This post is part of a 10 day posting challenge issued by Tina Zita. You can’t be a connected educator if you don’t contribute. Sometimes we need a nudge to remember that if nobody shares, nobody learns. Thanks Tina!
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How can we enable our colleagues to access the rich professional learning opportunities available online?
We want to own our own learning.
We want to self-direct our learning.
In 2016, it has never been easier to do this. The abundance of open, accessible resources is overwhelming. Learning to manage and organize the information is a new competency. Learning to reflect, to share, to find, to converse, to connect, to adapt – we are doing this.
Or are we?
We all know colleagues who don’t participate in learning in digital spaces.
For those who provide learning opportunities online, the sphere of influence has a definite, distinct boundary. They cannot reach the individual who does not engage in digital spaces.
Online teachers struggle to help students who refuse to log into the course.
In the same way, it doesn’t matter how rich, how engaging, how simple to use or how valuable online learning is for educators if they don’t know where to look for it or how to use the tools that will allow them to access it.
I think that we have done very well in providing digital resources and learning opportunities for teachers.
How, now, can we work to enable the educators who still do not access the rich professional learning environment online?
As someone who self-directs their own professional learning online, how can you help one colleague this month to see some value in engaging in online learning or using online resources?
Leverage your PLN to ask for help. What is the best starting point for one colleague? What can you show them that will help them see the value in engaging in online, self-directed professional learning?
Resources:
Twitter for Absolute Beginners
Leveraging Twitter for Rich Professional Learning
Looks like we were thinking along the same lines this week.. My concern is that we need to model this kind of learning for students because it’s free (almost), it’s accessible and it’s individualized.
I struggle with this daily. How do you light that fire in people so that they want to take that initial leap into the digital world? I’m hoping that if I walk the talk, it will happen.