Scott Adams

[edutrain] Connections v. computations

Connections should matter more than computations in our schools. Information is not always power. Ask any librarian.

The ability to organize the information is power. If we give our students sheets of 100 math problems and don't show them how to apply that math in a real world setting, then we are not showing the students the power that math brings to the table. The same applies for any other form of information. If students are only force fed information, and not taught how to create knowledge, they are only taught half of what they should be taught.

[edutrain] Process v. Agenda

Push the process, not the agenda. People care most about those things they help to bring into being.

If people care most about the things they help create, what about their learning? Are students helping to create that as well? One thing I like to remember is that people like to do, they don't like to be done to -- especially when it comes to their own learning. Learning that is constructive in nature, that people use to create their own conversations, and that people involve others in conversations typically is the most productive and the most effective. We should remember that the process we are pushing is student learning. We don't have an agenda. We put all students in the process and help all students to learn to the maximum of their abilities.

[edutrain] Anticipation of the future

Don't be shocked by the future; learn to anticipate it. Anticipation, which assumes trust in one's own intuition and judgment, represents an elevated form of intelligence in the network society.

Anticipate the future. Trust your own intutition and judgement. Recognize trends and learn what it takes to extrapolate from them to increase learning and educational opportunities for students in the future. Are we doing this? Are we teaching our colleagues and students how to do this?
It takes vision, and leadership to anticipate things. Sometimes the best way to accomplish something is to trust your senses that what you are working to accomplish is correct.

[edutrain] Adding wealth to the network

Don't count numbers; focus on adding wealth to the network. One plus one equals far more than two in a growing network.

We should focus always on the impact of our education. Are we having an impact on the conversation of learning? Do we influence this conversation? Sometimes just sheer numbers does not give a quantitative analysis of our value and influence on the network. The value of the networked conversation comes from the combined learning shared by all involved in the network. The more who are aware of what we know, in a polite, civil, way, creates a higher amount of value for the learning we possess.

[edutrain] Networked learning and Metcalfe's law

2) Fight for your right to party with your guests of choice. Citizens gain leverage by joining a net, while those who remain absent to one are deemed irrelevant.

Students gain leverage by joining a net.
Metcalfe's Law says the value of a network equals approximately the square of the number of users of the system. If you are a member of a learning network, the value of your learning increases.
If you are not, your learning becomes more and more irrelevant.

[edutrain] Community will not save you

1) Community will not save you. What matters are the forms of intelligence to whom one is linked, the practical support those connections deliver, and the costs those connections exact.

The extent to which the Edu-train allows connections, the support the connections deliver, and the cost the connections create are the most important items of intelligence. To some extent, Siemens' idea of the connectivism of the mind comes into play here. In a real sense, knowledge becomes a web. Knowledge becomes a web of intelligence supported by connected ideas and thoughts.
If educators do not recognize the existence of this web of connections, they do not recognize the existence of possibilities in their students.

[edutrain] 20 essentials of the networked school

From David Battstone

1) Community will not save you. What matters are the forms of intelligence to whom one is linked, the practical support those connections deliver, and the costs those connections exact.
2) Fight for your right to party with your guests of choice. Citizens gain leverage by joining a net, while those who remain absent to one are deemed irrelevant.
3) Challenge systems that wield centralized and hierarchical power. Closed systems will be eroded by unstoppable associations.
4) Don't count numbers; focus on adding wealth to the network. One plus one equals far more than two in a growing network.
5) Don't be shocked by the future; learn to anticipate it. Anticipation, which assumes trust in one's own intuition and judgment, represents an elevated form of intelligence in the network society.
6) Make an organization's tenth anniversary its last, then start from scratch. Decentralized nets adapt more effectively to evolving environments.
7) Push the process, not the agenda. People care most about those things they help to bring into being.
8) Connections should matter more than computations in our schools. Information is not always power. Ask any librarian.
9) When you hear an intellectual forecast the disappearance of work, assume that pundit has tenure at a university. Jobs are not a stable commodity that can be protected. But a complex adaptive network means that tomorrow's work may not yet be born.
10) Declare a war on ignorance. Learning never ends in a network society.
11) If you want to live in a world without governments, go buy an island. A good government strengthens nets, ensures fair access and competition in economic markets, and protects basic civilian rights.
12) Discriminatory exclusion weakens your network. Diversity has a salutary effect on biological ecosystems; human culture is no exception.
13) Egregious errors of the past will continue to haunt us. Social problems do not disappear in a network society; they show a dogged persistence.
14) Believe in democracy, but don't look to the government to solve your problems. The network society promotes opportunity, but expects individuals to act with personal responsibility and dignity.
15) The flow of information should not move slowly in one direction. Transparency of information rules.
16) If you don't like the news, go out and make your own. Nets of communication now give everyone the tools to share their stories.
17) History has not come to an end, but it has reached a major point of transition. [Put in bold] Global communication nets extend the range of what can be defined as capital and accelerate the pace at which it can move.
18) Your grandchildren will carry two passports. History is on the side of globally linked citizens.
19) We will all become environmentalists. Defining and controlling the environment, be it physical or virtual promises to be a matter of fierce competition in the 21st century.
20) What is past is prologue. Our stories are an open canvas.