How do you
think education can change the world?
I have just finished my weekly session in EC&I831. As always my head is spinning. Tonight our guest speaker was Shelley Terrell and she lead us with the question ‘How do you think
education can change the world?’ To
be honest it has been a while since I have allowed myself to indulge in that
type of idealistic questioning. I am not
sure at what point in ones career or life that they tend to loose site of those
ideal questions that lead us into our careers.
There seems to be a point where there simply isn’t enough time to have
ideals as there is a job to be done and deadlines to be met.
If we all believe that education can change the world (and I
would love your comments on how you see education changing the world) then the
next question that Shelly Terrell posed was ‘How do we help each other?’
Her focus was on how we cal help each other through connecting online.
I think what became evident to me was that connecting online
is not a passive activity. I can be an
online lurker and find all kinds of information that may help me but without
that community it seems as though something is missing, that personal growth. Having that Online Community adds another
dimension where a person experiences personal growth rather than just gathering
of information. Richard Schwier
commented in our last weeks session and he talks about it in his
e-book Connections: Virtual Learning Communities, that in order to be a community there needs to be trust and
forgiveness. Shelley spoke of the
Professional Learning Environment as the place where the community takes place
and she offered up the alternative acronym to PLN to be Passionate Learning
Networks. What a great way to look at
it. Participating in a learning network
or community with passion. I also
believe that it is this passion that will lead to personal growth rather than
just the acquiring of information.
So what are some tools to help build that PLN? Facebook is an ideal place that we can’t just
limit to our social network. One can
find join a group with people of similar interest such as an Artist group, or a
Math teachers group. When looking at the
tools that are necessary for creating that PLN one cannot leave out
twitter. Before this summer I had not
given twitter much thought. I was told
once to start following one person at first so that you get the hang of what
twitter is all about. There was no one in particular that I wanted to follow so
I descided to follow Tito Ortiz. He is
an MMA fighter in the UFC (I think his contract may be up now but that is
beside the point). In any case I wasn’t
that interested in him or twitter so I lost interest. Then this summer I was taking a course
through the U of S by Richard Schwier where the students in the class used
twitter a lot. I felt very out of the
loop to not be on twitter so my need to belong kicked in and I joined the
twitter revolution. I must say that from
an educational standpoint I have never felt part of a community so quickly and
had so many resources at my fingertips in such a short amount of time. One only has to use the hashtag #edtech or
the hashtag for whatever course you are taking at the current time to get links
to all kinds of great resources and ideas.
The only trick now is to learn how to manage my time to really dive into
it all.
Thankfully Shelley addressed how to deal with some time
issues. If people use their mobile
devices and a few quick downloadable apps one can be checking up on twitter or
Facebook updates while standing in line at the grocery store or traveling to
work (as a passenger in a vehicle of course because texting while driving is
illegal). Some helpful tools suggested
were tweetdeck, echofon for the iphone, google reader (one of my favorites) and
twitterfall.
Once we find the time and have become as efficient as
possible with the tools, then one must ask 'Is that all there is to creating a
PLN?’ I have to also go back to the
original title of this post “Can education change the world?” There is no point in creating a PLN if we
don’t intend to grow or change. What
would be the point? Schwier would say
that there needs to be some motivation to want to belong in a PLN. For educators at some point I think we would
all agree that we got into education to make a change. O.k. maybe we didn’t think we were going to
change the world but there was at least the possibility that we could change
someone’s world for the better, that we could make some sort of connection. I think that many educators would also agree
that we work in an often isolating profession.
If PLN’s can connect us with people who can support us and who we can
support in our journey to reach our ideals, however forgotten or pushed back
that they may be, then we should be doing more than learning how to efficiently
receive information but also how to engage, educate, and report.
I am entering on my
journey to create my PLN. I have
appreciated all of the comments and suggestions that people have given and
shared with me just since I have started my course. I don’t think that I am at the stage yet
where I am fully engaging, educating, and reporting yet but I am getting my
feet wet and starting on the journey in hopes that my education will change the
world even if it is only my world.
It seems that my initial reflection question has lead me on
a bit of a tangent going from changing the world, to supporting each other
through the process, to creating your own PLN, but I want to come back to the
original question: I would love it if
you would share your ideals that may be forgotten or put aside about how you
see education changing the world.
4 comments:
What a great post, Raquel! My head is always spinning after my classes! So much great information, I need days to digest and process it. I even find I am dreaming about it-dorky I know! One thing I realized this summer in ETAD 802 (which was my first course for my Master's) and now with my courses this term-going back to school completely reminded me why I became a teacher. I feel renewed, challenged in new ways, connected to unbelievably passionate and inspiring people, and reacquainted with the hope and belief that education can change the world. I agree with you that the frenzy and reality of day to day teaching and the ever growing demands placed on us can blur the view of our purpose and the bigger goal. So I have discovered that by building a PLN (one that truly began through my courses) I am so much more aware of and encouraged by all that we can do and the true power of education. There are so many educators out there who are so committed to teaching and learning, how could change not happen? A force like that is unstoppable! So to try to answer your blog title and question: I think education changes the world by offering hope, possibilities, opportunities, strength, energy, options, confidence and resilience to people. When people have those things in their life toolkits amazing things happen in our world. The impossible becomes possible. Happy World Teachers' Day!
This post on how to teach empathy was a crowd-sourcing effort. The question bubbled up on Twitter. I wrote the post and invited my PLN of educators to share their ideas. My list grew from 4 to 12. That's 8 other ideas that wouldn't have come about - at least not so quickly without others' help. And, everyone who visited hopefully would have got something out of it.
Is this changing the world? Maybe, a tiny bit. If these visitors used some of the strategies to teach empathy, there will be more kids with a better chance of learning it.
I've had 2 careers so far - IT and teaching. In both cases, education was a crucial component. Education changed my world. If education has the capacity to change individuals, what would that mean for society and humanity? If an individual has the capacity to effect change, what would a network of like-minded people be able to achieve?
One more thing - people come and go in our lives. The best thing to do is to make the most of the time together. Connect like mad with your #eci831 buddies but don't grieve too much if this 'community' fades away.
Enjoy the journey.
regards,
Malyn
Education doesn't change the world, exploration does.
Can education change the world? Wow! Heavy! When this important question has re-surfaced for me this week, immediately, I think of my international friends...
A Nigerian PhD student who boards with us to study and advance environmental sciences knowledge at the U of S, whose research focuses on effects of the tar sands on the lakes and soil of northern AB and NWT.
My Iranian girlfriend, in Canada one year now, learning English on the fasttrack, with a deep desire (and zero funds) to become an immigration lawyer and assist others in the way she was assisted (by an educated person).
The Kenyan teachers crisis on which I tweeted - I cite Kenya because we've travelled there and made friends - . These kids are desperate for education because it makes the difference between dire poverty and getting by. And if they are fortunate enough to be educated in North America and stay and work here, the change in status of living is monumental.
Education is a "social determinant of health" and as such it changes the world for that person who becomes education, but the ripple effect is incalculable.
There is no doubt in my mind. Education changes the world.
Judy
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