Our Globalized World

While the direction of my blog is primarily guided by my own personal interest in the field of education, the content of each post was inspired by a specific chapter in "The Connected Educator", a book written by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall in 2012. Chapter 4 in particular digresses from the typical rhetoric found throughout the rest of the book, and in doing so it perfectly captures the idea that the authors were trying to convey.

Instead of discussing specific individual web based resources and things of that nature, the two authors truly delve into what supported the backbone of their entire book writing experience. They discuss the nature of face-to-face relationships, their development, and the adaptations that should be made to construct a similarly productive relationship using an online platform. They hadn't met in person before completing their book and they have only the power of the internet to thank for this success. In this day and age the internet is everything besides a limitation. Its an open door that continuously beckons the eager and informed learner. "Technology has thinned classroom and school walls, blurred the boundaries of time and space, and has provided opportunities for authentic teacher learning in networks and communities" (Nussbaum-Beach & Ritter Hall 2012). They gained immensely from their experience and the authors hope that educators (like you readers and myself!) can learn how to foster productive online relationships that can better foster learning for all internet users of any age.

(Acknowledgments - Paragraph 1)

"Our first acknowledgement is to the power of a connected collegial relationship and the technology that made that relationship and this book possible. Two connected learner leaders, separated geographically by more than five hundred miles, availed themselves of technology to collaborate, share insights, and generate ideas. Using Skype led to words flowing on Google Docs as each chapter of this book emerged and evolved" (Nussbaum-Beach & Ritter Hall 2012).

Collegial Relationship- The sharing of academic information and development between colleagues

Congenial Relationship- The sharing of humanly and polite interaction - in accordance with literally any topic

People have needs and among those needs is the need for human interaction. We as humans, want empathetic people in our lives and we as humans are motivated by these positive human interactions in a variety of ways. Herein lies the authors' connection between the world of learning and the world wide web. Herein lies the secret to the authors' success. After the advent of internet based learning, teachers have been challenged by their willingness to adapt to their surroundings. Can teachers effectively deliver concepts that, to them, are completely foreign? Can an educator born in an cyber-hypotonic solution of a generation genuinely be ready to pioneer a 21st century education? Yes. Yes, they can. It merely requires a little bit of commitment and a great deal of appreciation for the power of internet tools. If we can sufficiently learn about these internet tools and maximize our utilization of these resources, then the internet has been used to our advantage as users.

Finally, none of this is relevant unless there are many users that are willing to come together to collaborate ideas. Just like the authors, internet learners need to collaborate to really be taking advantage of the power of the internet. Users that are just passive learners and that don't share their ideas are missing a major component of what 2017 technology has to offer. So, teachers encourage your students to collaborate using collegial and congenial relationships on as many online platforms as possible and use the internet to its fullest potential.

Good luck learners!

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