Saturday, March 15, 2008

Comments: A Great Way to Test Ideas

Will Richardson's Weblogg-ed blog has to be the most widely read educator (or former educator) blog in the blogosphere. So when he rants on a topic, you can pretty much guarantee that after clicking the comment link, the discussion you see will be rich.

I've taken an interest in 21st Century learning this year so his recent post on 21st Century skills for educators sparked my interest. As usual, the content of his post was thought-provoking, but the comments of the folks around the world who put in their 2-cents worth are just as enlightening. On a blog like this, with such a large number of readers, adding your opinion to the discussion becomes a great way to test your ideas. Throw out an idea and see if anyone reacts; if you're lucky, someone will affirm your belief or, even better, push back with something that makes you rethink your position. Heck, even if you never leave a comment, but have a definite opinion on the topic, your bound to find something while reading over the dozens of comments that can help you form a more complete opinion. By the way, I simply read the comments without contributing.

Having access to this community of educators, discussing and debating important topics, is extremely exciting. If only we could replicate this kind of dialogue with our students!

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