Technology for Learning

photo credit: p4nc0np4n

Jennifer Jones wrote eloquently about personal learning networks recently in her post The Job of Personal Learning. She pulled me into the post right away by describing the way to a successful personal learning network may be through immersion. I couldn’t agree more. Recently I presented at a conference – my session was called Going Down the Rabbit Hole: Alice Meets her Personal Learning Network. As you might suspect, this is my personal immersion story. In the spirit of story-telling, my hope is that others may see the possibilities by hearing someone else’s story.

The feedback I received from the session was quite positive. Most really liked the metaphor of Alice. It was a story framed within a story. But what struck me most was the feedback I received about vulnerability. Several people liked the session because I described how it felt to be like Alice. Needing a white rabbit to be a guide. The caterpillar and the gryphon with the voice of the insider. The cheshire cat as a connection to the real world. Standing before this crowd and offering now to be their guide became the poignant moment in the workshop.

As Jen rightly pointed out, some people just need to be given directions and they flourish on their own. But just as with the insider role that I described Jen comments that “Mentor relationships allow for faster immersion and sustained growth”.

I also framed the session as a time to be selfish. This was a conference for K-12 educators and technical specialists, and my message was that we need to take some time for our own learning. We need to model life-long learning if we hope to mentor others (as Dean Shareski pointed out in his presentation last spring Lesson #1 Share). This is not always easy at our places of work. The technical environments are designed for children and youth, not for adults. Sometimes we need to pursue our own learning outside the firewalls and filters of our districts. At some point (and this is a personal goal) we will be able to differentiate the online environments between adults and K-12 students, even within the confines of our district networks. Some districts have achieved this balance (a future post is coming on this topic) while others are struggling more with the politics of filtering than the technical solutions.

One of the comments raised the issue of motivating larges groups of people to participate and build their own networks. I return to the notion of community insiders taking up the responsibility of guiding others to and through the entrance. Over time they too will become insiders and mentor others.

Jen’s post has created a fulsome discussion about sticky networks through the comments that I encourage you to read. Thanks Jen.