already transformed most industries and continue to transform them in dramatic ways.

This class has exposed us to the primary tools that are changing education. Websites, blogs, twitter, RSS, mobile apps, learning management systems, collaborative tools individually and as a whole have tremendous potential for education. I look forward to seeing even more changes in future of education as more and more school systems, teachers and students adopt these tools as part of what I like to call “learning gear.”  It makes me think of rock climbers. They need specific gear. So do learners. Learners (teachers and students), need access to and practice with this new gear to reach new heights of learning.

I have to agree with the authors when they say, “It’s an amazing time to be a learner.” I am so glad to have had this opportunity to explore this class and its content with an amazing group of learners connected by the very gear we are learning about.

Keep on climbing and see you at the next summit. The view will likely be grand.


Richardson, W., & Mancabelli, R. (2011). Personal learning networks: Using the power of connections to transform education. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

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