l am posting this from the auditorium on thetablet PC. It has been great to handwrite notes and have them appear typed in word. l am going to paste them below, they are a bit rough - I’ll try and pad them out later.

Will Richardson.

Read/write web

Blogging has totally changed his views on education. The presentation and all relevant links are on his Wikispace page.

The web now allows us to publish as easily as we can find info. Kids will be changing careers often etc Not how much content we know, but how well we can find what we need to know. These tools are now changing other things in real word – like politics. The You-Tube campaign. Candidates all have Myspace pages.

Immediacy – public can have images & text on their blog minutes after something happened before journalists even know it happened.

Comments under newspaper articles online. Public can basically blog on news & correct Journalists.

Changes for business also. Like comments on Amazon.com . Who needs ads when you can connect with the conversation about the product?

Politics business etc changes and keeps up but education doesn’t.

Disparity of access. Philadelphia 1 out of 3 people have never used Internet.

Power of blogging – comments cause discussions that create very powerful learning. Reciprocal learning-everyone teaches each other. Search for “Will” & his biog comes up 6th.

Fanfiction.net – powerful network. Powerful learning through readers comments/reviews.

My space. If we don’t ‘teach it, rather than ban it I how will we teach them to use it powerfully & sensibly. E.g. Meg Cabot Site Author of Princess Diaries.

These sites are here to stay –we should be teaching their use. Deal with their presence.
Learning no longer about what is in the text but who we know who can help us to find the info etc. Story about 5th grade question - how many sites on a trapezoid…adults may not remember, but he found it by searching google on his phone.

MIT courses all online – video , handouts etc all free.

Wikipedia. We must teach –constantly changing & updating knowledge.

Martin Luther king.com site – when students look at this site, alarm bells should ring. If they do, do the kids (or teachers) know how to find out about site origins.

Students need to be taught to read & write in a hypertext environment.

‘Secret life of Bees’ Blog.

classrooms no longer limited by physical space & the work we ask them to do can be real world-relevant tasks.

Radio WillowWeb podcast on ants-students educating others.

‘Yes but…. ‘ concerns are valid but we need to ‘suck it up’ & get on with it.