Posting to the Global Community

Why has this been so difficult for me? Millions of people have been posting videos of themselves on You Tube and making comments everywhere on the web, but for me, contributing to a conversation has been a goal for me.

Well, I started today with this question on TED Conversations: http://www.ted.com/conversations/499/what_is_or_will_be_the_change.html


What is or will be the change agent for the education system?

Trying to figure something out. 

The world has changed (Disrupting Class) and it is said that education should change as well. 

There are many people speaking to the topic, such as Dr. Ken Robinson and MindShift. 

There are innovative ideas that facilitate transformation as witnessed with the introduction of Facebook and the iPhone to the point that the past way of living will never be the same again.

There are people speaking to what needs to change (21st Century Skills Framework).

All you have to do is search "education" on TED or You Tube to listen.

States are attempting to cause change (such as take away collective bargaining of unions or implement performance pay) 

There are glimpses and pockets of new ideas that are a testament to change (The Third Teacher and Edutopia, The Horizon Report) that include design, game-based learning and mobile computing. 

However, I have not seen anything other than traditional means to get there. 

I've been thinking about an idea and I'd like to hear from the world about what they think will or could be the change agent for the educational system.

I am really looking forward to seeing if I get any responses...

Facebook - to teach, to learn

I witnessed an eager group of students today meeting with their teacher and another adult who was there to explain how she set up a Facebook account from a business perspective. Yes, we are entering the social media community of using Facebook...
in school...
with kids...
and teachers...
by students...
for learning.

And later tonight, I logged onto FB and wondered this...

I follow a few pages that post some very interesting articles like this one by MindShift: How We Will Learn. The article is called, "Why Every Student Should Learn the Skills of a Journalist." and it got me to thinking about the information that our students could post.

In other words, I am consuming information and thinking when I read these articles BUT the other side is producing information that grabs my attention and gets me to think.

So how can I explain this?
When students post online, it seems that it is only information for sharing. I think it could be deeper.

My question: What if students posted content that got other students or adults to think about the information they post by asking questions or drawing conclusions?