Certainly looking forward to seeing you at NECC. Don’t forget that microphone

I truly appreciate your post, your continuing this conversation. I’d missed Jake’s TechLearning post and am especially glad that you pulled him into this picture — another thinker.

A problem with this blogging thing is that it always involves two minds. The mind and perspective of the writer, who is in expression mode, and the mind and perspective of the reader who is in processing and cataloging mode. I say this to express that content is important — but only in the sense that context is important. It is important that children learn who, when, where, how, and why the are. Our personal, historical, social and cultural, and environmental context is essential, if only that we have common languages and concepts with which to communicate and collaborate.

But that wasn’t the plane you were on, and I’m glad. Because you made it so clear to me, the step that I did not take in my little mode in the slideshare. I think that Jakes’ listing shines the brightest light on it. There is one ability that we need to teach. The skills that lead to it are changing because the technology is changing, and as a result the nature of information is changing. What every child must learn to do — the standard — is to teach themselves.

I think that that is where all roads lead. If the student can connect to content (find it, decode it, evaluate it, organize it), and create from that content (add and subtract, process and synthesize, manipulate, mix and remix, and build new knowledge), communicate (express compellingly their ideas), and collaborate (test their ideas on others, and build from perspective and specialization) — and do all of that to successfully learn something new and valuable — then that’s the standard.

Can you teach yourself?

Again, looking forward to seeing you in Atlanta!

– dave –