Here's a few things that I've come across in the last 7 days that I'm having trouble stringing together but will try anyway..
David Hieatt's new project post howies. Digital publishing and lesson sharing for the future.
A piece on a new TV series on Lagos in the Observer today. And how Lagos residents are coping in extreme circumstances with startling ingenuity and entrepreneurialism.
A piece in last week's Observer on the One Laptop Per Child project.
The new One Laptop Per Child X0-3 design. OLPC goes iPad.
What's it all got in common? There's plenty the third world can teach the first world as well as the other way around. Looking at cities like Mumbai and Lagos we can see immediate lessons in community building/ self policing & managing, resourcefulness/ entrepreneurialism, and extreme recycling in a way that we're lagging in in the west. Prince Charles told us so and Kevin McCloud went and found out for himself. So there's plenty of lessons to be shared, all that's needed is the right communication channels and devices. Now have a read of this..
"We are entering a new age of education and global cooperation. An age where information is not bound within closed pages and locked inside libraries or closed communities. Learning no longer has to be passed down to us from authorities, but can shared between each other as friends. Faster than ever before. The internet is an invisible hive. Buzzing with thoughts, emotions, ideas and raw data. The sum of human understanding is being compiled, edited and tended to by a vast network of busy worker bees.
Everyone on the planet with a networked machine can learn and teach anything they are interested in. The iPad is a new window into that beautiful world of information. It bridges the gap between the raw power and vast scope of digital technology and the tangible, tactile and emotional nature of the printed book. The dawn is breaking on a brave new world. The behaviour of our species is about to change." Ruben Lightfoot 2010.
So we've got this situation where we know we're going to need to share lessons & adapt, and pretty quickly. And we're getting near to having the tools and infrastructure in place to do this. As the One Laptop per Child programme begins to expand and propagate we could start to see a new era in education evolving from great teaching. And teaching that is not limited to the class room.
*I got the title from Ken Robinson's The Element that I'm reading at the minute, along with the if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never produce anything original from the Factory post. It's a right good read.
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