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Guest Thinkers

Is Will asking the right questions?

Will

Richardson voiced his frustration in a recent post


about the trouble that

he’s having getting teachers to focus on the potential of Web 2.0 tools to

enhance their own personal learning.

Part of me wonders if he’s asking the right questions. It’s hard to tell what

Will is saying to the teachers. If he’s trying to get at their own personal

learning practices, it seems to me that the first questions may need to be

  • What are your personal and professional

interests?

  • What are you passionate about? What do you care about?
  • How do you currently learn and grow in those
  • areas?

    All teachers are learners because all humans are learners (okay, 99.99% of

    humans are learners; we all know a few oddballs). If Will can find out how these

    educators acquire and gain new knowledge that is of personal and/or professional

    interest to them (particularly outside of school for their hobbies, music,

    athletics, and other outside interests), it seems to me there then exists a

    natural opening to discuss how various Web 2.0 tools can connect these folks to

    various communities and content of interest.

    Will, perhaps you’re doing all this already. For example, maybe you’re

    contextually embedding your participants’ learning by selecting one or more

    individuals, asking them what their interests are and how they learn and grow in

    those areas, and then illustrating in front of the rest of the audience how to

    expand those circles of knowledge and knowing using these new tools (look, here

    are 56 blogs about

    pomeranians

    ! 204 blogs

    about orchids

    ! a wiki

    devoted to knitting

    !).

    I don’t know what your strategies have been, Will; this is just what I’d do. But

    I’d love to learn more (hint, hint)!


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