TEACHING AWARD SPEECH
MAY 2008
__ Good morning
everyone and congratulations to all. The first thing that I have to say about
this award is that I did not always want to become a teacher. My parents were
both school teachers and the last thing I wanted to do, as any other rebellious
teenager, was to become a teacher myself. They convinced me to take that path and
now after all of these years I am still a teacher …
In this brief talk I want to bring up three major trends that have changed the way that we teach and learn. These three trends are the explosion of information, the emergence of community created content, and the availability of on-demand learning.
So let’s talk about each of them:
The explosion of information means that we are now able to obtain content about just about anything with a few keystrokes. With this abundance of information both the student and the teacher need to learn new skills. The student needs to learn how to learn because he or she needs to be able to determine what is worth reading and paying attention to especially in an era where time is scarce. With the explosion of content, the role of the teacher, as with the librarian, is to bring people in contact with materials that are enlightening, educational, and serve their needs.
The second phenomenon is the emergence of community created content. With all of the social networking spaces that we participate in there are countless opportunities to learn from others. Content no longer tends to emerge from a single credible source as was once the case but from every one of us who creates web pages, blogs, and posts to forums for example. You as a content producer have become a teacher from whom others can learn. In this world of community created content the learner needs new skills, and these skills are related to your ability as a participant to determine when content is appropriate to be shared. Values and integrity will play a key role here. You need to think carefully about the content that you post about yourself, about others, and about the organization that you work for because it could negatively impact you, your community, or society. For example, you cannot freely share copyrighted material or strategic corporate information. As well, the roles of the learner and that of the teacher are converging. The teacher becomes less the center of attention and knowledge and becomes a facilitator of community created content. Communities need support and direction and they need appropriate incentives for individuals to share their knowledge with others. Teachers need to create an environment that is fun, safe, and educational.
The third trend is on-demand learning. There is so much content that we can select to learn about what we are passionately interested in or that we can use at a particular moment to solve a problem or enhance our professional careers. A focus on this, however, can make us unidimensional. Your role as a learner is to expand your interests a bit, to occasionally learn things that are not directly useful or applicable to your field. The role of the teacher is to select content that can indirectly benefit your professional career as well as your human development. Some of this content may sometimes appear useless or to be a waste of time when you first experience it but may become important later in life.
I thus hope that in this new world of abundant on-demand content that you take the time to learn from and teach others throughout your life. I also expect that your values and integrity will help you make appropriate decisions when reading or sharing knowledge while maintaining your curiosity and expanding your interests to improve your life and those of others.
Thank you.
In this brief talk I want to bring up three major trends that have changed the way that we teach and learn. These three trends are the explosion of information, the emergence of community created content, and the availability of on-demand learning.
So let’s talk about each of them:
The explosion of information means that we are now able to obtain content about just about anything with a few keystrokes. With this abundance of information both the student and the teacher need to learn new skills. The student needs to learn how to learn because he or she needs to be able to determine what is worth reading and paying attention to especially in an era where time is scarce. With the explosion of content, the role of the teacher, as with the librarian, is to bring people in contact with materials that are enlightening, educational, and serve their needs.
The second phenomenon is the emergence of community created content. With all of the social networking spaces that we participate in there are countless opportunities to learn from others. Content no longer tends to emerge from a single credible source as was once the case but from every one of us who creates web pages, blogs, and posts to forums for example. You as a content producer have become a teacher from whom others can learn. In this world of community created content the learner needs new skills, and these skills are related to your ability as a participant to determine when content is appropriate to be shared. Values and integrity will play a key role here. You need to think carefully about the content that you post about yourself, about others, and about the organization that you work for because it could negatively impact you, your community, or society. For example, you cannot freely share copyrighted material or strategic corporate information. As well, the roles of the learner and that of the teacher are converging. The teacher becomes less the center of attention and knowledge and becomes a facilitator of community created content. Communities need support and direction and they need appropriate incentives for individuals to share their knowledge with others. Teachers need to create an environment that is fun, safe, and educational.
The third trend is on-demand learning. There is so much content that we can select to learn about what we are passionately interested in or that we can use at a particular moment to solve a problem or enhance our professional careers. A focus on this, however, can make us unidimensional. Your role as a learner is to expand your interests a bit, to occasionally learn things that are not directly useful or applicable to your field. The role of the teacher is to select content that can indirectly benefit your professional career as well as your human development. Some of this content may sometimes appear useless or to be a waste of time when you first experience it but may become important later in life.
I thus hope that in this new world of abundant on-demand content that you take the time to learn from and teach others throughout your life. I also expect that your values and integrity will help you make appropriate decisions when reading or sharing knowledge while maintaining your curiosity and expanding your interests to improve your life and those of others.
Thank you.
