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October 17, 2007
E-mail is for old peoplePosted by Barbara Hunter, NSBA Staff, at 1:00 PM | Breakfast Sessions | Education Technology Issues | Tools for the Classroom | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Say what? Being one of those old people, I found that insight rather startling coming from one of this morning's breakfast session speakers, Will Richardson. But he made a rather convincing argument that it was true. Sigh.
Here's the deal. Richardson says that educators and school leaders have got to get beyond our comfort zone and into our kids' world where networking reigns supreme. Kids have this amazing ability to connect online to learn just about anything. For example, check out this page from Qatar Academy that has a blog and a Flat Classroom so kids can share what they've learned and collaborate on projects.
And that's precisely where learning is taking place among kids. Another example Richardson showed is a site called Fan Fiction where students can write their own chapters to add on to existing books. Then, their peers comment on their stories. Imagine the possibilities for a classroom!
So our challenge is to rethink what a classroom can be and open the world up to connect learners around topics that are important. For a really cool overview of these thoughts and more, check out Richardson's wiki. And join him in today's online discussion on the same topic.
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