Well, as I went mining through the bottomless pit of blogs in blogger-land, one curiosity led me on a multiplex of pathways until eventually this article and You Tube clip sort of peaked my interest. I wondered 'could this be the kind of 'talk' I've been hacking the inter-web for? Was this Tedx Talk likely to be a revelation or more of a fragment of banal satisfaction ... still it might just suffice for now, I thought!
It appeared in the first 5 minutes more like the latter, however, as a few more minutes eeked their way forward, there was definitely a noticeable warming, on my part, to the originality and creative engagement of the students of Brian Crosby. He defines his teaching strategies as 'Passion based learning in action" or (PBL). Crosby's creative energies appeared innovative and engaging, so whilst he was working with a lively and enthusiastic group of year 4 students, the exploratory learning strategy he used really seemed to maximize participation in a multitude of ways.A lesson for us all in there somewhere, I concluded.
Crosby invited children to actively experiment with web 2 technologies, 'Smart' boards and perhaps even more interesting than that, (as a novice blogger myself), just how to connect and share interactive blog posts with fellow global citizens.
Pinning 'High Hopes' was an ambitious and inspiring idea, that bore its creation in a collective class blog where individual aspirations to somewhat better their world, initially found its place in a local context. Crosby then taught the students how to capture the hearts and minds of children around the world ... enabling others to connect and make their voices heard.
And so we see a worthy example of how social media and blogging technologies are transforming the social politics of nations, one person at a time, until such a time when the world might be duly recognized as the one 'global community' it is - binding citizens of the world through empathy and commonality.
Well the proof is in the 'clicking', it seems .... as more than half a million people have chosen to log-in to Crosby's PBL and thousands more responded in kind with their 'High Hopes' for the future ... that's mighty impressive considering the snail's pace of more traditional methods that sought to maximize its audience reach only a generation ago. Web 2 technologies and skillful blogging, if you know what you're doing has the potential (as I see it) to save people thousands on advertising and a capacity to create a nation of budding entrepreneurs ... but 'bloggers' beware of the 'Blog Snatchers'!
My 'High Hope' ... well it has to be for the enlightened world to keep up the hard work by advocating for the protection, provision and participation rights of all children everywhere.
How would you define yours ..?
Hope you enjoy the seventeen and a bit minute clip, attached here:
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