WILL RICHARDSON IS AN EDUCATION THOUGHT-LEADER, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER, AND PASSIONATE SCHOOL CHANGE ADVOCATE
We live in the most amazing time ever to be a learner, but we are educating in what may be the most uncertain moment ever when it comes to knowing how to prepare our students for the fast-changing future that awaits them. Simply put, traditional ways of thinking about school no longer suffice. The changes we need in schools are profound.
FREEDOM TO LEARN
In Freedom to Learn, I explore the disconnect between the effortless way people learn on their own and the restricted learning that happens in schools. The freedom to learn that students apply outside of school is left untapped in the classroom, leaving students feeling unengaged and uncreative in their education. If educators bring more freedom to learn to the classroom, engaging learners with the knowledge that isn’t exercised in schools, teachers will better prepare them for success in their lives.
FROM MASTER TEACHER TO MASTER LEARNER
As we gain access to more and more knowledge and information online, the future will belong to those who are powerful, literate, curious learners. That means emphasis in classrooms must move toward helping students develop the skills, literacies, and dispositions to be powerful, self-organized learners. Teachers who are themselves master learners in new, modern contexts are crucial to making that happen.
WHY SCHOOL?
Best selling TED book of all time!
Traditional educators, classrooms, and brick-and-mortar schools are no longer necessary to access information. Instead, things like blogs and wikis, as well as remote collaborations and an emphasis on ‘critical thinking’ skills are the coins of the realm in this new kingdom. Yet the national dialogue on education reform focuses on using technology to update the traditional education model, failing to reassess the fundamental design on which it is built.
PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORKS
The Internet connects us in unprecedented ways. To prepare students to flourish in this new learning world, schools will need to transform themselves in important ways. This book is a road map for any educator thinking about using the web for learning. Build your own learning network, and use learning networks in the classroom and schoolwide to improve student outcomes.
LEARNING ON THE BLOG
Today’s students are immersed in the digital age, but can our educational system keep up? Best-selling author Will Richardson’s comprehensive collection of posts from his acclaimed blog, weblogg-ed.com, spells out the educational reform we must achieve. The book’s entries present a multifaceted vision of the 21st-century classroom and describe how a social media-changed world has created new opportunities for learning.
BLOGS, WIKIS, PODCASTS
and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms
Written for educators of all disciplines, this third edition (2010) of a bestseller provides real examples from K–12 teachers around the world on how Web tools allow students to learn more, create more, and communicate better. Updated with materials on Web publishing and information literacy, this resource opens up a new toolbox for both novice and tech-savvy educators, with how-to steps for teaching. Corwin’s 2006 Book of The Year!