URL

http://school20.ning.com/

While I was reading Siemens' Article, a question kept on knocking my head: if learning, in the sense of connectivism, can be fully self-motivated, self-organized, and self-assessed with proper usage of websites and other computer based assistance, then, what is the role of teacher in this process of learning? Teacher's teaching approaches and personalities, as well as students' school time all play roles in the forming of learners' characteristics and acquisition of knowledge and skills which in some way indicate the percentage of future success in their life. However, what I see is a trend where teacher and school, traditionally speaking, seem trivial to a person's future success. I read a parent who home-educated his children successfully responded to a post named "web 2.0 is the future of education" (http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2008/03/web_20_is_the_future_of_educat_1.php)saying "By that time, the interactive technology will be even more advanced than it is now. Perhaps everybody with an eye for learning efficiency will be studying remotely by cell phone to their own individual requirements and the school classroom will have become the new 'alternative education'. Who knows?"I hate the implication that the profession of teacher is starting to fade away before I enter into this career.

Fortunately, I found answers and suggestions to my questions on this networking group. The group interprets itself as "School 2.0 goes beyond the practical discussion of applying the read/write and collaborative Web technologies in the classroom. It is, instead, a larger discussions of how education, learning, and our physical school spaces can (or should) change because of the changing nature of our social and economic lives brought on by these technologies." Only if you find your identity, esteem, and interest in this area, can you do better in further discovery and dedicate yourself to the career you love.