sustain:if:able kiwi

education changes

This would make a great discussion starter for an organisation, for a church leadership retreat, or for a group of ministers, who are all, after all, in the educating line.

Hat tip Scot McKnight.

Two of the points: Point 1 – from physical and digital and Point 6 – from isolation to connectivism were actually wonderfully illustrated in an interaction I had with Scot back in early 2011. At the time, I was writing a distance learning topic, on Jesus Christ today. Scot has a wonderful story, in his excellent book, A Community Called Atonement: Living Theology, which I had used it one Easter and it struck a chord with many folk.

The story mentioned a song, the lyrics of which had inspired a nurse in her care for a disadvantaged human. Wondering, for the sake of a distance learning topic, in case a student asked, what the full lyrics of the song might be, in a random moment, I emailed Scot, as the author, to ask if he knew.

Overnight he replied, saying he didn’t know, but providing the contact details for the nurse.

Whom I then emailed, now able to not only ask for a detail, but to also tell her about the impact of her story on the other side of the world!

She replied, grateful, with a few more details which I was able to add to the distance learning topic. All of this happened within 36 hours: made possible because of the shift from physical and digital, bringing about not isolation but connectivism. It provided feedback and encouragement for Scot and the nurse, added needed detail to the distance topic for students, plus some richer information for them in the communication of the story.