Footprints …

The title of Will Richardson’s latest article on ASCD reads “Footprints in the Digital Age” (first saw this article mentioned in Anne Davis’s post. Thanks Anne for highlighting the article). As I read through the online article, the following sentences resonated:

• (As) a consequence of the new Web 2.0, … (we) are becoming increasingly woven into the fabric of almost every aspect of our lives.
• … like it or not, social Web technologies are having a huge influence on students …, even the youngest ones.
• … like it or not, social Web technologies are having a huge influence on students …, even the youngest ones.
• One of the biggest challenges educators face right now is figuring out how to help students create, navigate … the Web and helping them do this effectively, ethically, and safely.
• The things we create are searchable to an extent never before imagined and will be viewed by all sorts of audiences, both intended and unintended.

And the recurring theme on the importance of teachers’ leading/scaffolding appears in the following sentences:

• … we may find opportunities to empower students to learn deeply and continually in ways that we could scarcely have imagined just a decade ago
• … they’re doing all sorts of things with online tools that, for the most part, we’re not teaching them anything about.
• Our teachers have to be colearners in this process, modeling their own use … and understanding the practical pedagogical implications … technologies and online social learning spaces.
• (educators should learn that) transparency fosters connections and … (willing) to share our work and, to some extent, our personal lives.
• … still needs the guidance of teachers and adults who know them in their own practice.
• … students have the potential to own their own learning—and we have to help them seize that potential.
• Younger students need to see their teachers engaging …
• Middle school students should be engaged in the process of cooperating and collaborating with others …, just as they have seen their teachers do.

And the ending paragraph reminds us to be a lifelong learner in ICT if we were to teach and prepare our students for their future lives:
“But to do all that, we educators must first own these technologies and be able to take advantage of these networked learning spaces.”