Online Learning

The article "World Without Wall: Learning Well with Others" by Will Richardson discusses the expansion of the classroom to a global internet learning community. In the "Collaboration Age," students are able to access and share information on any topic they are interested in on the internet. Richardson believes that teachers need to "reconsider our roles in students' lives, to think of ourselves as connectors first and experts second." He hopes that children will be able to learn from each other more than they have in the past, sharing ideas on blogs. I find the quote above interesting because it suggests completely redefining teachers' roles in their students' learning. 

I think, however, that so much online learning could potentially distance teachers from students. I find classroom time to be much more rewarding that time spent researching alone, and would not want to lose this time or replace it with more individual online activities. I did however find it amazing how much of a difference Laura Stockholm made with her blog. I am interested in learning about editing techniques for film, and could subscribe to blogs discussing editing. Blogs are good ways to share ideas, but I would not want to focus my education around online learning.