Looking Back on 2006 and Ahead to 2007

Each month, The Learning Circuits Blog posts a “Big Question” for the month. This month’s “Big Question” fits right in with the season as it calls on us to reflect and predict at the turn of the year. The question this month is composed of three questions in one: What will you remember most about 2006? What are the biggest challenges for you/us as head into 2007? What are your predictions for 2007?

What will you remember most about 2006?

Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts, oh my!!! I started my very first blog and became much more involved in the edusphere dialogue around school improvement (which includes increased technology integration). To say that this experience has dramatically increased my personal and professional learning would be an understatement. I really can’t recall anything in the past several years that has so effectively, efficiently, and quickly affected my learning and growth as an individual and as a professional. I also embarked on a new learning adventure by creating a Second Life where I have been able to explore user-generated environments and experiences. What I will remember most about 2006? – waking up in a whole new world of communication, conversations, community, and learning.

What are the biggest challenges for you/us as head into 2007?

Real school improvement (led by true educational leaders) that leads to reinvention of the entire system vs. the faux reform (led by politicians) characterized by high-stakes standardized testing and punitive approaches to school improvement. The dialogue outside of the political sphere indicates that the tide among the people has shifted – but until our politicians wake up to this fact, no policies will change anytime soon. As Tony Wagner states – we don’t need to reform our education system, we need to REINVENT it.

Taking use of Web 2.0 tools to scale within our schools. We face equipment deficiencies, philosophical differences, and generational/tech savvy divides that will need to be addressed before we can hope for greater use of and access to Web 2.0 in our classrooms as part of the formal educational experience. Our students will continue to increase their knowledge and skill with these tools outside of the classroom, but the gap between real-life and the classroom will continue to grow until we begin to connect classroom learning to life outside of school. Finally, we have still have the huge hurdle of teachers who can barely use email – much less integrate technology on a larger, more authentic scale. I see overcoming these obstacles to make learning more relevant for today’s students as our biggest challenge for technology in education.

What are your predictions for 2007?

• The conversations around reinvention of our education system will increase and some policies may indeed be eliminated or drastically altered – at least at the local and state levels.
• Mobile and informal learning will continue to grow and expand.
• Innovators and early adopters will continue to push the envelope with mashups, new web 2.0 tools, and expanded eLearning tools/opportunities.
• Blogging will not disappear into the ether as some doomsayers are hoping.
• More authentic uses of Second Life in education will begin to emerge.
• Life will go on.

There are still a few days left in 2006, so head on over to the Learning Circuits Blog and read others’ answers to the “Big Question” –- and then join the conversation by posting your own reflections/predictions. ☺