The 21st Century Values the Network Above the Node
Whether you are a student, a teacher, a classroom, a school, a businesswoman or enterprise the 21st century is placing more value on your network–and the ability to create and collaborate in that network–than in the isolated “node.” What does that mean for each of us and our traditional structures? What does that mean for our teaching? A great deal of discussion centers around the need for classrooms to shift to more collaborative learning (with teachers modeling their learning alongside students), more connected learning (outside the traditional classroom and school boundaries), and creative thinking alongside critical thinking (the new MBA is the MFA).
Here at the Middle School Resource Network, we’re going to begin a dialog–a conversation–that will be honest, respectful, and hopefully challenging as we reach to define our vision for a 21st century learning environment here in the Lovett Middle School. In this world we assume our kids and classrooms are tooled with technology (laptops, smartboards, etc) and we have open Internet access.
To begin considering this network value, please take a look at this post I wrote on my “idea” blog last week. I wrote the post to synthesize some of the pieces I’ve read about the networked culture we’re in and quite frankly to remind myself (after an exhausting and frustrating conversation with another school’s head) that things really are changing…whether we like it or not.
Take a look please, and then post your comments. We’ve got a lot of thinking to do ahead of us…hope you’ll make time to join the conversation.
Laura
