What's the Big Idea?

In the first chapter of Personal Learning Networks by Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli, Understanding the Power of PLNS, the reader is introduced to the idea that personal learning networks will change the face of education forever.  Pam Moran, a school superintendent and educator with 30 years experience, states, "It's almost like we're recreating education from scratch.  In another 5-10 years, education is going to look like nothing  we've seen in the last 500 years." (15)  As I was reading the chapter, I found myself looking forward to and being excited about entering the field of teaching during a time of technological revolution. 

I found the idea of collaboration to be a key theme throughout the text.  "We've always had the benefit of our local connections and classroom in which to learn, but the global connections now available have created an expectation of collaboration and cooperation around learning that goes beyond our physical space."  (17)  Teachers can now reach out to others in the same profession (some half way around the world) in order to bounce around ideas and share techniques, teaching styles and discoveries through the use of blogs, facebook and other social networks.  Students can be taught to take charge of their own learning experiences, as well, if they are taught "how to make connections with others online, how to negotiate the interactions between them, how to collaborate with them in ways that go beyond just sharing existing information to the creation of new knowledge, and how to perhaps even change the world." (20)

While social networking sites such as facebook and twitter are used for connecting with friends and family, "learning networks are very different both in form and purpose in that we instead connect with people we don't already know." (21) The learning network community "push one another's thinking and collaboratively create new knowledge to share with the world."  (21)  By using the numerous tools available through the internet, teachers are now able to break through the barriers of the classroom walls and introduce their students to an entirely new way of learning.  No longer are teachers confined to a textbook and strict curriculum.  Teachers are "now creating knowledge together, testing theories and ideas, collaborating on solutions or actions and sharing back most everything we learn in the process."  (23)

As exciting as the ideas of teacher collaboration and students using personal learning networks in order to take charge of their own learning may be, there are some serious obstacles in the way of Richardson's and Mancabelli's big idea of transforming the learning process from becoming a reality.  According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, school districts who have already faced extreme budget cuts will continue to be required to "trim the fat" from their already meager budgets.  In said article, Rob Monson, a principal in Parkston, S.D., who is president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, advises that districts will have little choice but to put off buying textbooks and technology and training teachers.  If  projected budget cuts in those particular areas are expected, how can the authors state with such confidence that the use of personal learning networks is the wave of the future in education?  Without technology being readily available to all students in all school districts and the proper training programs for teachers to use said technology, the authors' ultimate plan to revolutionize the classroom cannot be implemented. 

That being said, I still feel it is an exciting time to be entering the field of teaching as technology is enabling teachers and students alike to experience learning in a way that could not have been imagined as little as 30 years ago. While the implementation of all of the ideas offered in this chapter may not be realistic as a whole, I personally look forward to building my learning networks and sharing ideas and collaborating with my fellow educators in order to create the best learning environment for my future students.  Is this idea a big one?  Of course it is, but all of the great ones usually are.