Social Communications Summit Ideas

Comments 12 February 2009

On Tuesday I attended Jeff Pulver’s SocComm (Social Communications Summit). There were some really great speakers and a wonderful active audience. It was a long day but it was a lot of fun. Over the next few days I will be writing posts about some of the thoughts and bits that inspired me to think and discuss further at SocComm.

Today I really want to talk about something that Fred Wilson said during his presentation on truth. He predicted that Harvard university will not exist in 50 years, that everyone would be able to create their own form of education. This is something that is very interesting to me, and I sincerely hope it comes true.

A few days ago I re-blogged this video on my tumblr titled: Learning to Change-Changing to Learn this video was produced by the Consortium for School Networking. Founded in 1992, the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) is the premier professional association for school district technology leaders. CoSN is committed to providing the leadership, community and advocacy tools essential for the success of these leaders. Their mission is to empower K-12 school district technology leaders to use technology strategically to improve teaching and learning.

Some of my favorite points from the video:

Education was ranked the lowest industry in IT intensiveness!

Kids are rich content developers!

Every turned off device is potentially a turned off child!

We live in a “nearly now” space.

We have a classroom system when we could have a community system!

This is the main reason that when I have children, no matter where the education system is, they will be home schooled. Having been in the education system for the majority of my life so far I can tell you that it is useless. I have learned more by asking questions, talking to the right people, and attending events like SocComm, than I have in entire semesters of higher education.

Social tools have the power to teach us anything we want to learn. The Internet bridges the physical gap between me and a school in France. I should be able to take classes whereever I am from the BEST Professors in the world! This future, and the future that we are all building for the next generation is what makes me wake up in the morning.

I know that I am a part of an industry that will shake every other industry as we know it – from Publishing to Government, from Education to Hospitality. Everything is about to change and I have NO IDEA where the chips will fall and when the walls will crumble, but I can’t wait!

To my friend Jon Arnold: SocComm is right for these times (pulverblog.pulver.com)
SocComm Videos – Febuary 10th, 2009 NY (webmetricsguru.com)
Attending SocComm and Search Engine Strategies NYC 09 (list-your-blog.com)
Pulver’s SocComm. Feb 10, NYC (saunderslog.com)
Shelly Palmer: Why You Need to Translate Value Into Wealth (prevential.com)
Why Obama Can’t Ignore Education Tech (businessweek.com)
Is Traditional School a ‘Must’? (chris.pirillo.com)

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themaria

I agree that a complete overhaul of the education system is needed. With the advent of social technologies and transparency / availability of knowledge, rote memorization will no longer pay off. Our kids need to learn how to think creatively and conceptually, the skills which seem to be frowned upon in the classroom (sigh!). And to add insult to injury, higher education, no matter how outdated, is absolutely required if you intend to be taken seriously in Corporate America, and comes with a hefty price tag. This price tag plunges our youth into debt before they even reach a legal drinking age. Revolution, I say!!!

sarahcooley

I think that just the fact that you need a degree to put some kind of value on your knowledge is ridiculous. Some of the greatest thinkers and visionaries never graduated college, and some of them never even attended.

But as long as Corporate America also subscribes to the same philosophies that the educational institutions do, that will never change.