When I go to a conference I always pull out my Pocket PC and attempt to look industrious and scholarly – by pretending to take notes. In fact sometimes I am doing just that – taking notes to go back to later. A lot of the time though I’m online checking up references and finding people’s websites, looking for their handouts or back-up material. I don’t manage disconnection very well and I’m not good at being linear. I wouldn’t call myself a digital native but I do think I’m pretty good at speaking the lingo.
What I’m working on is this idea of connected learning. We need to get to a point where learners aren’t afraid to whip out their device (cellphone / PDA / laptop) and do that bit of sideways work. For some people it’s taking notes, others it might be sending a snippet to a friend or colleague. For some it might be immediately checking the reference. Is it any different to checking a book? Whispering to your friend?
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