Pioneering Reality Check

Posted by Peter Ford in Mulling over...Jan 3rd, 2011 | one response

A memory from the Summer 2010…

Nothing extraordinary about the task or attendees. A regional group of ICT advisors and school ICT folks asked to work in groups, come up with ideas about learning and ICT and feed back to the other delegates. I decided to open up the meeting to the world by posting the same task on Twitter. On receiving a brilliant tweet response from a head, I fed it back to the room.

Were the audience receptive to a twitter-sourced idea? I never got to find out because they seized the opportunity to discuss how a ‘real’ head teacher could or would want to find the time to be on twitter. My heart sank a little but I was not really surprised. It was just a timely reminder that the world of PLNs on Twitter, blogs and the like is still not a reflection of the realities of everyday professional experience for the vast majority of educators.
Being reminded from time to time that, even with our PLNs, we are very small fish in a massive old-school, is good for keeping our egos in check. It also reminds us to maintain a focus on learning, modelling and sharing with folks outside the comfort of the echo-chamber. That’s the big challenge! Keep pioneering in 2011!


One Response to “Pioneering Reality Check”

  1. Kevin McLaughlin says:
    January 3, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    A very apt thought for everyone involved in a PLN on twitter to keep in mind. It’s so easy to forget that even if we think we are leading the way in the use of technology and online learning, many of our colleagues could see it as an unrealistic ‘target’. Sharing our knowledge with the colleagues in our own schools is the best place to start.

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