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Love this video from John Seely Brown about embracing change and the secrets to 21st c. learning. It is very worthwhile, and could be very valuable for sharing with educators and inspiring conversation about its implications.
Two main messages predominate, the same two featured in his wonderful book, A New Culture of Learning.
1. Developing mastery is an iterative process, of playing, messing around, experimenting, assessing progress and adjusting all along the way. Brown shares this in his case study of surfers– experimenting, observing, reflecting, improving.
“Tinkering brings thought and action together in some very magical and powerful ways.”
2. The network is alive with the ability to support learning. Any passion a kid has can be supported by joining a network, a community of practice, of those who share your passion. Most learning happens when we indwell in a community and network of shared passion. “Maybe the learning has to do with learning how to join. Learning is something you do consciously but something you absorb, after joining the community of practice.”
Now through digital media is enhancing the ability of surfers to share their innovations and, within 48 hours, surfers around the world are aware these developments and then building on them in turn. But not just surfers– you can find this in every field of human endeavor.
This part of Brown’s discussion is very much aligned with one of my very favorite TED talks in the past few years, Chris Anderson’s talk on Crowd Accelerated Innovation.
Fast-changing times demand we keep learning all the time, and by our ability and willingness to tinker and the power of networks, we can do so better and better.
21k12 
October 5, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Such a timely post. I’m working with teachers on understanding the Australia teacher standards framework – which can be a bit confining. What we REALLY want is for teachers to see those as minimum standards and think big.
October 14, 2015 at 4:30 am
Mr. Brown makes some very interesting ponits that reminded me a of a few things. First, the idea that imagination take center stage reminds me of Children’s Engineering. Children’s Engineering is all about letting the students create the products that will work within a set of prescribed requirements. The students work in teams and are guided only by the teacher when it seems they need a little push. The product creation and plan implementation is all based on the students’ ideas. I believe this works very well in science and engineering, but can create confusion when implemented in other content areas.Second, the idea Mr. Brown proses that we learn in public reminds me of this exact paragraph I am typing right now. I am learning by openly expressing new knowledge I gain through this blog and others. The idea that my knowledge is out there to be critiqued by others seems a little scary at first, but I know it will be something I embrace as time goes on.