I've heard this time and time again from educators who
have received a grant from HP: "Our students are having a wonderful time using
the new HP technology. But you know what's REALLY exciting? Our team
collaborating in ways we never dreamed possible..." This "human side" of the
education equation has me particularly excited, especially since tomorrow
begins our seventh international gathering of grant recipients, when 120+
educators from 25 countries gather on Monday for the HP Innovations in Education Worldwide Summit...
I spoke to Mark Schlager
eight years ago when he was Director of the TappedIN education community project
at SRI's Center for Technology and Learning.
When I asked him to describe education "communities", he actually made a
distinction between different types of communities. Roughly paraphrased, he
described the difference between Knowledge Communities (sharing information),
Learning Communities (experiencing a course of study together), and Communities
of Practice (professional networks).
Here on the eve of our Innovations in Education Worldwide Summit, I guess the gathering can be
a bit of all three - though it's the ongoing Community of Practice that has me
most excited, because I believe that systemic, sustainable change, depends on
it.
At a student level, we hear a lot of talk about "21st
Century Skills" and "Project Based Learning" - and they BOTH depend on shifting
the student learning experience from individual learning to "learning together".
But the real goal is lifelong learning, which depends on teaching students the
skills to create and participate in Communities of Practice, in whatever
discipline or career they find themselves in.
At an instructor level, sharing knowledge (lesson plans,
open educational resources, etc) is
great, but the ongoing, creative, sustainable professional practice that
matters more than ever before is collaboration and community. Thriving
educators are creating and/or participating in one or more Communities of
Practice, both face-to-face and virtually. This is why we've been hearing over
the last few years about the concept of "Personal Learning Networks" (PLN). If
you don't have one, you're cutting yourself off professionally. Want to see an
example? Check out the Educator's PLN -
you'll meet wonderful, excited, creative, thriving educators.
At an institutional level, systemic breakthroughs are
only going to happen through communities and collaboration. Innovation is only
partly about content and technology - it's primarily about people. Connecting
educators, institutions even, to one another in new ways creates new
possibilities. Efforts to address systemic change as silos of practice will
never get us to where the 21st century is taking us.
This is why I'm excited about tomorrow's Edu Summit. It's
about innovative uses of technology, to be sure - but it's also about
connecting educators. The Summit will be a success if the attendees leave
wanting to stay in touch, yearning to continue developing their new
professional community of practice.
This
is the heart of Changing the Education Equation.
I'm very excited (can you tell?). You can join us
virtually over the next few days. Visit www.hpiie.org
and see how you can join us virtually for webcasts, the virtual poster session,
and via twitter (#hpiie).
I look forward to "seeing" you...
Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Education Programs
HP Office of Global Social Innovation
Hewlett-Packard
Twitter @jgvanides
For information about the HP Office of Global Social Innovations, visit www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants
