Wiki-Wandering
I have begun Don Tapscott’s book “Wikinomics,” and as I wander through his many global perspectives, I wonder if I’m already so far behind that I’ll never get ahead — or if I’m so far ahead that I’m already way behind.
Make sense?
I didn’t think so. I’m sure I’m not the first to wonder about comparisons to Alice through the Looking Glass, Alice in Wonderland —- well, Alice is now in Wiki-Land, and along with the Red Queen there, she is running as fast as she can, just to keep up with what is rapidly disappearing behind her….
The answer?
We have to keep our feet on the ground, keep our ear to the world, keep our eyes focused, be open to change but value the core values. While wikis are changing the way we think, we still have to keep asking big human questions: why we do what we do, and how we can make humanity better as a result of our technology. SKennedy
November 7th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
When I was signing up for the ed tech courses, I had a choice to make between two courses on blogging. I chose the “advanced” course because I really didn’t feel as though I was a “beginner.” The only reason for that is that I have learned so much from the sixth graders and their ability to dive (most of them “head first”) into the deep end with blogging. Within weeks of my shaky introduction, the students were so willing to take risks and reflect on on their own experiences in a way that I have never seen before.
So, part of the answer for me (in addition to “keeping my feet on the ground, my ear to the world, and my eyes focused”) is to learn from the children who are so comfortable with expressing themselves in blogs, learning by contributing to wikis, and enthusiastically recording their opinions and ideas on podcasts.
November 12th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
My hope, increasingly, is that everyone — teachers, students, parents, others — all feel more and more open to learning something that can push them beyond their comfort zone….
I have always learned far more from students than I have taught than they ever learned from me — or that’s what I think was always occurring.
The blogging that the students are doing continues to amaze and delight me…And in large part, it’s because the teachers have done such an amazing job leading them.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
In case you missed it, the concepts of Wikinomics are being translated into real world enterprises. Don Tapscott is working with Steve Papermaster and nGenera to implement the concepts of the book into the Global 2000 companies. Click the link http://is.gd/cjx to learn more.