Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Magnitude Of It All

I just finished reading David Warlick's recent post in TechLearning.com, 80 Percent of Voters Want New Skills Taught to their Children. It prompted me to start envisioning a school, a REAL 21st century school. I saw the creation of student "collaboration labs", less structured school days, project based learning all around, a community of learners - students, teachers, parents, neighborhood all learning together. And, as usually tends to happen to me, I then found myself overwhelmed. How do we make the transformation so many of us want to see? The overall BIG picture just makes my head spin sometimes. And I think I'm not alone... which is why we still have 19th century style schools in the 21st century. It's all so BIG. And accountability...how do we make grand strides when our 21st century schools are evaluated with 20th century yardsticks?
I suppose looking at what's already in place is a good start. We DO have 21st century learning occuring in our schools. And, as I often need to remind myself, control what I can control in my EdTech area -- start offering those classes in which adults and students collaborate and learn together, etc. And, hear from others! If any of you are making those great strides, I'd love to hear about it, where you started, where you are now, how did you do it?

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