On October 15th, 2007 Becky Kinney (not verified) says:
Yes, communication is evolving, but that may not be the important point. It is the rate at which communication is evolving that has the greatest impact on educators. I recently attended an admissions talk at Carnegie Mellon University, in which the speaker (whose name I don't recall) claimed that the breathing space between revolutionizing developments is decreasing exponentially. In very round numbers, here are the claims about watershed events: speech: 50,000 years ago - a breathing space of 45,000 years writing: 5,000 years ago - a breathing space of 4,500 years printing press: 500 years ago - a breathing space of 450 computers: 50 years ago - a breathing space of 45 Web 2.0: 5 years ago Now, we might quibble about the numbers or the events chosen, and in fact communication per se was not the primary focus of the talk. However, the main point is, I think, salient. That is, the rate at which watershed events occurs has increased to the point where it is impossible to train an individual in the use of existing tools for thought (or modes of communication) and have any hope that that knowledge will stand him in good stead for the remainder of his life. This creates a crisis in education. By the time we are done talking about Web 2.0 and it's implications for education, the next big thing will already be happening. In the span of my lifetime, written communication has evolved from paper and pen delivered by the US Postal Service, to email, and on to IM/text messaging/wikis ... you name it. email did not kill snail mail entirely, and wikis have not (yet) been the death knoll of email, but it is clear that new modes of communication have emerged, and continue to emerge, at a frightening rate.
Yes, communication is
Yes, communication is evolving, but that may not be the important point. It is the rate at which communication is evolving that has the greatest impact on educators. I recently attended an admissions talk at Carnegie Mellon University, in which the speaker (whose name I don't recall) claimed that the breathing space between revolutionizing developments is decreasing exponentially. In very round numbers, here are the claims about watershed events: speech: 50,000 years ago - a breathing space of 45,000 years writing: 5,000 years ago - a breathing space of 4,500 years printing press: 500 years ago - a breathing space of 450 computers: 50 years ago - a breathing space of 45 Web 2.0: 5 years ago Now, we might quibble about the numbers or the events chosen, and in fact communication per se was not the primary focus of the talk. However, the main point is, I think, salient. That is, the rate at which watershed events occurs has increased to the point where it is impossible to train an individual in the use of existing tools for thought (or modes of communication) and have any hope that that knowledge will stand him in good stead for the remainder of his life. This creates a crisis in education. By the time we are done talking about Web 2.0 and it's implications for education, the next big thing will already be happening. In the span of my lifetime, written communication has evolved from paper and pen delivered by the US Postal Service, to email, and on to IM/text messaging/wikis ... you name it. email did not kill snail mail entirely, and wikis have not (yet) been the death knoll of email, but it is clear that new modes of communication have emerged, and continue to emerge, at a frightening rate.