Organic Learning

Will Richardson published a very interesting article in Edutopia recently entitled, “The New Face of Learning“. In this article, he talks about the rapid change of the web from a one way, read-only web, to a more interactive, social, read-write web and how this change is shaping the business and entertainment industry. However, schools are generally slower to utilize these new tools to engage students in authentic learning opportunities.
I know there is a general feeling of change in our schools. We are talking about the move to more learning centered, project based classrooms. Still, in many of the classrooms that I visit, the computers are gathering dust in the corner of the room and the teacher is in the front doing the stand and deliver routine. How can we inspire and encourage teachers to learn to use these new tools? How can we let teachers know about the power that these new tools hold, not only for their students, but also for their own personal learning? I look forward to this next year, when the momentum builds and more and more teachers and students are using these tools to collaborate and learn together.