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 * Navigating Social Networks as Learning Tools** (from Richardson, W. in __21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn__. Bellanca & Brandt (Ed.), 2010, pg. 286-287.

//What should classrooms be when we can connect with other teachers and learners around the world? What is the best role for teachers when knowledge is distributed widely in these networks? And, most importantly, how do we reframe our own personal learning experiences as educators and as people in light of these shifts?//

//How we as a society answer those questions may bring about a long-discussed transformation to a school system that, while now operating in the 21st century, still looks decidedly 20th (or even 19th) century in its form and structure. Or, it may not. One thing is certain: although schools may continue to fundamentally look and act as they have for more than one hundred years, the way individuals learn has already been forever changed. Instead of learning from others who have the credentials to "teach" in this new networked world, we learn with others who we seek (and who seek us) on our own and with whom we often share nothing more than a passion for knowing. In this global community, we are at once all teachers and learners - changing roles as required, contributing, collaborating, and maybe even working together to re-create the world, regardless of where we are at any given moment.//

There are two essential questions that need to be addressed if teachers and school leaders are to understand how a new networked world can impact teaching and learning:
 * 1) //How does the development of a personal learning network alter our conceptualization of teaching and learning?// Participating in a networked world as consumer, gatherer //and// producer of content allows teachers and leaders to experience a new and powerful way of learning.
 * 2) //How do teachers and leaders apply their experiences developing a personal learning network to creating meaningful, socially-connected teaching and learning experiences in the 21st century?// Having experienced the benefits and challenges of building and using a personal learning network, teachers and leaders can begin to develop learning experiences using the lens of networks and their new experiences.

Together we will focus our work in this course on developing answers to these questions.

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