Open Lesson to Students Everywhere: This is Real Learning, Quick-in, Quick-out
Friday, 29 February 2008 Clay Burell 
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Thanks to Jeff Utecht and the students in my activity block for this little demonstration of what real learning can look like now. Jeff’s in Shanghai. I’m in Seoul. We’re both in Twitter and Skype, though, so distance doesn’t matter. This kind of international travel is free. And no airport waiting.
Read the tweets, then watch the movie of Jeff’s visit. He taught me something I needed to know quickly. And it was easy and fun. But don’t forget: he taught me. It was real-world learning, “Natural Global Collaboration,” “Quick-in, Quick-Out Networked Learning“. Isn’t that what schools are supposed to teach students?
, I said.
, said Jeff.
So, we [quicktime]http://pod.kis.or.kr//blojsom_resources/meta/cburell/Jeff%20Utecht%20on%202008-02-28%20at%2011.06.mov[/quicktime] for about 30 minutes.* He showed me the plugin I needed to make my school’s WordPress MU student blogging portal as cool as his is at Shanghai American School. And we talked with students about starting a new school. (I loved the outburst, “I’ll go!” in chorus from several students.)
Then I said, 
,
and Jeff said, 
.
And that’s how learning can look today. Fun, conversational, as-needed, and above all, as WANTED.
Sad epilogue: Most students don’t seem to get it. Even when I tell them that this type of activity can get them an A, they resist. They really seem educationally traumatized to not see or desire the type of fun power involved in all of this. But there are a few exceptions, thank Goodness. I’ll be featuring some of them soon (and that means you, Patrick, and Paul, and Won).
*You can download it here, but it’s unedited.
- “Quick In, Quick Out” Podcast: PLN Class Design Discussion with Cleveland, Maryland, NYC, Qatar, and Seoul
- Podcast: With Dean Shareski on _Natural_ Global Collaboration and Networked Learning
- Beyond Global Collaborative “Units,” on to Real PLN’s: Podcast with Chris Craft
- Student Project Blog as “Business”?! Podcast with Two PLN Class Students
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No. 1 — February 29th, 2008 at 10:57 am
You both taught my son too. He’s in fifth grade. He sat down next to me while I was going through Google Reader. I downloaded the movie. As we were watching it, he commented that the building outside Jeff’s window looked like a pyramid. We looked up the Shanghai American School and had trouble getting the address to work in Google Earth. We found a map for the school and started comparing it to the GE images. He was surprised at the size of the river compared to the drawing on the map. He also found the airport. He’s determined to find the building on his own. I sent a DM through Twitter to try and get a better fix on his location. Hopefully we’ll get to see his building. In the meanwhile, I thought I’d share this extended journey that you inadvertently started on the other side of the world!
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No. 2 — March 1st, 2008 at 4:42 am
[...] walls, a place in times, archived in book or video or an expert in the field or research report. Clay Burrell demonstrated to his class on this day that learning took place in real time when he Twitter his [...]