Al is a school teacher in South Australia who has introduced the world of blogging to his Year 3 and 4 students.
Al Upton and the Mini Legends is his class project. The kids all have their personal blogs, and they contribute frequently to Al's interactive blog posts throughout the year.
Al has had the passion and the foresight to base a whole learning and value system around blogs. And pretty soon this method of learning will be the rule, not the exception.
So what happens?
Students connect with each other.
They share learnings and knowledge.
They're 'making it personal'.
What does this mean?
Trendwatching talked about the Customer Made opportunity for brands some time ago, and it's a generational time bomb for brands slow on the uptake. Especially youth oriented brands. Today's kids are tomorrows big spenders (OK, they're big spenders now, just via their parents).
It means brands that embrace the philosophy of co-created goods, services and experiences will ultimately win.
This ain't new news to bloggers, but perhaps it is news to other marketers I talk to who don't know what a blog is.
Kids today are 'making it personal'. They have a need/want to share these experiences and learnings over blogs, MySpace sites, YouTube etc. It means they're operating in an environment where public give and take, often on a highly emotional level, are part and parcel of human behaviour.
In the words of Paul McCartney, "and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make".
Only this time youth is doing it using the drug of multimedia rather than LSD.
3 comments:
Hi Vando
thanks for the kind words and recognition of the effort my kids and I put into our learning. I've posted a bit of a summary of your post and will use it as an opportunity to chat to my class about 'future prespectives'.
http://alupton.wordpress.com/2006/11/06/someone-else-has-discovered-you/
I've enjoyed scanning your blogs and would appreciate it if you and/or your marketer mates could pop a comment on our blog. I would like to encourage and further explore this corporate/education connection, dependence and the associated learning pathways. The kids will love to hear from you - please spread the word :)
Cheers, Al
What a great description of Al and his vision, Jason. I had the great pleasure of meeting Al in person recently and I can vouch for the heartfelt authenticity of the philosophy he brings to education. His thinking is a long way ahead of the vast majority of teachers internationally and I hope Australia realises what a treasure it has in its midst!
Hi there Al and John. Wecome to the Recliner....it's great to get your comments.
Al, I think it's brilliant what you're doing. Whilst I've put it in the context of what it means broadly for marketers, as a learning tool itself across many levels it really is fantastic.
I wish I had this option of learning when I was in Year 4 all those years ago.
And good to see you've put my post up as a learning tool. Mmmm, may have to watch my language for a little while around here ;-)
I'll gladly pop across and leave a few comments (although Cup Day will mean it's probably tomorrow!).
Best of luck with it all Al, to both you and the Mini Legends. Great work. An keep those blog posts rolling!
Cheers
Vando
Post a Comment