NECC Monday a.m. - The Wisdom of Crowds

Yes, we are finally here along with 18,000 other attendees in 96 degree weatger 00 exciting, hot and a bit overwhelming to be sure.

Sunday night's keynote kicked the NECC event off with the first of many thought provoking concepts, The Wisdom of Crowds by the author of a book with the same title, James Surowiecki.

Surowiecki has some compelling research that suggests that the collective knowledge of people as groups is better and results in more accurate results than any one of us as individuals. While this isn't necessarily new as a organizational decision making approach, Surowiecki emphasizes the importance of purposeful group formation of the group and that the variety of perspectives, thinking, background and experiences of the group is as important as social diversity.

This is relevant to education as we explore Web 2.0 as a way to get groups of teaches and students together working on issues relative to education. It is also important to explore as a way of providing the tools necessary for students to collaborate and network with peers, experts and mentors in their quest to build new knowledge.

This is a must read for anyone who either believes in or is intrigued by the collective intelligence and ability of groups and the role of Web 2.0 tools in the education landscape.

Stay tuned to see what is next.