Learning in a
Flat World
By Number TEN
By Greg Hasiuk, MAA, SAA, MRAIC,
LEED®AP
Partner, Number TEN Architectural Group
I was recently
at the 87th Council of Educational Facility Planners International
Conference in San Jose California.
Notable
keynotes speakers were Robert Scoble and Tom Friedman
The theme was “Learning in a Flat World”. It was inspiring! Here
are some of my notes:
Facts no longer
need to be learned. Concepts and connections do.
Information no longer needs to be found. It finds you.
The internet allows the gathering of the world’s knowledge.
Social Networks allow the gathering of the world’s people.
Collaborative problem solving is now possible with people from around the
world, in real time.
To flourish, you will have to generate your own content. Share
it. Post it. Let the world come to you.
Your smart cell
phone can give you instant access to all of this. Now.
Social Media. Not just
a way to find out what Ashton Kutcher had for lunch anymore. People are
now “following” thousands of others in their areas of interest and categorizing
them into areas of expertise. When doing research, or when an answer is
needed, you can simply put the question out to your “tribe” of experts.
Rather than Google the question and mine static data on the internet, you can
ask the question on Twitter and get “real time” responses with references to material
and expertise. This new instant access to many minds will become a
powerful tool.
The Individual.
Thomas Friedman put forward that nations were the ones who first used their
wealth and power to expand their global reach across the world (eg. England, Spain,
France etc.) As global economies grew and matured, corporations where able to
use their ever growing resources to become global players (eg. Coke, Microsoft,
McDonalds etc.) However, the modern PC coupled with the high speed
internet explosion has empowered the individual to become the new driver of
expanded global reach. The individual now has the tools to compete with
nations and corporations for the hearts, minds and economies of the
world. Our schools must evolve to acknowledge this new individual
power. Ever evolving new tools allow these creative individuals to
collaborate in groups and form powerful “open source” knowledge and resources.
Mass
customization. 21st century learning requires each student to develop
their particular talent using their particular learning modality (i.e. visual,
auditory, kinaesthetic etc.). 21st century learning involves:
1.
Student centered
2.
Working in teams on long complex tasks
3.
Accountability (to peers – in class and on-line)
4.
Active Learning (real life projects – real world)
5.
Dynamic Information (more than one source – internet based)
There were also
some terrific local project tours.
A highlight for
many was meeting an inspired principal and an inspiring parent from Washington
Elementary, a school located at the crossroads of three rival gangs.
She described to us how the newly renovated Library in the heart of the
school has become “a home, a blanket, and a ladder” in their community, a
place that both invites and insulates evening groups each day of the
week from the instability outside the school. At the centre of the
Library is an open, flexible space that forms a comfortable sanctuary used for
a multitude of student learning, adult education and school functions. The
decision was made not to install a security system for the library, so books
sometimes get taken and not returned; but as one educator asked, “would it be
so bad to live in a world where more books were stolen from the school
library?”