There are many “buzz” words in education; filtering, understanding, and implementing concepts can seem overwhelming. Many questions arise. Why does it matter? Where do I start? What will this mean for my students? So I focused on one concept: building a community. This is one way my classroom developed their sense of community.
A few words from the “Kid President”
…. (My “hook” to my students)
Why does it matter? Building a community within and outside of the classroom focuses deeply on the implications and actions of the story it tells to others. I remember a student once proclaiming,” You must live at school, its your home!” That student was 5 years old at the time and those seemingly innocent comments made me think. How can we transform our classroom into a community? “In other words, interaction enables people to build communities, to commit themselves to each other, and to knit the social fabric (Beem 1999: 20).”
Where do I start?
(Setting: Special Education Classroom 2013-14 school year, students k-1)
I started by asking two questions.
What do you want from your teacher?
What do you want from your school?
I looked at them and they looked at me and after several minutes.
“I want friends,” said one student.
“I want to be with them,” said another.
. They were looking for social autonomy, social acceptance, and to build their own community. The need for community is evident, clearly important, and an essential component of success in school.
As a classroom we set expectations:
Students:
Respect for one another. This meant students understood we all have our own need to express ourselves, share ideas, and the right to react differently. We did not all have to be the same. Instead we celebrated and encouraged free thinking, differences, and others success.
We succeeded together and failed together.
We brought our individual talents together and showcased them individually as well.
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My Role: “Coach”
Provide experiences for them to grow as individuals
Show them how to fail; how to react to failure and use it to succeed
Use their interdependence to collaborate and grow academically and socially
Then we overhauled the classroom. We sat down as a group and I asked them to show me how they wanted to learn. I gave them guidelines: we have to be able to see the projector, avoid placing tables near the sink, and we need to be able to see one another. From there they created a learning environment they wanted. We developed our own identity as a classroom. They created a wall of our pets. A dedicated space they could go to when they needed space and see from afar. They wanted deep connections they could see. It was a special place they went to “turn it around,” think, and connect. Soon our idea of community spread to other students their age. Every morning a few students would come by and visit our wall dedicated to animals. Making comments, laughing, and at times bringing their own photos as a contribution. It became a focal point of our room that symbolized their way of connecting to their community. By the end of the year they had accomplished their goals of connecting and making friends.
A multicultural effort on showing how the world could become better. This blog is an example of multi-cultural author collaboration. This world that we live in is divided into different continents and countries. We still can make it as a better world, by finding areas of common interest among ourselves as humans, as well as sharing our knowledge about what could be done for a better world.
Actually (06 November 2010) we are present authors of Egypt, Luxembourg, Australia, United States, Switzerland, India and Italy, awaiting soon more countries to join in.
The authors are not “dreamers”, they have a “realistic thinking” background, they know that this world can not be changed in a short time, but they want to share their ideas and Tips to make it move forward…
This article was a knol created on November 02, 2010 and was migrated to WP on December 29, 2011.
Authors are trying on their best to present content which is accepted in any culture, that is why it is a Multi-cultural Blog. If you, dear reader would find something which you think is hurting you, or this could happen, so please let us know and we will try to clarify it… We don’t want to harm anybody, but it could be possible that we publish(ed) something without knowing that it could be not well accepted by some cultures. We are humans and trying to present something useful, so please if you find it not acceptable, just let us know and we will take care of it.. Thank you very much and we hope you enjoy it.. 🙂
Welcome To Our Readers
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[GM]: Good manners, such as greeting somebody (Hello, Hi…) also and especially on Internet (on Internet it is disappearing almost), saying “Thank you” to somebody and “please” are “keywords” for showing “Respect” to each other.
In my country (Luxembourg) we even say that those words are the “keys” that open all the doors…
Different authors with different cultures are trying to meet and share their knowledge on a Blog tobreak out the distances among themselves. Most of the authors present here have an educational and/or medical knowledge background and are using this knowledge to give you, dear readers, aguideline, an impulse for thinking on ithow it could be, when wished so…
In this blog we will try to give as much as possible guidelines about what we authors present here think what could be done for a better world and also we will show on this knol how it could possible be realized by using ICT and Education as possibilities…
We are not “dreamers“, we have a “realistic thinking” background, we know that this world can not be changed in a Century Time, but we want to share our ideas and Tips to make it move forward…
If you, dear reader and/or knol author, have the same mentality, please let us know it by a comment.
Thanks to do so, you will be welcome 😉
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When I do something for other people, I feel good, “says Peterson“. When you do something voluntarily for others, not only for its own interests, it is rewarded. In some mysterious way, serve as an “altruistic” (the opposite of selfishness) gives his own life more important. It seems that nature have put it in our genes, or that people are happy when they have the spirit of sharing, community spirit.
So, dear readers, make yourself feeling good and share this knol (unit of knowledge) with other people, thanks in advance 😉
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Introduction
We are living in exceptional times.Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth’s climate.
There are multiple ways existing already to make this World better, to let you know what could be done authors of this knol have created different sections to show you what exactly is existing, such as:
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Alternative Energies for a better world
New Architecture Technologies for a better world
Science for a better world
Traditional medecine for a better world
Sharing our knowledge for a better world
Multicultural Events
New Knowledge in Psychology, the positive thinking
Education for a better world
Generation Exchange for a better world
Helping The Poor to take part of the already present knowledge
Financing with MicroCredits to give opportunity to learn
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PS: Give your brain a kick and start thinking on how yourself can contribute to a better world, the solutions are described here in this blog 😉
Some wise words:
With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world. Dalai Lama
By developing a sense of concern for others’ well-being, then no matter what others’ attitudes are, you can keep inner peace. Dalai Lama
What Is Multicultural???
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What is multicultural??? It is like a rainbow, lots of different colors and most lots of different mentalities, different ways to see the same things…
This blog tries to show the common things for everybody with different mentalities but with the same goal “For A Better World” and I am sure we will be able to find a common point of interest and also a common point of on how to change things 😉
The World, Our Home, Let Us Preserve It…
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This video is a must to watch it: We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth’s climate.
The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.
For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film.
—> HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet. <—
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
For Education: This is the BEST video ever made to explain what our World is, it takes 1h33 minutes, so prepare your courses in advance considering the time of the video… But it is worth to show your students this video and later on the other videos who are shown in the section below. After watching these videos, try to make a “Question and Answer” session together with your students and learners, a need…
Me profiting from when I help other people, it is me who gives something and not the other person???” Such may be your thinking, but…There are new ways in Psychology who are describing this very well such as:
Barbara FREDRICKSON: Her main work is related to her broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, which suggests that positive emotions lead to novel, expansive, or exploratory behavior, and that, over time, these actions lead to meaningful, long-term resources such as knowledge and social relation ships.
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When I do something for other people, I feel good, “says Peterson“. When you do something voluntarily for others, not only for its own interests, it is rewarded. In some mysterious way, serve as an “altruistic” (the opposite of selfishness) gives his own life more important. It seems that nature have put it in our genes, or that people are happy when they have the spirit of sharing, community spirit.
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When I am happy and talking to other persons so my positive karma is going over to other persons as well and they will learn also to become happy (without taking drugs) and happy persons are more open minded and constructive thinking as well. Constructive thinking means also doing and/or creating something new related to new acquired knowledge and sharing this new acquired knowledge again makes things move forward, a positive step who will get amplified by other people following that same good mentality…
By sharing our knowledge, like we authors do here, people will know what happens with the world, what could be done to help for a better world and also how people can come together by respecting each other. The Sharing Of Knowledge over the Internet has the Power of 24/24 hours availability and the information could get read where ever, Internet connexion provided…
Krishan Maggon: Before World War II, medicine was mostly traditional all over the world except few drugs like aspirin, insulin and few vaccines. Advanced in medicine and science and imaging have contributed to the resurgence of modern medicine in most of the Western and developed world.
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Lack of health care insurance in developing and poor countries and the high cost of modern medicine has made it out of reach for over 70% of global population. Thus over 5 billion persons in our world rely mainly on the traditional system of medicines like the Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, Shaman, Persian, Arab, African/Asian/local tribal medicine men, phytotherapy, homeopathy and a diverse variety of remedies, cures and treatments. These cures are often derived from nearby forests or local resources. The early practitioners of traditional medicine were saints, community leaders or learned scholars and were recognized as well wishers of the society. This tradition still continues in rural communities, where traditional medicine men are sought after for health care and general social problems of the family.
The main ethical issue in poor communities and populations today is how to deliver modern healthcare and make it accessible to all. It is a moral dilemma that even over 60 years after the foundation of WHO, the world is not able to educate all its children or provide an efficient health care to the poor sections of its population or eliminate misery and poverty.
The cost of traditional medicine is much lower, it is closer to the community, and patients get personal attention or the healing touch of the practitioner who speaks the same language. Traditional medicine until a few decades ago has never been practiced as a commercial service like modern medicine and patients pay according to their ability and financial status. The World Health Organization has recommended for the incorporation of the traditional systems of medicine for communities where it is accepted, into the primary health care system. Although traditional medicine did not learn from the rest of the world or incorporate modern ideas from science and medicine, there is no reason for modern medicine to ignore traditional systems of medicines. These systems must be reinterpreted in the light of our new knowledge and incorporated in modern medicine along with other forms of traditional medicine.
New anticancer drugs in development offer us the possibility of dramatic and complete cure for Metastatic melanoma.
The story of the 2 new wonder drugs Ipilimumab and BRAF inhibitor PLX 4032 have been extensively covered in the media.
New drugs acting on the nerve growth factors NGF offer us the real possibility of relief from chronic pain for 1-2 months with a single injection. In addition, these drugs are non addictive and free from liver, kidney and gastrointestinal adverse drug reactions of current analgesics.
The central role of beta amyloid protein in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease has highlighted its role in memory loss and cognitive functions. New drugs aimed at beta amyloid protein may slow, stop or even reverse degrading cognitive function and memory loss.
Education, if well managed can do a lot for a better world. The teaching system (worldwide) should teaching more about sensibleness of nature and social conflicts, not only the basics what is already on the teaching schedule, more teaching of sensibleness how humans are destroying our planet, trying to make learners sensible to the planet problems…
What is Education already doing for a better world??? There is a worldwide Student Exchange Programfor cultural understanding existing as well as a special Concept of knowledge sharing from the European Commission, called “COMENIUS“, please watch here “Comenius“. Other possibilities from the European Commission could get found here “Education & Training“.
Education should be FREE for everybody worldwide, there is already something happening, not known by most of the people, have a look here please “Khan Academy“. Khan (The Founder) intends nothing less than “tens of thousands” of tutorials offering the “first free, world-class virtual school where anyone can learn anything.” Have a look on here as well, please: Bill Gates’ favorite teacher
Youth is the future anyway, so Education to Youth with their own actions should be promoted, the European Commission is doing so as a lot of other worldwide known organizations such as:
Generation Exchange / Café des âges / Dialogue Café
.In collaboration with the Alliance of Civilizations, CISCO launched Dialogue Café at the Istanbul Forum. The project is based on a radical but simple idea: ordinary people have more in common than not and given the opportunity will explore their common interests even across radical geo-political divides.
Dialogue Café links diverse groups of citizens from around the world through third generation video-conferencing technology, thereby creating a new space for social innovation and exponentially expanding our ability to solve problems and innovate as a global community. Dialogue Café’s development is being supported by an international multi-sector consortium of partners, enabled by cutting-edge technology, and most importantly is driven by ordinary people.
The Café proof of concept will commmence with preparations for pilot cafes in New York, London, Istanbul and the Middle East.
In the French Speaking Community there are already similar activities running, those cafés are called “Café des âges“, places where young and older generation come together around a good drink and where they are discussing about a “daily chosen” theme.
One of those themes is as example (we published it already here): “Music, A Link Between Generations?“.
ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) has a wide impact for a better world as the whole knowledge of mankind (when present on Internet) could get used to share it (when Internet connexion provided, what is not the case in all countries). When we use the word “World“, we are talking about the “World in the 21th Century“, thus meaning that we have also to consider Internet being part of our world as both are interacting…
So as most of you know probably, Internet is like a trap when people are not aware about the dangers and the security. Security is a must on our days, we need to protect our computers and also we need some special tools to know if the web sites we are visiting are secure. One of those tools is WOT (World Of Trust)…
WOT, protect yourself from online scams, sites with adult content, spam and other Internet threats. The Wot community has rated millions of websites so you can search, shop online and surf for fun without worrying.
Un homme averti en vaut deux (FR) / Gefahr erkannt ist Gefahr gebannt (DE) / Forewarned is Forearmed (EN)
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First of all, Internet must be present in any country of the world, as also a good broadband of Internet services, below you will see the last report from Cisco about “The World’s Broadband Leaders in 2010“, who gives you an overview on how “bad” certain countries still are, there is still a lot of work to do to give customers in certain countries the possibility to use Internet…
Our planet is in danger.The film below is about architecture that cares about nature, about people and about our future. 10 world famous architects share both their vision and solutions on sustainable building. It’s called also Green architects or sustainable architecture.
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Alternative Energies For A Better World
Our planet is in danger.The films below are proposed solutions to use energy on alternative ways…
Fair Trade Labelling And Rainforest Alliance / Coffee
Why fore “Coffee” here as part of a better World??? “Coffee” stays here for “relaxing“, “tasting“, “taking part of social life” by drinking “Coffee” together with other people, which is also “harmony”. By buying also only Coffee from small companies “Fair Trade” and/or Rainforest Alliance you will help to survive small earning people and not only sponsoring the Big Concerns…
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“Fair Trade“: “Tackling Poverty And Empowering Producers Through Trade“
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FLO is a group of 24 organizations working to secure a better deal for producers. They own the FAIRTRADE Mark – the product label that certifies international Fairtrade standards have been met.
Rainforest Alliance: The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversityand ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.
Our Existence Depends On Managing The Earth Resources
Pic. by P V Ariel
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In the modern world of ours even the authorities are chopping down the trees in the name of development. This knol pin points the great damage we are causing to the very existence of human beings by cutting down trees around the world.
Music As A Link For Multicultural And Generations Living Together
Music is a very good possibility for sharing feelings and for showing also the taste of different generations and nationalities. But it is not only the music, people forget much often to understand also the lyrics. So when listening to a music video why not searching to find the same with lyrics.
By understanding the meaning behind a song (Music and Lyrics), it is possible to feel how a generation and a culture is thinking. By organizing Multi Cultural Music Festivals in a country, this allows to bring together different cultures…
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What are other countries listening for music??? The Charts of different countries… coming soon…
To understand better each others mentality it is good to know the news of each country and/or continent, here below some news around the world. These News are automatically actualized 24/24 hours… So, come back often to watch…
Icons used in this knol are Open Source (Freeware) and are part of “Open ClipArt” and the Flag Icons used above are from “Flag source: http://www.printableworldflags.com/“. If you like those flags and you would like to use them also, so once on that web site, click on “Icons”, you would have the choice from different sizes. My choice here was 24×24 pixels.
International Food, Eating and Hunger In The World…
International Food, why fore is this section in here, sounds strange to me??? Answer: by knowing what other people are eating and also their habits on how they are eating we could understand a bit more about their lifestyle and their mentality as well as their social status…
Eating is a must for every human isn’t it??? And by eating different dishes from different cultures we are knowing a bit more about other cultures isn’t it??? By creating exhibitions about international food we are creating places where multicultural people are meeting to know each other better, isn’t it so???
Aware of the issues represented by the Greater Region in the economic development of the catering sector, EXPOGAST is located in Luxembourg, the business heart of the region. The opportunities offered by the international dimension of Luxembourg, Belgium, France and Germany are enhanced by the specific features of Luxembourg where 44.66% (1) of residents are foreign, expecting the highest added value to be offered, but demonstrating the particularly high level of loyalty among traditional Luxembourg visitors.
The social criteria of current and potential visitors to EXPOGAST: the international community, multiculturalism, multilingual skills and a high purchasing power are some of the factors favouring the economic development of gastronomy, culturally embedded in custom and usage.
Visit this link, please to understand more about it: EXPOGAST and the Best Link here ONT-LUXEMBOURG. 51 nations are present…more than 2,300 cooks from 5 continents…
Café des âges (First Café in Luxembourg on 12.11.2010)
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This bazar exists since 50 ears (2010) and counted 49 nations in 2008… On December 4th and 5th 2010 more than 30,000 peoplewill visit the 50th International Bazaar…
International Bazar in Luxembourg (EN) —> This bazar exists since 50 ears (2010) and counted 49 nations in 2008… On December 4th and 5th 2010 more than 30,000 peoplewill visit the 50th International Bazaar…
When working together as a Team with multicultural authors it is good to know more about the countries and the mentality of those countries. Also what are the origines, the roots of the people living there as well as the roots of the spoken language(s) of those countries.
Gust MEES: For not overloading this blog, I will present only short “keywords” about my country and I will present you knols where already those information are provided.
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The countries “Motto“:
‘Mir wölle bleiwe wat mir sin‘. It looks like German and Dutch, mixed together and means: ‘We want to stay what we are‘.
The roots of the people are Celtic and the spoken language is Luxembourgish, while the administrative languages are French and German.The newspapers are mostly written in at least three languages, Luxembourgish, French and German with sometimes also English…
Living myself in a country (Luxembourg) where there are living about 44% (2010) people from different nationalities, even that Foreigners could outnumber Lux nationals by 2020. It is the highest proportion of foreigners of any EU country, so I am used to it, living with different mentalities, but others probably not…
Luxembourg is situated in the heart of Europe and bordered by France, Belgium and Germany. In 2009 the abroad (frontier runners) working people in Luxembourg by per cent was 43% from the total working people in Luxembourg. From those 43% were 49,4% French people, 25,4% Belgium people and 25,1% from Germany. More information here in French: les frontaliers.lu
Related knols and links:
Portail Luxembourg(FR) Link is broken due to that Knol discontinued on May 1, 2012. Will get replaced later…
Luxembourg Portal(EN) Link is broken due to that Knol discontinued on May 1, 2012. Will get replaced later…
Possible Problems When Working Together With Different Nationalities…
We will try here to explain what could happen when authors of different nationalities and mentalities are working together and/or meeting on comments-section… As I don’t have yet prepared an English text for it, please have meanwhile a look on my knol in French, below:
As Knol discontinued on May 1,2012 the proposed links of knols don’t work anymore! One day there will be new links proposed once the migration of these knols are done to WordPress…
What Could Be Done For Sensibility About Planet Earth Problems???
Education can play a big role to sensibilize students about the problems of our planet by teaching learners and students about reality…
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Online games such as explained in the videos side could also help a lot for that people realize the present danger…
Humor is internationally accepted and understood… With humor things who normally would never get accepted could get accepted by the way of laughing about each other (very important)!
Humor makes it much more easy to bring people on a “win-win” situation, thus meaning (as example): somebody tells a joke about the country of his “conversation partner” and the other one replies also with a joke about the other ones “conversation partner” country. So at least they have “fought” on a social and peaceful wise, which is normally accepted and when there are good (peaceful) characters this could even help to build up a friendship 😉
Authors Point Of View On How To Realize A Better World
Ibrahim H. Hussney: In the world of managing and developing businesses; you need always to be near from the facts and working with the reality, the necessary existence of these two principals in the mind are for the sake of the business itself and also help not to lose the thread of the correct ways needed for developing its management, The question which may jump to your mind now, are you able alone to see this reality?. And if so; for what extend you can?
For a Better World, you need to work within a team considering yourself like a part of a bigger system, nowadays you are not able to isolate yourself and working everything alone, performing what we called “One Man Show” became not feasible anymore, twenty eyes can see better than two, also twenty eyes can see much more details and touch much of the realities especially when we talk about those what are hidden away from the only two eyes.
Five tools you need to dominate in order to develop your talent of Seeing Reality Through Other’s Eyes, so you need to go through:
a-Establishing more relationships for widening and supporting your ideas.
b-Go for more conversations and brainstorming to determine the future shape.
c-Suspending your assumptions for a while and think systemically.
d-Balancing between advocacy and inquiry while implementing new policy.
e-Open your mind, heart and teach yourself the philosophy of keep moving to see new people and places.
More relationships mean more people to know, mean more ideas to discover, mean more opportunities to discipline your own ideas and mean finally to get the necessary support for these ideas.
More conversations and brainstorming to be involved with, mean to become more near to discover the better shape for the future you are looking for yourself and for your society; hence for the whole world.
Try to suspend your assumptions for a while which always pushing you, change your thinking style from linearity to non-linearity or in spite you are always logic in your thinking you need also some creativity to express. The best is to balance between both styles.
Never adhere yourself always to advocate your new policy; train yourself to inquire for more and more details, such behavior certainly will develop your ideas and support your advocacy at the end of the day, helping in implementing your new policy smoothly; also balancing between both issues is always required.
Open your mind, your heart; open all of your possible windows to learn and to know whatever is new and all whatever may help in achieving your goals; train yourself to adapt the philosophy of keep moving, that will help your talent of discovering things via visiting the new places and knowing new people and cultures.
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If you succeed in accomplishing these few missions, finally you are the one who become able to establish your own better world and sharing with the better world of the others.
So, after having published that much in here in this blog, what is the most important???
Gust MEES: We are ALL humans, wherever we are living, whatever our social status is, whatever our education is, whatever our religion is, whatever our character is, whatever our opinion is, whatever our ethics are, whatever our ethnics are. Acting as a human means also sharing our knowledge to ALL the people (not necessary on a commercial way)…
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Think on that and react on a “win-win” situation when talking (also comment on Internet) to other people, please.
Think “Constructive” and not “Destructive”.
TOGETHER we build a better world, if wished so…
Ever thought about this??? Animals don’t destroy what is under their feet, but what are human people doing??? Humans (we, us) are destroying everything what is under our feet, and even in the space already now also. Is this serious???
Tolerance
Be tolerant with other people, try to understand them…
Share your knowledge with other persons, use Social Media, it is FREE…
Try to contact your local radio stations and TV channels to propose reporting about Hunger in the world…
This FREE HTML-Code from ENTHEOSWEB
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Ever thought to join in for helping to make a better world??? “L’union fait la force” (FR), “United We Stand“!!! (EN)
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Final Word
If this blog makes you think and your grey cells are getting activated, so that your filter situated between your two ears (your brain) starts to get more activities as usual, than we as authors are very happy. Thus meaning that our message(s) made move something. Feel free to leave a constructive message and why not, if interested to join in, let us know please…
Le 2 septembre 1969 le professeur Len Kleinrock de l’UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) et son équipe, avec deux étudiants, Stephen Crocker et Vinton Cerf, parvenaient à échanger quelques données entre deux gros ordinateurs reliés par un câble de 4,5 mètres. Ce premier essai est généralement considéré comme l’événement fondateur d’Arpanet, réseau à l’origine de l’Internet quelques années plus tard. Le 17 décembre 1997, j’ai envoyé mon premier mail en Pologne et en utilisant pour la première fois Internet, j’ai saisi toute la révolution qui s’annonçait. Un grand pas pour pouvoir se connecter aux quatre coins de la planète et procéder à une nouvelle gestion des connaissances avec le numérique.
Dans cet article qui est un extrait de ma thèse de doctorat en science de l’information et de la communication, je rends hommage à l’oeuvre de Otlet qui est un précurseur d’Internet.
1. Une quête pour la construction des savoirs.
Déjà Jan Amos Komenský (dit Comenius) avait écrit La Grande didactique ou l’art universel de tout enseigner à tous (1627-1632) à travers des images. Un défi difficile à mettre en place pour une société des savoirs de l’époque limités aux livres. Dans cette quête vers la construction des savoirs accessibles à tout le monde, il est important de nous intéresser à Paul Otlet qui pour William Boyd Rayward et de nombreux chercheurs, en Europe et aux États-Unis, le reconnaissent comme l’un des précurseurs conceptuels d’Internet. Paul Otlet auteur du Traité de documentation (1935) avait imaginé le Mundaneum comme centre de la connaissance à son époque. Nous pouvons nous arrêter sur quelques croquis et schémas d’Otlet pour comprendre ce qu’il avait imaginé à l’époque pour « traiter la documentation ».1Otlet avait imaginé le Mundaneum qui devait être le centre mondial de la connaissance. William Boyd Rayward chercheur et professeur, intéressé par son projet a fait des recherches sur son œuvre et a réalisé un film accessible en ligne. On y voit des milliers de kilomètres de fiches, des boîtes, des schémas de codage pour traiter l’information. Si nous nous référons à ce film en archive libre, nous pouvons voir la collection des fiches « du monde » d’Otlet qui voulait classer le monde.2
Figure n °1 Paul Otlet, Traité de Documentation, 1934, p 419
Il a voulu transcrire sur fiches de 12,5 cm x 7,5 cm tous les livres parus dans toutes les langues et dans tous les pays. Son objectif était d’instaurer un système de classification décimale universelle qui permette de codifier les idées et les faits. Dans ce film, on apprend que douze millions de fiches ont été remplies au fil des années.
Photo : source Mundaneum
Dans son projet, il avait édifié une Cité Mondiale dédiée à la Connaissance dont les plans sont confiés à l’architecte Le Corbusier. Nous pouvons découvrir les grandes lignes de son œuvre dans le domaine de la documentation. Paul Otlet laisse derrière lui une documentation gigantesque et hétéroclite et des centaines de caisses non identifiées et des traces de son activité intellectuelle.
Figure n°2 : Paul Otlet, Traité de Documentation, 1934, p. 40
Figure n°3 : Paul Otlet, Traité de Documentation, 1934, p. 41
Vannevar Bush avait considéré Otlet comme le père d’Internet et de l’Hypertexte avec son article de 1945 intitulé « As we may think ». Le projet du Mundaneum y apparaît ainsi, à travers certaines intuitions de Paul Otlet, comme une préfiguration conceptuelle d’Internet : « Ici, la table de travail n’est plus chargée d’aucun livre. À leur place se dresse un écran et à portée un téléphone. Là-bas, au loin, dans un édifice immense, sont tous les livres et tous les renseignements. De là, on fait apparaître sur l’écran la page à lire pour connaître la question posée par téléphone. Un écran serait double, quadruple ou décuple s’il s’agissait de multiplier les textes et les documents à confronter simultanément ; il y aurait un haut-parleur si la vue devait être aidée par une donnée ouïe, si la vision devait être complétée par une audition. Utopie aujourd’hui, parce qu’elle n’existe encore nulle part, mais elle pourrait bien devenir la réalité pourvu que se perfectionnent encore nos méthodes et notre instrumentation. Et ce perfectionnement pourrait aller jusqu’à rendre automatique l’appel des documents sur l’écran, automatique aussi la projection consécutive… » (Otlet, 1934)1
Mais ce sont aussi les traits de Wikipedia, comme l’indique Benoît Peeters dans sa postface à l’ouvrage, que « Paul Otlet esquisse assez étonnamment, en visionnaire d’une machinerie pour le travail intellectuel, support d’une encyclopédie totale et collective ». Pour Paul Otlet, « Le travail de documentation se présente sous un triple aspect: il importe tout d’abord de collectionner et de classer méthodiquement tous les titres de ce qui a été écrit et publié dans les différents pays et aux diverses époques ; puis, l’oeuvre s’élargissant, il y a lieu de réduire en leurs éléments toutes les publications et tous les écrits et de les redistribuer pour en former des dossiers conçus comme les chapitres et les paragraphes d’un unique livre universel ; enfin, devant l’abondance des documents, le besoin s’impose de les résumer et d’en coordonner les matériaux en une Encyclopédie universelle et perpétuelle. Une telle encyclopédie, monument élevé à la pensée humaine et matérialisation graphique de toutes les sciences et de tous les arts est l’étape ultime. Elle aurait en fait pour collaborateurs tous les penseurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays ; elle serait la somme totale de l’effort intellectuel des siècles… ». (Paul Otlet, 1934)2
Quand on voit l’œuvre d’Otlet ( cf le film du scientifique), on voit qu’il s’est forcé à maîtriser l’information en la représentant. On peut découvrir son système de représentation de l’information dans lequel les symboles utilisés essaient de représenter des idées, des concepts, de préférence à des mots, dans une perspective de classification, de catégorisation, de mise en ordre, d’organisation. On y découvre aussi un début de code. Les tâches qu’il a définies sont : la collecte de l’information en bibliothèque, l’analyse puis le résumé descriptif, la redistribution systématique des données dans des fichiers ou des dossiers, le codage. Il invente des normes pour essayer de créer une base standard. Parallèlement, il développe des systèmes de recherche d’information. Les résultats des recherches sont copiés, mémorisés, conservés dans le Mundaneum avec la volonté de capitalisation des connaissances. Notons que le degré de généralité ou de spécificité de chaque question est déterminé par le contexte. Jo Link-Pezet s’est penchée sur l’organisation rationnelle que recommande Paul Otlet. Elle constate qu’il « dénonce la tendance, regrettable selon lui, à diviser le centre et à éparpiller les fragments en différents endroits en la diffusant du centre vers la périphérie : mirage de la connaissance totale, vue comme un corps actif d’opinions basé sur un entrepôt d’informations organisées pour favoriser la connaissance humaine.L’organisation du travail est basée sur la coopération de travailleurs individuels utilisant des standards de collecte et de traitement pour la création d’ensembles documentaires et leur gestion. Chaque publication scientifique fait l’objet d’un processus de division, de dissection. La base conceptuelle de ce travail repose sur l’enregistrement analytique, monographique, unique d’une unité d’écriture pour détacher (déconstruire) ce que le livre amalgame, pour réduire la complexité du contenu d’un ouvrage à des éléments séparés qui correspondent à la division intellectuelle des idées. L’idée de faciliter la consultation de l’information malgré les erreurs et les redondances prévaut, ainsi que l’intention de libérer ce qui a de la valeur en disséquant, en extrayant l’information. Ce travail énorme tend vers la création d’un livre universel par discipline afin de relier entre eux les différents matériaux qui existent dans les différents ouvrages et créer une encyclopédie « idéale » qui condenserait, synthétiserait, généraliserait toutes les données, pour ainsi permettre de relier la connaissance à l’action »1. Pour elle, « l’information est fondée sur l’interaction de deux éléments : l’organisation d’un système et des idées qui sous-tendent les documents, entre lesquels il définit des liens causaux et matériels ». Elle parle aussi « d’ ensembles de données reliées entre elles par des artefacts de gestion de l’information, de réseaux de communication savants ».
Par bien des aspects, le travail de visionnaire d’Otlet induit de nouveaux concepts qui sont toujours d’actualités: les technologies de l’information, les techniques de recherche d’information et les stratégies de recherche, l’émergence du sens à l’aide de tableaux et de cartographies pour représenter les aspects historiques, scientifiques et les grands thèmes. Otlet aurait ainsi mis à jour « les éléments invariants qui ont affecté la mise en mémoire de l’information dans les systèmes pour en gérer les accès ». Link-Pezet Jo note aussi ce qui peut être vecteur de sens dans les systèmes d’informations. « L’information mémorisée prend son sens dans un contexte précis qui renvoie au traitement qu’elle subit, ainsi qu’aux deux systèmes qui lui sont nécessaires pour s’actualiser (émetteur-récepteur). L’information est définie par son objet, mais aussi par ses modes de représentation. La question de l’organisation de l’information, du fonctionnement de cette organisation pour son usage est cruciale. C’est toute la question de l’organisation et des capacités d’apprentissage et d’adaptation tant de l’homme que des systèmes d’information, des machines intellectuelles qu’il a lui-même produites et qu’il utilise. Cela revient à se demander comment les choses se sont organisées, ont évolué, se sont complexifiées par le jeu même de leurs interactions réciproques ».
Comme le précise Nauroy Dominique dans sa note de lecture sur l’ouvrage de Brigitte Juanals (2005), « comparé au projet de Diderot qui consistait à réunir la somme de tous les savoirs, l’internet se présente aujourd’hui comme le moyen permettant, grâce aux capacités de stockage d’immenses bases de données numérisées en interconnexion, de réaliser ce rêve utopique et encyclopédique d’une démocratie cognitive, pour un accès universel aux savoirs. Le nombre des bénéficiaires effectifs de la connaissance s’élargit de manière presque infinie. Mais cette démocratisation de l’accès aux données cache en vérité le fait que, plus que jamais, il convient d’être éduqué à la base pour être capable de juger de la pertinence d’une information et de sa source ».1
L’œuvre d’Otlet nous a permis de découvrir sa vision avant-gardiste d’Internet avec une volonté de représentation de la connaissance, pour qu’elle soit transportable, communicable. Otlet avait imaginé les téléphones, des écrans comme support et outils de médiatisation des connaissances, une documentation axée sur le monde.
1 Nauroy Dominique, 2005, Notes de lecture de l’ouvrage Juanals Brigitte, La culture de l’information. Du livre au numérique,Paris, Lavoisier/Hermès Sciences, 2003, 242 p. Revue Question de communication N°7
Le numérique et la production des connaissances
Le numérique a apporté des changements fondamentaux : une rupture, un remodelage du paysage éditorial où chaque personne peut façonner son univers informationnel. Néanmoins, l’utilisateur doit apprendre à interagir et son statut change. Le statut du texte écrit change en prenant une forme différente, avec une possibilité d’y ajouter des images et des sons à volonté, des liens hypertextes. La navigation devient plus plastique. Avec l’arrivée d’Internet, nous avons des fonctionnalités qui se rajoutent apportant des caractéristiques qui n’existaient pas avant. Les sciences de l’information et de la communication sont plus que jamais concernées par la mutation fondamentale qu’entraîne la mise en réseau des systèmes d’information et des mémoires numériques. Les TIC, technologies de l’information et de la communication, par leur puissance de traitement, par les moyens de communication, à un accès accru à l’information confrontent l’individu à une mémoire immense.
Maîtriser l’information en la représentant
Jo Link-Pezet analysé l’oeuvre de P. Otlet dans lequel un système de représentation de l’information repose sur des symboles alphanumériques utilisés pour représenter les idées, des concepts, de préférence à des mots, dans une perspective de classification, de catégorisation, d’organisation. Dans son traité de documentation, P. Otlet avait prévu des étapes : la collecte de l’information en bibliothèque, l’analyse et résumé, la redistribution systématique des données dans des fichiers ou des dossiers. Il invente un catalogue standard. Il met en place des systèmes d’information. Les résultats des recherches sont mémorisés pour capitaliser les connaissances. L’organisation du travail repose sur la coopération de travailleurs individuels utilisant les standards de collecte et de traitement pour la création d’une documentation. Ce travail énorme tend vers la création d’une encyclopédie universelle qui condenserait, généraliserait toutes les données, pour ainsi relier connaissance à l’action. L’oeuvre d’Otlet a été visionnaire en introduisant de nouveaux concepts qui sont toujours d’actualité : mettre en mémoire l’information, mettre en place les techniques de recherche, gérer les accès.Dans ma thèse de doctorat, je fais le lien entre le Mundaneum inventé par P. Otlet et les potentialités offertes par le socialbookmarking, qui peut être en quelque sorte considéré comme un nouveau “Mundaneum” de la connaissance intégrant Internet, le numérique.
La pensée intellectuelle libérée ou explosée
Pierre Lévy, dans son ouvrage, évoque la “pratique sociale continue du savoir” comme “continuum vivant en constante métamorphose” qui affecte la production du savoir et l’accès au savoir, de façon dynamique et qui permet des transformations immédiates du texte initial : lecture, annotation; prise de note, renvoi à des sources conceptuellement voisines. Comme le précise Jo Link-Pezet, “le web et l’hypertexte nous permettent de créer des espaces de discussions et de rhétorique où s’expriment la conscience mutuelle que chacun a de l’existence d’autrui et de sa présence, une communauté et une complicité “.
Notre société de la connaissance, avec ces nouveaux paradigmes liés à l’usage du social-web nous incite à trouver les organisations d’un travail collectif autour d’un projet pour aboutir à la création et à la mise en oeuvre d’une véritable intelligence collective dans la perspective d’une société apprenante où le partage de connaissance et l’organisation du travail permettent de créer des connaissances collectives, de les mutualiser, ou les capitaliser pour mieux penser et agir.
Michèle Drechsler
18-02-2014
Thèse :
Drechsler, M. (2009). Thèse de doctorat en sciences de l’information et de la communication. Pratiques du socialbookmarking pour l’Éducation. Affordances sémantiques, socio-cognitives et formatives.
As a teacher in Australia, I first started my journey into social media at a conference where I was introduced to Edmodo, a global network for teachers and students. Through Edmodo I was able to break down the walls of our classroom and enable my students to communicate with students and their teachers all over the world. One of the most exciting things we did was join a multi-global group with classes from the U.S, China, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand. We discussed important issues, found out what we had in common and shared our projects with an authentic audience. The students loved it, and particularly loved the interaction and the feedback they would get from teachers and students in other parts of the world. Our school is in an isolated rural area, and this connection was extremely exciting and helpful in promoting global understanding for my students. Giving students the ability to connect on educational social media is just as important as making connections with other teachers is for me.
My next step into the world of social media for educators was to join twitter. As an older teacher, this was a big step for me, but it was a very positive one. Through twitter I was able to connect in real time with teachers from all parts of the world and have fascinating and informative discussions on an extraordinary range of educational topics. I now regularly participate in weekly discussions on twitter with other teachers. I have gained tremendous knowledge and amassed terrific resources and connections through twitter. I cannot recommend it enough to other teachers.
Yammer is another network I regularly participate in with other teachers from the Department of Education & Communities in NSW. Yammer has become an essential part of my professional development and also provides enormous inspiration to me as a teacher. I am able to ask a question on any technical or educational topic I could ever imagine, and almost immediately I receive wonderful advice, resources and support from other wonderful, collaborative teachers. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine such a treasure trove of educational support than I receive from my network on Yammer!
Blogging is another medium my students and I have used to connect with other classes online. My class kept their own blogs and posted their links to a multi-class group on Edmodo and received tremendous feedback, again learning so much about what goes on in other classrooms beyond the walls of our school.
Our students live in a world where social media is the norm, in terms of connecting with others. They need to practice and learn safe digital citizenship under our care so they can navigate the internet without danger. It is our duty of care to give them a safe online space where they can master these skills in preparation for both their present and future. We are negligent if we do not provide this opportunity and model the necessary skills and ethics they need to use online.
The game of Minecraft, which can be likened to digital lego in a virtual world, can also be a shared community for students. I setup a server so that my classes could all enter a Minecraft world together and help each other to build. We named this unit of work Respectful Relationships, and the students put together their own Charter of Rights for all to follow. This was an extremely engaging and exciting experience for the students. The most rewarding aspect of the unit was that it was the students who peer taught each other collaboratively. It was a truly wholistic, student centred learning activity.
It was wonderful to see students teaching each other how to build. In addition, some of my students joined in a weekly session on a minecraft server with students and teachers from other schools. We were all able to learn a great deal, problem solve and have fun doing so.
Social media comes in many forms now, but has become an essential part of my teaching practice and professional learning. My professional learning network has grown exponentially since my journey began in 2010.
It was already mentioned in my blog post ===> Authors Toolbox For Writing And Sharing <=== WHAT the tools are WE can use to to be sure that WE share ONLY stuff which is NOT infected withmalware. In this blog post WE go for deeper THINKING and WE will learn WHY WE SHOULD do so 😉
Cyber-Security And Privacy Knowledge As Skills In The 21st Century Are NOT Yet Enough Taught And Present, WHY!?
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Did YOU realize already that WE are living in the 21st Century and that WE nearly ALL are using the so called NEW TECHNOLOGIES, the internet, the smartphone(s), laptops, computers, tablets, household goods who are connected to the internet, and this on a daily base!? Did YOU ever started THINKING about such consequences concerning YOUR Privacy and vulnerability to Cyber-Security!? As far as I know, from practice while talking to people, most people are NOT as nobody has given them advice, NOR were they taught about it in schools, and there is the problem!
In the digital age, as WE are living NOW in it, WE MUST learn on a daily base to adapt to its very quick change! Education can’t follow with that as it is and was almost years behind… It needs to have a ===> RETHINK <=== to catch up!
SO… By knowing this and accepting it ALSO (the most difficult, BUT…) WE would be good advised for learning on a daily base to get the MOST out of necessary knowledge and skills to give OUR kids the BEST Education possible, an ===> Up-To-Date <=== knowledge, a knowledge who isn’t ONLY a cherry-picked knowledge, BUT a knowledge who includes ALSO Privacy and Cyber-Security as also skills!
The future is also that any device, even in the household, will be connected to the internet. It is called “The Internet Of Things” and as with any NEW technical stuff, it brings risks and vulnerabilities…
MOST of people don’t realize the importance of privacy, especially for Cyber-Security and Identity Theft, check the video below who explains very good, please.
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After watching the video YOU certainly are surprised and hopefully also willing to learn a bit more, it is actually NOT that difficult as most people think.
Who’s To Blame For Cyber-Security problems!?
Surveys from professional companies are NOW ALSO showing that Cyber-Security is OUR ALL responsibility, check below, please…
For pretty much anyone in the Western world, the Internet is not only ubiquitous, it’s practically inescapable. Between phones, tablets, PCs, game consoles, televisions and set-top boxes, the Internet exists in every corner of our lives. Almost. In the wake of this year’s CES, we’re hearing louder than ever that the future is “The Internet of Things,” everyday devices equipped with sensors and connectivity to work together, understand what we’re doing, and operate automatically to make our lives easier.
The Dangers And Vulnerabilities Of The Internet Of Things
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Same procedure again, read my curation about it to find out, it is THE easiest way to get aware of the existing dangers and to get convinced about that LEARNing about Cyber-Security is a MUST…
Below YOU will find some Tweets which I posted, related to this Topic of Cyber-Security and who will give YOU also an overview on How-To YOU could create Tweets (Posts) on Social-Media Twitter. YOU may use them, BUT please give credit to me as I was its creator, thanks 😉
NEW #Technology gives YOU the possibility 2 SHOW UP as… BUT its a dreaming world! DON’T loose the #REALITY 😉 Do YOU got #Maturity!??? InternetSafety existing but NOT for adults, seniors… MUST get updated and created .
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That’s WHAT #Teachers#EDUcators are today, DON’T see #REALITY ===> The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. -Aristotle <=== #EDUcators .
RETHINK, habits, bidirectional, 2 way, technology in 21st Century, connected, household goods, internet of things, BYOD, EDU, teachers and educators role, teachers create other professions, NO HALF-BAKED KNOWLEDGE, NO GADGETS MENTALITY, NOT ONLY a software problem,”Critical-Thinking, Proactive-Thinking, community sharing, Twitter Chat, Life-Long-Learning, MORAL, ETHICS, PRIVACY, Maturity, naivety, Zeitgeist, Smart Homes, wearables, Augmented Reality, ..
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Will get updated often, as I have to publish it one day, otherwise I would NEVER finish it!
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L’auteur Gust MEES est Formateur andragogique / pédagogique TIC, membre du “Comité Conseil” de “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), appelé maintenant BEESECURE, partenaire officiel (consultant) du Ministère de l’éducation au Luxembourg du projet ”MySecureIT“, partenaire officiel du Ministère du Commerce au Luxembourg du projet ”CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness andSecurityEnhancementStructure).
The author Gust MEES is ICT Course Instructor, ”Member of the Advisory Board” from “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), BEESECURE, Official Partner (Consultant) from the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg, project “MySecureIT“, Official Partner from the Ministry of Commerce in Luxembourg, project “CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure).
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You are very welcome to give me new ideas, would be appreciated! Stay tuned for next blog(s) 😉
Install WOT (Web Of Trust). WOT shows you which websites you can trust based on millions of users’ experiences around the world to help you stay safe when you search, surf, and shop online.
Click on image below to go to their web site for download.
Respect for one another. This meant students understood we all have our own need to express ourselves, share ideas, and the right to react differently. We did not all have to be the same. Instead we celebrated and encouraged free thinking, differences, and others success.
Then we overhauled the classroom. We sat down as a group and I asked them to show me how they wanted to learn. I gave them guidelines: we have to be able to see the projector, avoid placing tables near the sink, and we need to be able to see one another. From there they created a learning environment they wanted. We developed our own identity as a classroom. They created a wall of our pets. A dedicated space they could go to when they needed space and see from afar. They wanted deep connections they could see. It was a special place they went to “turn it around,” think, and connect. Soon our idea of community spread to other students their age. Every morning a few students would come by and visit our wall dedicated to animals. Making comments, laughing, and at times bringing their own photos as a contribution. It became a focal point of our room that symbolized their way of connecting to their community. By the end of the year they had accomplished their goals of connecting and making friends.
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Pippa Davies
Gust MEES
mdrechsler
Viviene Tuckerman
Collaborative-multiauthors-multiculture Education 
