'Learning Age'

I found the almost 4min video by Professor Stephen Heppell really compelling.  How we have moved from the Information or Knowledge Age to the Learning Age.   And particularly the part about harnessing the power and opportunity that technology presents us with.  It is almost scary how much technology is out there - the trick is knowing where to find what we want, or even knowing what we want with so much choice available.  I watch my teenage daughters search the web for school work, recipes, guitar chords, knowledge net - for homework, YouTube to find new songs and think in the 30 odd year time span how their worlds are so different to mine.  Technology is advancing at such a rate it is going to be really interesting how things will be different when they are raising their own children one day.




Another thing that caught my attention was how personalised technology can be, and how measures of success can be weighed against each other so we can see what we are doing and can be ambitious for ourselves.  That fits well with the 'intrinsic' motivation that I am always struggling to support.  Awarding stickers or free play just always seems so much easier. 


There was a comment by a woman on his video about being able to swap learning around the world.  That is powerful for me as I am continually amazed at how 'near' people are thanks to the Internet.  Family overseas no longer have to excluded from our lives - at the click of the mouse we are connected via Skype, facebook, blogsites, and so on.  I am sure that soon virtual reality will become a bigger part of our everyday lives and the connections will be even stronger across the 'net'.