Ambitious Teaching and Learning

Last week at NECC, I brought my new flip camera and asked people I met “what does the future of learning look like.” I’ll be sharing the answers here through out the summer. Enjoy!

Lucy Gray, lead technology coach at the Center for Urban School Improvement at the University of Chicago, joined me on Steve Hargadon’s panel Classroom 2.0: Exploring the Potential of Web 2.0. Lucy and I went to Beloit College together many years ago (hooray for a liberal arts education!), and reconnected at NECC several years ago. She is an Apple Distinguished Educator and passionate about global education. She started the Global Education Collaborative, a social networking site to help students and teachers reach the world.

I like Lucy’s phrase: ambitious teaching and learning. It suggests a collaboration between the adults and the children in the classroom. She also emphasizes exploring the world by using technology to reach out and connect with others around the world. This supports the idea that Long Tail Learners are not constrained by time and place constraints in a classroom. They belong to niche communities with learners anywhere, anytime.