K12 Online 2007 off to a great start with Warlick Keynote!
October 9th, 2007 by Diane
David Warlick, consummate story-teller and king of the metaphor has done it again - kicked off the K12 Online Conference in style - entertaining, engaging, stimulating, and challenging us to “Invent the New Boundaries“. The video takes a while to download but is well worth the wait. The audio file of course downloads faster. Use it for your second listen; you’ve got to watch the video!
Warlick states that he is not comfortable using this video style of presentation in the absence of feedback from a live audience. I have to say his stated discomfort is not evident to the viewer; he seems completely at ease in front of the camera, setting up his shots in interesting locations, engaging even bystanders. I admire Warlick for continually pushing, breaking down and re-inventing the boundaries. He reminds us, not in words, but through his actions that we need to move beyond our comfort level in order to explore our personal boundaries.
I think that at least on an theoretical, if not practical level, most educators would agree that the nature of learning is changing in the information age and the traditional school boundaries are disappearing. Warlick outlines for us three new conditions that are converging in our classrooms, which have the potential to be the new boundaries off of which we can gain needed traction to move learning forward. There were quite a few attention-grabbing ideas here for me!
Condition #1
Students are more info-savvy. They are accustomed to rich information experiences, connecting with the world through “invisible tentacles” in the form of multimedia, mobile phones, video games, and social networks. They look to a network of people who can help them learn what they need/want to do.
In rather graphic terms, Warlick asserts that in schools we are “chopping the tentacles off…because we want our children to be the students we want to teach, rather than teaching the students that they are.” Wow, puts a whole new spin on all of the filtering, blocking and banning we are doing!
Condition #2
There is a new information landscape. On a daily basis all of us must make decisions as to what information we are going to use. Warlick states: “In the information age, information must compete for attention…in exactly the same way products on the shelves competed for attention in the industrial age.” I hadn’t thought of it in this way but it concerns me. I see lots of evidence that students are being swayed by “glitzy packaging”.
Condition #3
We are preparing students for an unpredictable future. Very tough assignment!
There are so many conversation starters in Warlick’s presentation and there are a number of ways to get involved. If you blog, tag your posts k12online07pc. Do a blog search for that tag on Technorati and join the conversations that resonate with you. David has started a wiki and invited all of us to edit the pages to comment and join the discussion as he fleshes out the concepts. I for one intend to take him up on the invitation!
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