Hot Milky Drink

Spent a very interesting day at the elgg.net conference in Edinburgh yesterday. There were some very interesting speakers and lots of interesting and innovative practice in evidence. One question that was asked that struck a chord with me was ‘what does lifelong learning look like?’

I’m not sure…

I am always learning and I have interests that are old standards for me music, cinema, literature and new ones such as graphic novels and now my abundant allotmnent! (Will put photos on Flickr this week-particularly of my prize winning potatoes.) But how do we show that we are lifelong learners? Is it important to blog our interests, involve ourselves in communities and contribute to the ‘shared experience/expertise?

Who are we doing this for? Is it enough to do things just for yourself or must we be part of the cyber collective, ‘interested in each other’ group.
I do not need convinced about the benefits of the shared learning experience (my ongoing experience of reading other blogs in particular is testament to that) but that question made me somewhat uneasy…it seems that there is a real paradigm shift happening in terms of what knowledge is and where one can find it now. I think my understanding and comfort with the ‘established norms’ of learning is being challenged like never before and I am all too aware of the need to look at learning from a different perspective.

In terms of leading change and transforming learning at a national level or even in the classroom I think that this is excellent practice. When I was a teacher my class knew I was a guy who had varied interests…I wonder how they would have viewed me and how they might have contributed to my learning if I had a blog where I spoke about computer games I played or books that I had read. Likewise, I could have commented on their interests…

The more I think I about this the more excited I am about new technologies and how they can inform and influence the underlying ethos of what happens in the learning process…