February 25, 2011
Presentation
Networked Learning: Making the Best Use of What We've Already Got
Stephen Downes, February 25, 2011,
Emerging Social Technology UK, Dundee, Scotland via Skype, join.me
A New Source of Great Talks on Learning
Gary Woodill,
Emerging Technologies Analyst, February 25, 2011.
There is literally no end to the list of highly qualified and articulate people speaking on education and new media these days. Gary Woodill writes, "Now there is another source of excellent videos, this time on learning and education. This collection of talks is centered on the annual Learning Without Frontiers (LWF) conference in London, UK, and attracts a wide range of speakers. To enjoy these talks, click here." So much, such a wealth of knowledge, and our news media feeds us retread press releases, as though this pablum could satisfy the needs of a democracy for anything like the long term.
Dear Edupunk
Jim Groom,
bavatuesdays, February 25, 2011.
With the announcement of another Anya Kamanetz book on Edupunk forthcoming, Jim Groom writes of his love lost for the concept. "Dear Edupunk," he writes, "when did you stop dating journalists and start dating advocates for a mechanized vision of DIY education? You and I had deep institutional roots, and I am still proud to serve the public mission, why have you turned from this vision? ... For a while there I though we really had a future together, but your history of flirting and seducing the neo-liberals who want to dismantle public institutions has been a real turn off. " It does feel like the concept, and the work of those associated with it, is being mined for whatever value publishers can wring out of it before it is discarded as irrelevant.
Social and connective lock-in
George Siemens,
elearnspace, February 25, 2011.
Today's online session in the Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course was one of those where new ideas emerge from the interplay of ideas. In this case, the new ideas were the twin concepts of 'social lock-in' 'connective lock-in':
- Social lock-in – where we are reluctant to move to new social networks because all of our friends/colleagues are part of our current social network service.
- Connective lock-in – where we have lost control of our ability to define and shape connections
Tracy Parish also has a summary with links of today's session, including Jenny Mackness's coverage of attacks on Connectivism.
The D, The Y, and the I
Alan Levine,
CogDogBlog, February 25, 2011.
Alan Levine on the purpose of an education: "I envision society as a system of energy, one working against natural tendencies of entropy that drive it to the un-organized state, as we are seeing now between earthquakes and political revolutions. The purpose of education, to me, is as a force that counters what would destroy society, DIYs and OERs and other TLAs are not nearly enough on their own. It's our imperative to have create (not just job reaching) reasons to virally spread a motivation to learn, because our future hinges on its potential energy."
School Radio: Is it dated?
Olover Quinlan,
Weblog, February 25, 2011.
Audio may have adopted new delivery media, such as podcasting and webcasting. But through the magic of earbuds, radio has the capacity to put a person't voice - or music, or a world of sound effects - right into your head, as though you were experiencing them directly. I can't imagine this ever getting old. See also Oliver Quinlan's purpose of education post from yesterday.
Converting Chrome Installed Web Apps into W3C Widgets
Scott Wilson,
Scott's Workblog, February 25, 2011.
Scott Wilson had a go at answering my question from yesterday on widgets. In the last week or so he has produced a slew of posts on his blog brining us up to date on the subject. Thus we get a snapshot of the standards landscape, a post which had to be updated as the landscape changed after he wrote his first post. He then looked at Chrome Web Apps and wrote a script to convert them to Widget Packaging and Configuration (.wgt) files. Finally, he linked to this page from Dominique Hazaël-Massieux overviewing W3C standards for mobile applications.
The Curious Case of the Alt-Cert Custodian
Michael Hicks,
EdLeader News, February 25, 2011.
Fun article about the differences in approach and style when teachers and education journalists and pundits attend the same conference. The journalists write for an audience, writes Michael Hicks, while the teachers write for each other. He also describes Alexander Russo spending the day at the conference writing articles about other things. And also, this: "I can't give you precise stats on the linear regression that my make-shift research yielded, but isn't it interesting that in a room full of Education economists, Ed experts, Education journalists, and teachers, all attending an Education conference, teachers were the only ones who used the word 'student' consistently in their remarks?" I get the sense that teachers and policy wonks are on such different wavelengths it's almsot as though they are discussing different topics. Via Alexander Russo (who else?).
Lazy Journalist Revealer. This. Is. Awesome.
David Eaves,
eaves.ca, February 25, 2011.
Wonder how much journalism is simply churn from press releases and other sources? Sometimes it seems like all of it is. This website, Churnalism, sadly limited to the UK, makes it clear how much of the news we read in our daily paper (or news site online) is simply recycled from press releases. And - I would add - given that these press release shops are set up specifically to propagate political messages, the lack of oversight in churnalism is disappointing indeed.
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