This time of year always brings more time for thought process, and mindful being. As I wrap up my virtual experience for NECC09 and explore my new connections, many thoughts come to mind and remind me why I am an educator and why I moved into IVC and distance education. 

After our presentation for NECC 09, I was left with concern that I had not really demonstrated the power of IVC. This of course was based on the gauge of audience reactions during the presentation. Now granted, it was a 30 minute session and how much can you interact with a group in person in 30 minutes. Well here is where I argue my point. 

IVC, social media, social networking, and the likes will not make us better teachers, educators, learners. Like any technology tool, we need to first be able to know what we want to communicate in order to teach/ learn. We also need to understand our audience. Thus it is based in the content and how best to communicate it to the audience and their needs. So. how best can we use technology to communicate? Again it all depends on what and how we want to communicate!Trying to use technology to teach first is like trying to drive fast with just the chassy and body of a Frerari, but without the engine. (Or in our case, a sprint sled without the sled dogs!)

Mobile Learning Institute shares a great video about 21st century teachers, and how important the content is. In fact, Larry Rosentock even describes his school as a Liberal Arts school and not a technology school, for that very reason. It is about the content. 

Furhtermore, after hearing Malcolm Gladwell's speech at NECC09 and the "Brick and Mortar's school debate", I could not but further think that we are missing the boat here. Gladwell clearly ended his presentation with the same concept, it is not whether we teach school within or outside the walls, it is what and how we teach in the schools. (Every reason to not have 8 hr day schools, year round and on Saturdays, but more important to recognize that our passions in learning will drive us to learn on our own in school or outside of school 8 hrs a day, on Saturdays year round. Again it is all about the content.) 

Reflecting on this in terms of IVC, social media, networking, web 2.0, I once again realize the need for my audience during my presentation to participate in the importance of the content beyond the IVC presentation, in the realm of Ning or twitter. This immediate feedback from my learners lets me know as a teacher if we have hit the target and we were succesful. (Did I even choose the correct thing to measure here?) In real life this would have been through body langauge, side conversations and personal networking through introductions. However the presentation was virtual, thus I had to heavily rely on my web 2.0 tools: twitter, ning, etc. to gather this input.  Here is where the problem lies, did I incorrectly assume that my audience was ready and willing for this level of interaction beyond IVC or even with IVC? Again, back to the content being King. 

In the end it all comes back to best teaching practices. As a teacher, I greatly rely on my skills and learned experiences in the classroom for being a succesful teacher. But what I walk away with is that learning and education happen best when we begin with content (standards) and what our audience is ready to learn. Then considering how we will know if we or our audience has learned it (assessments) and then how best can we teach it and/or how our audience can learn it (what tech tools will work best). I will continue to fall back on this core teachings from RISC as I delve further into the realm of technology, NECC and IVC. I do what I do because I see how we can move beyond our classrooom walls, but still have a base for our learning within our classroom walls, all strung together by content and our passions to learn through adventure and exploration. 

Kigluait Adventures: Adventure, Discovery, Learning for Life!