Students of the 21st century have the opportunity to be more than just consumers of information. In a keynote address by Alan November in 2006, I recall him emphasizing that students need to be contributors now.
It used to be that most people didn’t have easy access to publishing. With the internet and desktop publishing, students can share the information they create.
Web2.0 is focused around the web being read and write. Everyone can contribute to the resources that anyone worldwide can access. There are many examples where students can create knowledge that they didn’t read in a book. One youth combined a Chicago crime database with google maps to identify crime in Chicago. This information was never displayed this way before.
I believe it is critical that students be given permission and the tools to be creators of knowledge. Learning is much more relevant when it is personally engaging and students can feel the joy of discovery themselves.
We identify the following three aspects of being a Creator of Information.
Documents
Creative works
Creating new knowledge
I am excited to consider what my own daughters will do as creators of information. At four and six years old, they have both created movies telling their stories about their my little ponies. They were able to tell their story and then we published it on my website and in youtube.com. They are both proud producers.
(Image from http://www.hetemeel.com/einsteinform.php)
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