Blogs on Professional Learning Network (PLN)

"Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time."
-- Tagore, Bengali poet

About 20 years ago, I received my first email account. It was awesome -- not many college students had one. Of course, I quickly realized that I only knew five friends with email and I lived with four of them.

Today, almost every teenager in our schools has the opportunity to access email, but many choose not to. It is much easier to send a message via texting or through Facebook. In fact, a growing number of my college students only use email to correspond with "old people."

Do it Yourself -- or DIY -- culture has been around since the 90s. (Remember 'zines, and indie record labels?) Now that technology is a gazillion times cheaper, more pervasive and powerful, the DIY movement is spreading into almost every aspect of society.

This has powerful implications for teachers; many of whom are participating in some innovative (and low-cost, or free) professional development opportunities. To that end, I would argue that we are amid a learning renaissance, and that the DIY movement is one of its most powerful catalysts.

This is the third post of a four-part series about planning and running an edcamp unconference. You can read the first post, Introduction to edcamp and Taking Care of the "Big Stuff" first if you missed them.

Christopher Columbus was wrong when he reported to the King and Queen that the world is round. In fact, the world is flat and so are many of our classrooms in this great nation.

For years, students learned within the parameters of a building, which then separated them into rooms. Students would attend class daily and the teacher would present the daily lesson. This is how a school day has progressed for years. And in many US classrooms, it still does. However, this not the case in three high schools in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.