A Shift in Teaching

http://weblogged.wikispaces.com/A+Shifting+Notion+of+What+it+Means+to+Teach
retrieved March 23, 2010.
Will Richardson

Will Richardson

Weblogg-ed.com
Powerful Learning Practice Network (Co-Founder)

http://tinyurl.com/djrjeg

Contact: weblogged@gmail.com
Author: Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms ( Corwin Press, 2nd Ed, July 2008)
Latest Articles:
"Footprints in a Digital Age" (Educational Leadership, November, 2008)
"World Without Walls: Learning Well With Others" (Edutopia, December 2008)

Teaching with these technologies challenges the traditional definition of teaching. Our main role in the midst of these networked learning environments is as a connector for our students, not simply content expert.

As teachers we must teach and model for our students the ability to create, grow and navigate personal learning networks in safe, ethical and effective ways.

What do these teachers have in common?

They are networked learners.
They share their practice.
The connect their students globally.
They give students voice.
They create opportunities for real work for real purposes for their students.
They learn with their students.

This is a period of Fluid Learning.

• Capture Everything
• Share Everything
• Open Everything
• Only Connect

And we are entering a period of "ubiquitous learning."

What do you think these shifts mean for your own teaching and learning?

Take this teacher's Tweet: "In Gr.8 - using Google Earth, Flickr, YouTube, bbcnews, to learn about the protests in Burma .. world at their fingertips, AS IT HAPPENS!"

Now we have the opportunity to be connectors, to bring our classrooms to the world in a variety of ways. We can find other teachers who may know more than we do. (Secret Life of Bees)

Here's another example of students learning from mentors. (Polar Science)