David Warlick's ideas on literacy true in 2006 and today!

I was invited to attend David Warlick's presentation at the Thompson School District yesterday. To say the least David inspired me with several concepts related to learning and 21st century literacy. Here is a list of several items I took from his presentation.

• Stop integrating technology and start integrating literacy
• Literacy today is not simply about reading, writing, and mathematics but about investigating those subjects in an digital environment
• This investigation can include URL backtracking, large dataset investigation, multimedia communication, and a growing list of others
• We are all competing for attention - students must learn to attract attention with their innovative and creative ideas

The statement that truly resonated with me as an educator and as a father was that, "their is no excuse for students not having access to digital content and media." His statement was in response to several complaints about limited access within the Loveland schools.

I have been following David Warlick ever since his keynote speech at the 2006 K-12 online conference. He was absolutely correct then... and he continues to make a compelling case that we are behind - my question is when is our country and our schools going to "get with it" and make the changes that are necessary? It is unfair to our students and to their future to educate them for our fathers future.

We need to redefine literacy - thank you David Warlick.

Dr. Gregory Todd Jones - innovation is in the networks

Dr. Gregory Jones gives an interesting talk about networks and creativity. He states that, "networks of people are creative and innovative and knowing how to structure those networks properly has a direct impact on productivity." He talks about how sharing, reciprocity, and even happiness (he provides reference to several research studies that warrant future investigation) are all products of the structure of the networks that we live in.

The concept of Edgility that I have been developing resonates with Dr. Jones' ideas. We all need to be thinking about how we structure or in most cases restructure our networks to become more productive.

From what I see this restructuring needs to go well beyond what most of us think of when we think about "networking." We live in a competitive world that requires creativity and innovation. I believe that these innovations will be driven from the edges of the system. They will be born by individuals working on the edge of networks who have ideas about how to do something better. These ideas will then be brought to reality through networks of people working together. It is how we structure these networks that is vital to this type of productivity. These networks are fundamentally different than the ones we have typically worked within, diverging from hierarchy and structure and even being thwarted by traditional incentives. In 2010 I will continue to restructure my networks, and discuss this process here (edgilityblog.com), in an attempt to increase my Edgility

Happy New Year everyone!