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- [Narrator] Humming.

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Special thanks to Lee
LeFever of Common Craft

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for granting permission

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to use his brilliantly simple design.

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This, my friends is a true story.

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A student at 21st Century High School

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is studying American Psychology

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as part of his Contemporary Issues class.

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But, it could be any topic.

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He attends class three days
a week, two days online.

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He doesn't have a textbook.

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His teacher almost never lectures.

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She is a student of connectivism,

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a theory that presumes
that learning occurs

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as part of a social network

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of many diverse connections and ties.

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This network is made possible

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through various tools of technology.

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The tools themself are not as important

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as the connections made possible by them.

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This teacher empowers her
students to take control

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of their learning and make new connections

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with others who will strengthen
the learning process.

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Before our student embarks
on his learning adventure,

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he must spend some time building

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his personal learning network.

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He practices finding valid websites

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about the American psyche.

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He is taught how to assess
and validate information

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to ensure its credibility.

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He uses Google Scholar and
his school's library database

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to search for scholarly peer
reviewed articles on his topic.

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When he finds a website
or article that is worthy,

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he posts it to his
social bookmarking site,

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a place where people share URLs

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they have bookmarked on specific topics.

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He finds other people
who have bookmarked sites

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about the American psyche

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and he shares the sites he has found.

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Next, he searches for blogs
that others have written

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about the American psyche.

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He understands that blogs
often reflect opinions

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rather than cold hard facts.

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Based on what he has learned so far

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about the American psyche,

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he can choose to comment on these blogs

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and offer his own informed
point of view for discussion.

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In order to manage these blogs,

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he uses a reader to subscribe to them

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that way he can tell when
a blogger posts an update.

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Once our student builds a knowledge base,

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he creates his own blog
to post reflections

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about what he has learned.

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His classmates and virtually
anyone in the world

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can visit his blog and comment
on his informed opinions.

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21st Century student loves his MP3 player,

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but there's more on that
device than his favorite music.

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He subscribes to a number
of audio and video podcasts

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that support his learning through iTunes U

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he has access to thousands of courses

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recorded by actual professors
from Stanford, Yale,

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Cambridge, Open University
and countless others.

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In fact, he finds a lecture from a course

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called Social Psychology
offered at UC Berkeley.

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He literally has access to the
best professors in the world.

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While researching his topics,

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he stumbles upon a documentary
about the American psyche.

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A Dutch born Canadian immigrant filmmaker

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crosses America to interview
Americans about their homeland.

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Our student emails the filmmaker

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who agrees to video
conference with the class

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to discuss the documentary.

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By the way,

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our student knows a few
tricks for finding experts.

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He also knows that it never hurts to ask.

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People usually love to share
their knowledge and expertise,

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especially with students.

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As a few weeks pass,

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our student is busy reading
the up to the minute

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virtual textbook he has created

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in his social bookmarking
account and RSS reader.

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His learning project culminates

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in the creation of his choice.

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Perhaps a video he posts
to a video sharing site

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at American Psyche Wiki

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from which others can learn

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or a voice thread to
which others can comment.

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Regardless of the medium,

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he is sharing his
organization of this knowledge

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with the rest of the world

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so the next student of the American psyche

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can learn from his hard work.

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The 21st Century student network

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includes a wide range of connections.

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Each one a new learning opportunity.

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There's more to connected learning

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than what you see in this project.

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Think that it's just the beginning.

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Information management
will be a major challenge

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in the 21st century.

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RSS makes it possible
for anyone to subscribe

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to just about any changing
content on the internet.

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New synchronous communication tools

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are emerging nearly every day.

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All of these tools make it
easier for our student to connect

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with new contacts and learn effectively

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from those he already knows.

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So, why does he even
need a teacher you ask?

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Good question.

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She is the one who teaches
him how to build this network

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and take advantage of
learning opportunities.

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She offers guidance when he gets stuck,

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she shows him how to communicate properly

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and ask respectfully
for help from experts.

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She shows him how to differentiate

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between good information and propaganda,

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how to vet a resource,

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how to turn a web search
into a scavenger hunt

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and get excited when he
finds that Pearl of content.

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She helps him organize those
mountains of information.

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In her heart, she hopes that
when he leaves her class,

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he'll maintain his learning network

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and use it to navigate his future

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and creatively solve the world's problems.

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These are the skills he will
need in the 21st century.

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This has been a Connectivism Production.