World Without Walls: Learning Well with Others | Edutopia - About

community volunteer and blogger named Laura Stockman

Her response blew me away. "I ask my readers," she said. I doubt anyone in the room could have guessed that answer. But if you look at the Clustrmap on Laura's blog, Twenty Five Days to Make a Difference, you'll see that Laura's readers -- each represented by a little red dot -- come from all over the world. She has a network of connections, people from almost every continent and country, who share their own stories of service or volunteer to assist Laura in her work. She's sharing and learning and collaborating in ways that were unheard of just a few years ago.

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an audience member asked where she got her ideas for her good work.

Her response blew me away. "I ask my readers," she said. I doubt anyone in the room could have guessed that answer.

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where she got her ideas

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"I ask my

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readers,"

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She has a network of connections, people from almost every continent and country, who share their own stories of service or volunteer to assist Stockman in her work. She's sharing and learning and collaborating in ways that were unheard of just a few years ago.

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on 2009-09-24 by jlopez20

She did not mention she is from Cali

Welcome to the Collaboration Age, where even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen.

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Welcome to the Collaboration Age, where even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen. These tools are allowing us not only to mine the wisdom and experiences of the more than one billion people now online but also to connect with them to further our understanding of the global experience and do good work together. These tools are fast changing, decidedly social, and rich with powerful learning opportunities for us all, if we can figure out how to leverage their potential.

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network of connections,

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network of connections, people from almost every continent and country

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Line graph showing how works spend their hours.

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Collaboration Age

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Welcome to the Collaboration Age, where even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen. These tools are allowing us not only to mine the wisdom and experiences of the more than one billion people now online but also to connect with them to further our understanding of the global experience and do good work together. These tools are fast changing, decidedly social, and rich with powerful learning opportunities for us all, if we can figure out how to leverage their potential.

Highlighted by ideasprinkler

Welcome to the Collaboration Age, where even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen. These tools are allowing us not only to mine the wisdom and experiences of the more than one billion people now online but also to connect with them to further our understanding of the global experience and do good work together. These tools are fast changing, decidedly social, and rich with powerful learning opportunities for us all, if we can figure out how to leverage their potential.

Highlighted by qienkuen

Welcome to the Collaboration Age, where even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen. These tools are allowing us not only to mine the wisdom and experiences of the more than one billion people now online but also to connect with them to further our understanding of the global experience and do good work together. These tools are fast changing, decidedly social, and rich with powerful learning opportunities for us all, if we can figure out how to leverage their potential.

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Collaboration Age,

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Collaboration Age,

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even the youngest among us are on the Web

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even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world

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transformative connecting technologies

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Collaboration Age

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Collaboration Age

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one billion people now online

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connect with them to further our understanding of the global experience and do good work together

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Our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant. Experts are at our fingertips, through our keyboards or cell phones, if we know how to find and connect to them. Content and information are everywhere, not just in textbooks.

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understanding of the global experience and do good work together

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For educators and the schools in which they teach, the challenges of this moment are significant. Our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant.

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For educators and the schools in which they teach, the challenges of this moment are significant. Our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant. Experts are at our fingertips, through our keyboards or cell phones, if we know how to find and connect to them. Content and information are everywhere, not just in textbooks. And the work we create and publish is assessed by the value it brings to the people who read it, reply to it, and remix it. Much of what our students learn from us is unlearned once they leave us; paper is not the best way to share our work, facts and truths are constantly changing, and working together is becoming the norm, not the exception.

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Our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant.

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These tools are fast changing, decidedly social, and rich

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challenges of this moment are significant.

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challenges

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rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant

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teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant

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age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less

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Our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant. Experts are at our fingertips, through our keyboards or cell phones, if we know how to find and connect to them.

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Experts are at our fingertips

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Experts are at our fingertips, through our keyboards or cell phones, if we know how to find and connect to them. Content and information are everywhere, not just in textbooks.

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Content and information are everywhere

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The Collaboration Age is about learning with a decidedly different group of "others," people whom we may not know and may never meet, but who share our passions and interests and are willing to invest in exploring them together. It's about being able to form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process, and contribute to the conversations and co-creations that grow from them. It's about working together to create our own curricula, texts, and classrooms built around deep inquiry into the defining questions of the group. It's about solving problems together and sharing the knowledge we've gained with wide audiences.

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working together is becoming the norm, not the exception.

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paper is not the best way to share our work, facts and truths are constantly changing,

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paper is not the best way to share our work

Highlighted by psteffen

The Collaboration Age is about learning with a decidedly different group of "others," people whom we may not know and may never meet, but who share our passions and interests and are willing to invest in exploring them together. It's about being able to form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process, and contribute to the conversations and co-creations that grow from them. It's about working together to create our own curricula, texts, and classrooms built around deep inquiry into the defining questions of the group. It's about solving problems together and sharing the knowledge we've gained with wide audiences.

Highlighted by tellio

The Collaboration Age is about learning with a decidedly different group of "others," people whom we may not know and may never meet, but who share our passions and interests and are willing to invest in exploring them together.

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facts and truths are constantly changing, and working together is becoming the norm, not the exception.

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learning with a decidedly different group of "others,

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share our passions and interests and are willing to invest in exploring them together

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form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process, and contribute to the conversations and co-creations that grow from them

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form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process,

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about being able to form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process

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form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process, and contribute to the conversations and co-creations that grow from them.

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It's about being able to form safe, effective networks and communities

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Inherent in the collaborative process is a new way of thinking about teaching and learning. We must find our own teachers, and they must find us.

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It's about solving problems together and sharing the knowledge we've gained with wide audiences

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I believe their best, most memorable, and most effective teachers will be the ones they discover, not the ones they are given.

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schooling are hard

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As connectors, we provide the chance for kids to get better at learning from one another. Examples of this kind of schooling are hard to find so far, but they do exist. Manitoba, Canada, teacher Clarence Fisher and Van Nuys, California, administrator Barbara Barreda do it through their thinwalls project, in which middle school students connect almost daily through blogs, wikis, Skype, instant messaging, and other tools to discuss literature and current events. In Webster, New York, students on the Stream Team, at Klem Road South Elementary School, investigate the health of local streams and then use digital tools to share data and exchange ideas about stewardship with kids from other schools in the Great Lakes area and in California. More than learning content, the emphasis of these projects is on using the Web's social-networking tools to teach global collaboration and communication, allowing students to create their own networks in the process.

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We must find our own teachers

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believe their best, most memorable, and most effective teachers will be the ones they discover, not the ones they are given

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effective teachers will be the ones they discover, not the ones they are given

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As connectors, we provide the chance for kids to get better at learning from one another.

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earning from one another.

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in which middle school students connect almost daily through blogs, wikis, Skype, instant messaging, and other tools to discuss literature and current events.

Highlighted by dmarkaggie

In Webster, New York, students on the Stream Team, at Klem Road South Elementary School, investigate the health of local streams and then use digital tools to share data and exchange ideas about stewardship with kids from other schools in the Great Lakes area and in California. More than learning content, the emphasis of these projects is on using the Web's social-networking tools to teach global collaboration and communication, allowing students to create their own networks in the process.

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More than learning content, the emphasis of these projects is on using the Web's social-networking tools to teach global collaboration and communication, allowing students to create their own networks in the process.

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using the Web's social-networking tools to teach global collaboration and communication

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More than learning content, the emphasis of these projects is on using the Web's social-networking tools

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We must also expand our ability to think critically about the deluge of information now being produced by millions of amateur authors without traditional editors and researchers as gatekeepers. In fact, we need to rely on trusted members of our personal networks to help sift through the sea of stuff, locating and sharing with us the most relevant, interesting, useful bits.

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We must also expand our ability to think critically

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we have to work together to organize it all

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expand our ability to think critically about the deluge of information

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how we locate and discern good information and good partners -- at every turn, in every class, reflecting with students on our successes and failures.

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we must begin to model our own editorial skills

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as teachers, we must begin to model our own editorial skills

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as teachers, we must begin to model our own editorial skills

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Collaboration in these times requires our students to be able to seek out and connect with learning partners, in the process perhaps navigating cultures, time zones, and technologies. It requires that they have a vetting process for those they come into contact with: Who is this person? What are her passions? What are her credentials? What can I learn from her?

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The complexities of editing information online cannot be sequestered and taught in a six-week unit. This has to be the way we do our work each day.

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seek out and connect with learning partners

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Collaboration in these times requires our students to be able to seek out and connect with learning partners, in the process perhaps navigating cultures, time zones, and technologies. It requires that they have a vetting process for those they come into contact with: Who is this person? What are her passions? What are her credentials? What can I learn from her?

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Likewise, we must make sure that others can locate and vet us. The process of collaboration begins with our willingness to share our work and our passions publicly -- a frontier that traditional schools have rarely crossed. As Clay Shirky writes in Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, "knowingly sharing your work with others is the simplest way to take advantage of the new social tools." Educators can help students open these doors by deliberately involving outsiders in class work early on -- not just showcasing a finished product at the spring open house night.

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collaboration begins with our willingness to share our work and our passions publicly -- a frontier that traditional schools have rarely crossed

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on 2009-01-02 by mobbsey

This is so true - one of the biggest challenges I find is encouraging other teachers to be truely open about their work - making it available to others, being open to criticism and new possibilities. The idea that teachers have to be 'masters' of knowledge is an attitude that needs to adjust.

on 2009-02-09 by amphiann

Where does the time come from?

The process of collaboration begins with our willingness to share our work and our passions publicly -- a frontier that traditional schools have rarely crossed.

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others can locate and vet us

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Clay Shirky

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take advantage of the new social tools

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involving outsiders in class work early on

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Fortunately, social tools like wikis, blogs, and social-bookmarking sites make working with others across time and space easier than it's ever been. They are indeed "weapons of mass collaboration,"

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Look no further than Wikipedia to see the potential; say what you will of its veracity, no one can deny that it represents the incredible potential of working with others online for a common purpose.

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weapons of mass collaboration

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We must also be adept at negotiating, planning, and nurturing the conversation with others we may know little about -- not to mention maintaining a healthy balance between our face-to-face and virtual lives (another dance for which kids sorely need coaching).

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negotiating, planning, and nurturing the conversation with others we may know little about

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healthy balance between our face-to-face and virtual lives

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another dance for which kids sorely need coaching

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technical know-how is not enough

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We must also be adept at negotiating, planning, and nurturing the conversation with others we may know little about -- not to mention maintaining a healthy balance between our face-to-face and virtual lives

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be adept at negotiating, planning, and nurturing the conversation with others we may know little about -- not to mention maintaining a healthy balance between our face-to-face and virtual lives

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How do we manage our digital footprints

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not to mention maintaining a healthy balance between our face-to-face and virtual lives (another dance for which kids sorely need coaching).

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on 2009-10-07 by mikeslinger7

This is a crucial area for educators to address. This is one of the biggest road blocks I see is that many teachers and parents feel kids are becoming anti-social and have lost the ability to interact effectively face-to- face.

away from both partners and predators?

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How do we manage our digital footprints, or our identities, in a world where we are a Google search away from both partners and predators?

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how do we ensure that what we create with others is of high quality?

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students continue to explore the potentials and pitfalls of instant communication

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The technologies we block in their classrooms flourish in their bedrooms

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" after creating a study group to share notes on

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The technologies we block in their classrooms flourish in their bedrooms. Students are growing networks without us, writing Harry Potter narratives together at FanFiction.net, or trading skateboarding videos on YouTube. At school, we disconnect them not only from the technology but also from their passion and those who share it.

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on 2009-09-24 by bryanh777

I'd have to dissagree, students will grab at those technologies from anywhere even at school. School also insist on using those things we learn to us them in the society appropriatly so we can learn how to get our views acrossed. It's also a very diverse way to help students realize where their coming from and where they want to go.

missing an enormous opportunity for ourselves as learners

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At school, we disconnect them not only from the technology but also from their passion and those who share it.

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Anyone with a passion for something can connect to others with that same passion -- and begin to co-create and colearn the same way many of our students already do.

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engage with these new technologies and their potential

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e new technologies and their potential to expand our own understanding and methods in this vastly

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I believe that is what educators must do now. We must engage with these new technologies and their potential to expand our own understanding and methods in this vastly different landscape. We must know for ourselves how to create, grow, and navigate these collaborative spaces in safe, effective, and ethical ways. And we must be able to model those shifts for our students and counsel them effectively when they run across problems with these tools.

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learning how to add dots to their maps on their own

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The good news, for those willing to accept the challenge, is that we don't have to do it alone.

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