Vicki Davis is one of my heroes!

I guess I should have said that Vicki is one of my Heroines. Well, so much for political correctness. Vicki is always writing something cool on her blog about technology and education. As such, I commend her. Maybe, that is why she is the cool cat teacher.

Anyway, I am borrowing from her post without permission, so I hope she doesn’t mind. In Vicki’s latest post she discusses connectivism and as my student’s would say, it rocks. She attended George Siemen's Connectivism online conference where 197 people from around the world listened and chatted through the presentation about his connectivism theories and how they relate to education. Below are my favorite points:

The infrastructure of dreams is growing up around our feet. Visionaries have been talking about what can be done and suddenly have woken up and realized it can be done today.

The institutional level has not responded to the change in infrastructure.

We cannot make ourselves more intelligent (yet) with technology but we can use technology to augment our understanding.

"Roads no longer merely lead to places, they are places." John Brickenhoff Jackson (sp?)

I love the ideology embodied in the above as it relates to School 2.0. and the educational process.

First, we are waking up and realizing that it can be done. Not tomorrow, not next year, but right here, right now! We have the tools to currently prepare our students for the global economy that is upon us, but we have to start using them.

The second point is that the Litmus test is not the answer, the Litmus test of course being the basis for NCLB. Sure NCLB pulls up the grades of the lower functioning students, but in many cases it is pulling up their scores at the expense of the higher functioning students. It is a give and take relationship. Is this a sound practice? See her post for more information!

Next, “We cannot make ourselves more intelligent (yet) with technology but we can use technology to augment our understanding.” Haven’t we been doing this with textbooks and other resources for years? Yes, we have. Isn’t it time to embrace the digital age and bring about change in the way we educate our students?

Last, "Roads no longer merely lead to places, they are places." John Brickenhoff Jackson (sp?). I’m not sure about the spelling either, but I know I like the quote. With networks expanding on a daily basis, you can’t help but like the quote. I hate I missed the conference, but I'm glad Vicki took the time to share it with us. Check out her post!

William Bishop (Bill)

Technorati Tags: OCC2007, George_Siemens, Vicki_Davis, Connectivism, Education, William_Bishop