In his 2012
Ted Talk on the “4 principles of an open world”, Tapscott describes openness as
a word that ‘denotes opportunity and possibilities’. Further, he discusses how
the technology revolution is opening up the world in the way people collaborate
and share information, the transparency of the way organizations interact in
the global community and the empowerment that comes from the distribution of
knowledge in a connected world. The evolution of the Internet and the role of
technology in society have created a global information community, unlike
anything experienced by human society in the past. People are connecting across
the world, sharing information, ideas, collaborating. Where once access to
knowledge was the privilege of those who could read and had access to the
printed world, now knowledge is accessible to anyone, used to create, solve
problems, innovate in socially connected, collaborative communities. Tapscott
describes this global connectiveness as a way of shedding light into areas that
before have only known darkness.
So what does
this mean for schools and in particular, the role of school libraries and
teacher librarians?
The future
direction of the 21st century school is one full of possibility and
challenge. The past two decades has seen the need for significant changes in
the way curriculum knowledge and skills are taught and the integration of
technology into the learning and teaching context. Tapscott discusses the
impact of the digital world as causing ‘a profound change in the deep structure
and architecture of organisations’ and this is inherently true of the
educational setting. As schools endeavor to meet the challenges of such
profound change, it is possible that the four principles discussed by Tapscott
- collaboration, transparency, sharing and empowerment can be applied by our
schools, teachers and librarians as a way of shining the light of this
technological revolution into the learning and teaching context.
Collaboration
There have
been significant mind shifts in the role of both classroom teachers and teacher
librarians. Teachers are no longer the holders of information, students no
longer the recipients of content and knowledge deemed important by the school
boards and curriculum associations. Teacher librarians are no longer the curators
of just a collection of print materials. Today’s educational environment
requires both classroom teachers and teacher librarians to look at how to use this
limitless access to information to build students capabilities to innovate,
create and engage with knowledge – to develop the students abilities to collaborate
in a digital world. Teacher librarians are an essential component for schools
to meet the needs of the students in a technologically connected world. They
are information specialists with the skills to create an information-rich
learning environment that supports both students and teachers in developing the
skills needed to succeed in an online environment. Through collaboration with
teachers and students, teacher librarians can teach students information search
strategies, develop inquiry-based learning skills, and create opportunities for
innovation, creation and engagement.
Transparency
Classrooms are
no longer isolated, stand alone communities of 1 teacher and 30 students. The
classroom extends beyond the four walls of the building, into learning
communities across the globe. There is an increasing obligation for
accountability of schools to be transparent
about the way teaching and learning occurs within their school. Classroom
teachers and teacher librarians must be able to demonstrate to all stakeholders
in the community how the school is actively teaching the necessary skills and
strategies for active participation in an online world. Tapscott refers to
transparency as a being a very good thing for it forces people to consider how
they are representing themselves within the global community – in particular
the values and integrity of the organization. For classroom teachers and
teacher librarians, it is imperative that they can be seen to be fostering
within the learning and teaching context an understanding of responsible
digital citizenship. Teacher librarians must include in the information
literacy skills they teach an understanding of credibility, accuracy and authenticity
of information. As ICT and library budgets increase (or decrease), it must be
transparent to the community how this impacts on the way students are taught,
how accessible the online world is to them, and the implications for the
teaching and learning context of the school. Classroom and libraries cannot be
isolated anymore – they must be open to scrutiny – daunting and scary as that
sounds, it is the only way to ensure students have the necessary teaching and
learning opportunities needed for participation in a globally networked
society.
Sharing
Teachers and
schools are learning innovative ways of connecting and networking together,
working to share knowledge and
intellectual property. Teachers are learning new ways of sharing knowledge with
students, developing student skills in searching for information, and using
that knowledge to create, build, innovate, develop skills for the 21st
century. The open world is a platform that provides endless opportunities for
enabling our students to feel empowered.
As Tapscott discusses, the internet allows people to be producers of knowledge
and ideas in an age of networked intelligence and promise.
Teacher librarians have the skills
to bring the online world into the school, building shared networked communities from the outside world that can be
used to contributed to the learning and teaching context within the school
environment. The 21st century school library is not a separate room
within the school, disconnected from the learning experiences of the students
and the sole domain of the teacher librarian.
As Tapscott
states ‘the world is opening up and it is a good thing’ (2012).
