[Do yourself a favour and watch this 60 minute presentation in its entirety. It is a truly inspiring and throught provoking experience.]
It’s been a few days since the 2008 NMC Virtual Symposium drew to a close and its full impact is still materialising in my mind. The event was a first for me in several respects – the first time I attended a formal event in SecondLife, my first NMC symposium, and perhaps most important of all, the first time I’ve heard Jim Groom and Tom Woodward speak.
I’ve followed the activities of the North American contingent for some time now – both Americans and Canadians alike – and have gained tremendously from the activities of folks like Brian Lamb, Alan Levine, George Siemens, Stephen Downes, more recently Jim Groom, and many others. In my mind, they are the true innovators. Much of what I know about educational technology today, the way I see education and learning, my views on openness, open source and collaboration – all stem in one way or another from the work they’ve done. So seeing their presentation was a treat. I am but a stumbling novice walking within their tremendous shadows.
The significance of their work to me – and this presentation – lay in several areas. First, that learning can be fun, it can be creative, and it can be fueled by passion and enthusiasm. Equally importantly, that the true power in learning is found within the individual; not handed down in a curriculum or scripted by an LMS module. For me there is no personal investment to be found in the scripted path; no way to gain a sense of my place, or my relevance to the subject or to the other students. If I cannot see my place in learning, I cannot embrace it.
Natural learning is not scripted. It’s not neat, tidy, and orderly; organised or in-line with learning objectives or attributes – to act otherwise is both shortsighted and to our detriment. Learning is messy, complex, complicated, wrought with false starts and at times highly frustrating. It is exploratory, and experiential; fueled by incessant curiosity and endless questioning of our world and our place within it – it is also an inherently personal process that cannot be handed down from on-high. I cannot learn for you, and likewise you cannot learn for me. We can, however, learn together, and learn from each other.
Our circumstances, perspectives, desires, limitations, strengths, existing knowledge or lack thereof are unique unto ourselves – and in this uniqueness lay the seeds of diversity from which truly stunning learning networks and landscapes can develop. The way I see it, the greatest lesson to be learned in education – whether formal or informal, private, public, homeschooled or unschooled – is the notion that we, the learners, have the ultimate power over our learning experiences. We have as much power over our learning journey as we recognise and embrace.
Well thanks again Mike
I certainly don’t belong in the same list as those folks, they have been around doing and saying this stuff for more more effectively and for far longer than me. I’m relatively new and green, and I think the one thing I learned from many of them (Alan and Brian, in particular) is the crucial aspect of making your ideas both fun and performance-based.
What was exciting about the Revolution Will be Syndicated presentation was the fact that we were really thinking about how to make Second Life fun, especially since Tom and I both share reservations about this virtual world–that said–we actually had a great time this go around. And I have to give a majority of this presentations cohesion and aesthetic brilliance to Tom—who is really an unbelievably creative person and “a true believer.”
Moreover, I think your words above (I’ll reproduce them here), succinctly point to why the a term like edupunk caught the imagination of a some people, and why folks from all kinds of places are getting excited about the messiness of education and learning more generally:
Great stuff!
Thanks for all the nice words, but c’mon, there are no real “lists” of people who have any real advance standing besides having been in the game a bit longer. We’re all on equal ground here.
Nice to met you in world Mike and thanks for posting your videos– and you’ve done a great job of encapsulating the Anti-Zombie spirit here.
At the same time, the challenge remains high in helping people more embrace the movement, because it is truly radical and goes counter to the systems we work in.
Hi Alan and Jim,
@Jim – Personally, Jim I think you rock. In your work is see an extraordinary amount of passion and enthusiasm and it’s truly infectious. For example the Edtec Survivalist video clips – not to mention the whole edupunk conversation – are really inspiring and really motivated me to think outside the box. Creativity is not really one of my strong points, but seeing it modeled really motivates me to experiment and push my own comfort zone. Witnessing someone doing differently – and seeing it work – is a really freeing thing I find, and it leads people – or at least me – to say “What the heck. If he can do it, so can I.” That’s leading by example in my book.
@Alan – I do realise we’re all in the same boat, and each have our own unique and valuable contributions to make; but at the same time I really wanted to give credit where credit is due. What you guys have done has helped me to realise my own place in this area, and in that sense has been truly valuable. So I guess I just wanted to say thanks for all of your work and contributions!
On another note, for the record, I didn’t mean to suggest that learning stops at the individual – or that it’s the sole consideration – because the role of the educator is very important as well. I think it’s just changing from what it used to be – or at least that it needs to.
[You both know this already of course, I'm just including reference to it in the interests of thoroughness (you never know who will stumble across this post in the future)]
Much of formal education is still steeped in this old paradigm – where the relationships revolves around the roles of expert-novice, and is characterised by largely one directional flows of information in lectures and instruction. Yet, as we discussed during the NMC Virtual Symposium, I think it’s crucial that this model be re-examined and indeed questioned and rallied against. Certainly circumstances will sometimes warrant instructivist models, but it shouldn’t be the default or the norm in my opinion.
I’m meant to be writing a paper for CCK08 about this (now overdue – oops), but essentially I think the role of educator needs to be greatly expanded and drawn down from a position of hierarchical superiority to one of facilitator, moderator, participant in the conversation; listener and sounding board for the thoughts of others; suggester of ideas or activities, leader by example, modeller and demonstrator of new concepts, tools, or ways of working and learning; inspirer of passionate enthusiasm and creativity; provider of encouragement, support and inspiration; hub, channel or translator for the activities of a cohort of students; subject matter expert, and co-learner.
In saying that though there will undoubtedly continue to be external pressure or needs to ensure key concepts are covered, learning objectives met, courses brought in-line with wider curricula, and certain attributes or levels of proficiency developed prior to graduation. Perhaps another role for the educator, then, will be a buffer or adaptor between the expectations of industry and government (arguably more specific, narrow, and targeted) and the needs of the students (arguably more holistic and individually unique).
Ultimately there’s so much opportunity for personal empowerment in new media, and so much diversity amongst the networks, groups and communities that use it to facilitate their connections – I think it’s critical that this interconnectedness – the networked model of learning – gain ample recognition. As you say, Alan, modelling and demonstrating the power and potential of new media is very important in influencing change, and the conversation needs to spill over into the wider landscape of education – even unto places where it’s a taboo and unwelcome topic. Perhaps one of the key roles of the Edtec Survivalists is to bring it there and shine a light on it.
Cheers,
Mike
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