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Article in Edutopia by Will Richardson, originally published in 2008 - I do not feel we have progressed as much as we could have since then in terms of the 'Collaboration Age' and teachers being connectors rather than content experts.

"Today's enterprises are seeing and experiencing the value of both social software and cloud-based content collaboration systems. By connecting people and giving them the means to discuss, unlock and increase knowledge sharing across the workforce, these services are driving productivity and increasing efficiency in organizations across the globe."

"A connected 21st Century educator is an educator who is digitally literate, or at least open to learning the technology needed to basically connect and collaborate with others. It requires at the very least the same openness to learning as we ask of our students. It is a life long learning mindset. Connected educators find a value in, or even a moral imperative to share ideas and sources with others. They also trust enough to openly ask for help of other connected educators."

Tom Whitby writes a provocative blog post about Connected Educator Month, August 2012. He states: "No, to be a good teacher, one does not need to be connected. However, the question is if you are a good teacher and unconnected, could you be a better teacher if you were connected? Shouldn't we strive to be the best that we can be? It's not only an Army thing. Being connected offers not only exposure to content and ideas but also the ability to create and collaborate on ideas. Being connected fosters transparency and debunks myths of education that have been harbored in the previous isolation of the education profession. This is the stuff of a true learner's dreams, and, as educators, are we not all learners?"

"The Connected Learning for the Workplace design approach embodies the following 5 principles - briefly explained below. scaffolding- rather than packaging up e-learning content, it involves building a framework for learning to take place. This framework provides just enough structure, without constraining personal and social learning. self-governance- it promotes and supports participation in the ways that individuals feel most comfortable and best suits them - and it doing so it helps them take responsibility for their own learning social first - social interaction lies at the heart of the learning experience - whether it be conversation, knowledge sharing, or collaboration in some other way so that participants can build their understanding together. In other words it is not just about tacking-on social interaction to content, and (en)forcing it. content second- key resources are provided to get participants thinking, conversing and. doing, but participants are also encouraged to contribute to the knowledge base of relevant resources. performance oriented - it is focused on what participants will be able to do as a result It does not track the (inter)activity to use this as a measure of success. After all activity doesn't equal learning let alone performance. Performance might be assessed in a number of ways, through self-, peer- or even manager-evaluation, depending on the content and context."