My Top Ten List from CoSN

With the keynote from Clay Christensen and Michael Horn still to come in a few hours, I decided to write a synopsis of what I have learned / gained / validated at CoSN so far.  These are in no particular order.

1. Being a learner is better than being an expert.  Webster defines expert as a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field.  On the other hand a learner is someone who gains knowledge, comprehension, or mastery of through experience or study.  The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
2. When looking at technology goals, students should be producers of information not recipients of information.
3. We can have all the technology in the world and if we do not change pedagogy our schools will not be transformed.  Revolution does not happen when society adopts new technology, it happens when society adapts new behavior.
4. Right now there is a difference between how students learn and live with regards to technology.  We must work to close this gap.
5. We need to strive to move formal learning to informal and informal learning to formal.  This is an interesting concept when you really sit back and reflect on it.
6. We need to focus on how web 2.0 can be used to effect systemic change in schools and not focus so much on web 2.0 as a tool itself.
7. Any serious technology generates both negative and positive consequences.
8. You can learn a lot from doing.  I have gone from a one time "tweeter" to a big Twitter fan.  My conference experience was greatly enhanced by this web 2.0 technology and I would not have learned as much if it were not for my new found on-line colleagues.  The tool is great, the collaboration it fosters is transforming.
9. The Generation Lap - It is not so much of a gap as it is the fact that students are lapping us in terms of technology use.  It is not that we do not use the same tools, but the students figure out ways to use them faster and better than us.
10. Back to learning, we are in a knowledge economy.  In the past there was institutions of learning and institutions of work.  In today's world you have to reinvent yourself constantly and learn always.

One other side note is that this has been a validating conference in the sense that I know that our organization is on the right track, we have a big vision and that we are willing to take risks.  It is certainly an exciting time to be an educator.