So Much To Absorb, So Little Time to Reflect

It seems like the past five weeks have been filled with an avalanche of information on technology and what is going on in the world we live in. For me this has been an "E ticket" ride through a whole new vocabulary of technological wonders. I read the articles that we were assigned as a class, take a "bird walk" to some sites that are cited in the readings, and think that this is only the tip of information going on in the world. It is almost as opening one door leads to several more doors that need to be opened for discovery.

Being a relative novice, but certainly digitally literate in technology, I find that there are so many new areas for me to explore and "play" in on the Internet, in blogs and wikis that I do not know where to begin. If I were the largest sponge that ever existed I do not think that I could take everything in such a relatively short period of time. After all five weeks in the big scheme of things is not enough time to absorb and reflect on this new body of learning.

In reading about being tech savvy, what schools can do to improve policies on digital citizenship and look at a proposal for lifelong learning that gazed into the future, the readings have taken on new meaning. The framework for 21st century learning was very succinct and spoke to some very desirable outcomes for students. It appears that the core curriculum needs to be revamped for the 21st century. Creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication become the necessary skills for individuals to learn in order to be successful in this relatively "brave new world".

I look forward to spending some quality time to reflect on what I am experiencing and continuing to experience. Reflection requires some soak time, some quite time and a long walk to nowhere in particular. I know that quality time will be set aside so that this can happen. Our group has alreadt begun using our wiki to begin the reflection space that we need to begin to work on our class project. The time at the end of class this evening was a great opportunity to begin forming an innovative and creative plan for learning in the year 2035!