Redefined: Teaching, Learning, Thinking

One can learn through being taught. Can one be taught to learn? In the article "Rigor Redefined" the writer Tony Wagner spent time further examining this question. He conversed with business, non-profit, philanthropic and education leaders. Once he had a better idea idea of what skills graduates will need to posses in the real world, he observed classrooms to find out if the schools here in the U.S.A  are efficiently teaching the skills business leaders  are looking for. What he learned over the course of his journey was a little surprising. 

When talking to Clay Parker, president of the Chemical Management BOC Edwards, Wagner was some what taken aback by Parker's responses. Parker first stated he looks for someone who asks good questions that are relevant and will move the discussion forward. The problem Parker said is that you can't tech people how to think or learn.  This blog, this personal learning network, is forcing me to work my thinking ability. It isn't necessarily teaching me how to think per say, rather it is enhancing my ability to think. It's making me push and connect my thoughts. The pln's I write weekly challenge me to state my thoughts, yet ask relevant, intelligent questions. When teachers hand the reigns of choice to the student the student is able to learn what is going to be important for their future. The outcome of this method is (according to Wagner's studies) very effective. Students have always been able to think what they want about what they are taught. Now some are able to choose what they are taught. 

Retink Life.

"The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow." - Bill Gates

         "The machine is us/ing us." by Michael Wesch and Gates quote have similar interpretations. Both talk of the future of the internet. Our future isn't going to be the same as our past. The future is never really the same as the past, but our future is "The future." We have the technology to do possibly anything. We are the the initiators of this new age, the age of technology, and electronic gadgets.

          While watching the video I was, lets be honest a little bored. I thought to myself "I've heard all of this before I've heard that the future will be different, I've heard that we are we are the most connected people yet because of the web." What captured my attention and made me think were the last few seconds of the video. I was interested in these last few seconds because I had never heard or thought about how we will have to rethink a few things; copy wright, authorship, identity, ethics, aesthetics, governance, privacy, commerce, love, family and ourselves. If we are creating the "Global Village of Tomorrow" like Gates suggests we will indeed need to rethink "life." Our new village, that is web 2.0, will have its own set of codes and conducts. It's own set of rules and its own way of life. We will need to learn a new way of life for this new way of living. No one can tell us how to figure this one out. We don't have older generations to answer the questions we may ask. We are the creators of this Global Village. We find ourselves in a position of authority. Authority over how we will run things, authority over what the future will hold. We are the "Founding Fathers", of Web 2.0, so to speak. If we don't make it a safe and useful environment who will? The way the future will be run is up to us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1