Memories from 2004

PASHN COPS TAPPED IN

No, not a lurid story for DIE, but the acronyms of three virtual communities online within Australia and the USA.

Meet the e-generation: a generation unlike others, linked not to a particular age cohort, but rather to the simple uniting forces of an overwhelming curiosity and the strong human need for love and belonging.  The e-generation is any age, and anywhere.

The e-generation, inextricably linked to internet technologies, have replaced the baby boomer linear relay model of life with a new paradigm: the world wide web. For the e-generation there’s a range of possible routes to get to a destination and an horizon of possibility disappearing into the distance. From the eighties, and mobile phones the size of a small sports bag, to the plethora of gadgetry available today, the e-generation has come to regard very little as impossible, given a combination of will, ability and resources

Luckily, we have realised recently that we need to add to the mix of will, ability and resources a key ingredient : intelligent relationships.

A product of emotional intelligence, intelligent relationships help satisfy our need for affiliation, and, in so doing, deliver better outcomes for all. The “web-way,” which allows people to get to similar places without competing for a route is rich with possibilities, if disturbing to the control freaks. Like any generation, the e-generation has taken time to grow up and decide just what it wants to do. It can happily be reported, however, that huge numbers of the e-generation are tapping in to new ways of affiliation, developing trust and learning communities online.

TAPPING IN is an “Online campus for educators to meet, mentor, talk, develop,” (www.philly.com)
PASHN is the Principals’ Association Self Help Network, a listserv of the NSW Primary Principals’ Association  “Like having a conference every day.”(www.nswppa.org.au)
COPS are Communities of Practice, set up by TAFE NSW as part of their online Professional Learning Network. (intranet only service

Will they become the clubs of the of the 21^st century: giving us something to belong to ?

First Published in Directions in Education (DIE) – ACEL