Will Richardson’s Session

I think one of the statements that made me think the most came out of
Will Richardson’s session the first day.  He talked about how he had
his kids take classes via Skype from “teachers” across the globe on
subjects they self-selected.  I had to chuckle when he described how
one lesson couldn’t finish because the teacher was a 12 year old in
Sweden and it was past his bedtime, so the teaching had to come to a
close for the afternoon.  The opportunity to choose one’s teachers
from a pool of teachers across the globe and move outside the brick-
and-mortar school is a powerful notion in an age of electronic
portfolios.  There were a great many things to take away from the
conference, but the potential of that idea has weighed heavy in my
reflection on the conference, especially when considering the places
we could go with curriculum in the future and the variety of subjects
that could be offered if a collaborative community of middle schools
harnessed it.  Yes, potentially years away . . .