Day 3 Teaching Global Networking may save the world

Changing the climate: How teaching social networks might save the world.

www.weblogged-ed.com Will Richardson

The McCarthy Report is worth a read to set the scene of this session:

http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.4773437/k.3CE6/New_Study_Shows_Time_Spent_Online_Important_for_Teen_Development.htm

This session covered models to show children how to learn in social networking environments and through various interactions.

We discussed this recent article from The times: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1990586,00.html

and a book list of four "must" reads was recommended:

1. Blessed Unrest- Paul Hawken

2. Ecological Intelligence- Daniel Goleman

3. Here comes Everybody- Clay Shirkey

4. Tribes- Seth Godin

There have been many references to equipping children with 21st C. skills:

- problem solving

- motivated to make change

- pursue enquiry

- teach them how to use social networking tools (how is this done when the majority of educators and parents don't have these skills?)

Look at the following blogs to see how children are making a difference:

http://www.ryanswell.ca/about-us.aspx

http://twentyfivedays.wordpress.com/about/

In 2008 the National Council for Teachers of English released their definition of 21st Century Literacy:

Adopted by the NCTE Executive Committee, February 15, 2008

Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies. These literacies—from reading online newspapers to participating in virtual classrooms—are multiple, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with particular histories, life possibilities and social trajectories of individuals and groups. Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments

http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/21stcentdefinition

Other websites mentioned were Sprout.com - idea growth

and TakingITGlobal.com - projects