What An Immediate World We Live In

I’m doing my normal morning routine.  I’m sitting in a chair reading blogs and news stories on my iPad and watching the morning news on WDIV, Channel 4 from Detroit.  (There’s no Canadian equivalent on at 5:30 that gives local weather…)

I had flipped over to Facebook where I follow WDIV and there’s a news story that hasn’t made it to air yet – “Pedestrian bridge collapses, closes M-39 after being hit by truck“.  Now, the Southfield Freeway isn’t one that I drive on regularly but you do see the turn off all the time on the way to the airport.

One of the powerful things about having a device handy when you watch the news is that you can do a little digging.  

So, I opened the Google Maps application and zoomed in.

Already, and this had just happened, the Google Map was showing the traffic situation and the accident location.  Within minutes, WDIV had their morning, mobile news team on site, interrupting the news for the latest details.

As the morning progressed, more details about the accident and what happened were released.

Stepping back, I just marvel at how immediate and current the information was to me.  It’s humbling, it really is.

Later on, I started to think about my weekly trips from Toronto back home to Kitchener.  From East York, it was straight up the Don Valley Parkway, onto the 401 and you’re headed west.  

Until you stop.

Then it’s time to flip around the radio channels to find a local station that’s covering traffic.  There are times when I wonder if anyone is seriously keeping an eye on things.  How many times have I heard the expression “building normally”?

It’s not a big leap to think about connected versus unconnected classrooms.  Connected classrooms are flipping around on their devices looking for the latest and important authorities, sometimes even as it happens.  Unconnected classrooms are flipping through old textbooks looking for materials.  They might read about current events in tomorrow’s newspaper.

Which classroom is yours?