Technology has changed the world.

The world has changed; people all over the globe can now work and communicate together in ways that were never before possible in history. Information technology such as e-mail, instant messaging, the Internet, and video conferencing has completely changed the way humans communicate over time and space. Every day we hear about blogs, wiki’s, chat rooms, on-line data bases and discussion groups. The web has connected over 700 million computer users into a colossal world community of people. All important information today is linked electronically. Thomas Malone of MIT said, “Recent technological advances are bringing about changes in business organization that will be as dramatic as the rise of democracy was to government.” Our school has 135 computers and we have 120 students in our school district. We have all the necessary technology available. Now it’s important to utilize the technology that we have. How can our students and computers be connected so that collectively they act more intelligently than any individual, computer or group had ever been before? We are starting to use blogs and wikis to form learning communities and improve communication. It is now important to deeply understand collective intelligence and take full advantage of it.