For a long time, I have been kind of snobby about deciding where I can learn. I had made the decision that I could only learn when I am with people who have the same vision for education as I do, and after going to Educon 2.1, I think that this was both reinforced and destroyed. It was reinforced because I was in a room with a whole bunch of people who do share my vision for connected learning and it was wonderful to push the boundaries of my thinking. However, it was completely destroyed because I realized that in saying we have a monopoly on the future of education, we are shutting out nearly every voice that will actually make that future happen.
Today I am sitting in a training for Digital Educators in Douglas County. I started with this group when I was teaching 7th/8th grade and even then I was frustrated by the skill set of my cohort. Now though, with a lot of reflection and some understanding about how we all learn (connected, just-in-time, etc.), I realize that I have just as much to learn in this environment as I do at Educon 2.1. It is my job to hear all of the voices around me and to synthesize it into my own learning environment.
This is my learning network too.
I never understood that before. I always just made it about my online PLN. It is my job (not because it is in my job description, but because it is the way that I will be a better learner) to connect all of my learning network to one another. I need to share what I learn from Twitter with the people I see and the people that I see need to be able to reach my Twitter network. Why has it taken me this long to figure this out?
(I guess this isn’t the revelation that I am making it out to be. I have been tweeting about what I’m learning for a while now and I have been sharing links and resources with my district as well, but I don’t know that I ever made it a goal that I would try to create continuity between those two spheres. How have you connected your virtual networks and your real-life networks? How can I do it better?)
Yes! I am grappling with how learning is SO individual…and how to deal with that in professional development settings, but also in an average classroom of today. But what you are saying is connected to that. See it’s making connections that matter- connecting people to these ideas, connecting ideas to ideas, connecting people to people who share similar ideas and people to people who are very different too.
Oftentimes we see our own learning as our own personal journey….maybe nobody cares, it’s ours, we take responsibility for it, we enjoy it, engage in it daily and often keep it there in a personal space. But when we share it and extend it outward we can see the connections. We can see the similarities in thought. We feel connected and expand. So will the people in those spheres that you connect with. Like me. This is probably old news to a dedicated blogger like you. Because that’s what blogging is all about, right? anyway- I think what you are saying is important. there is lots to learn from all kinds of people if only we connect and expand our personal learning outward.