We've come a Long Way!

I read the article headline twice, to be sure I was seeing it correctly, "Former Justice Promotes Web-Based Civics Lessons." In today's New York Times, former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor is not only a supporter and believer in online learning, but essentially she is the working SME (subject matter expert) and lead advocate of creating a web site and interactive web-based course on civics for 7th - 9th graders. Together with Georgetown University Law Center and Arizona State University they are developing a site called Our Courts (www.ourcourts.org) that will have two areas. One section will be educational and directed toward school use and one will be directed for learners to use independently with an entertainment component to it - similar to a game. Justice O'Connor admits she is not much of a computer expert. However, she learned about computers and interactive media from her grandchildren. She recognizes that interactive learning involves the learner and that such learning can be more effective than traditional learning. The students will be presented with real legal issues, and asked to argue their beliefs against the computer and each other.

Without knowing it, Justice O'Connor identified many of the "selling" points for online, interactive learning. She said "I believe that when we learn something, a principle or concept, by doing, by having it happen to us, which you can do by that medium of a computer, and you exercise it and you make an argument and you learn, 'Oh yes, that's an argument that prevails,' you learn by doing."

Wow! couldn't have said it better myself.

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