Online Tools in the "Real World"

Online learning is so much part of my everyday experience that it is hard for me to imagine how I ever managed to get by in those 'pre-Internet' days. (i.e. most of my life).

I use online tools to plan and organize my day, to stay in touch with friends and family, to broaden my professional learning networks, to keep up with current events, to exercise my mind, and to enable my creativity. If I need a recipe, or my coffee maker is acting funky, or I'm looking for a good place to hang out with friends, or curious about where Tanzania is located- I look it up online!   

I can’t think of any aspects of my life that haven’t changed by the advent of the Internet and 'Cloud based computing'. I plan meals with help from online tools,  I map my hikes and bicycle rides, I gather and share information and ideas, I go on virtual field trips, I create slideshows and videos and animations and personal journals with online tools.  

For years, I have been keeping track of what I have read and what I want to read through “Goodreads” a social network for book lovers. And the books themselves have changed too: I listen to audiobooks on my phone while I do the dishes or fold the laundry,  and when it’s not convenient to go to the library, I simply check out an eBook and read it on whatever device is handy.

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My outdoor pursuits have modern enhancements too. For example, Groton Conservation trust has started putting QR codes at trailheads. Scan the image with your smartphone and you've got a (paperless) map of the relevant trail network! (There is also a way to enable your phone to send data back so you help update and enhance trail data as you walk/hike/ski/bike.)

SO the big question, why in this new millenium when online tools are so integral to how we learn and engage and create and communicate outside of school, are they still somewhat of a novelty Inside of school? Shouldn't we be leading our students in effectively navigating the Real World; the one they actually live in?

My goals for summer 2013:

• Start a blog (YAY!),
• Make the Blanchard Library website:
• more user-friendly,
• more interactive.
• more focused on student created content.
• join peers in Westford (and beyond) to explore the power of online tools to transform the K-12 learning experience.

PS For a glimpse of the world outside K-12 education, take a look at this video :Social Media Revolution 2013" by Eric Qualman