Nathan, investigating the web and the future possibilities of learning and knowledge

Life after Moodle :( or maybe not?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:35:00 +0000

I have been using Moodle for sometime now and it has been quite effective at getting teachers to engage with using ICTs in their teaching and learning. However, a recent slide-share presentation, see below, has got me thinking about the possibilities after Moodle. My work colleagues would be shocked to hear that I am contemplating learning and teaching without Moodle - because I really adore it - it has served a wonderful purpose of engaging teachers at my school and opening up the classroom, but.... maybe

Future of the LMS - towards a more open and personalised learning environment

View more presentations from flexilearn

I think it maybe a bit premature to walk out on Moodle for one main reason, it provides a place that my students and teachers come to to start learning. Ok at times some courses can be a bit dull but there is no reason Moodle cannot be used as a place from which to leap into the wider web and return to in order to consolidate a learning journey.

For now I will re-frame my idea of Moodle as "The Classroom" - I find that learning is happening within non-physical space and Moodle serves as a common location, a point, an island in a sea of chattering hyperlinks, images and online video.Whereas the physical classroom serves as a place for students to come together face to face, learning within a physical dynamic environment, to (be) at and with(in) a learning context rather than just attend to mentally, the physical classroom as learning embodied . In contrast Moodle often is "The Classroom" a simulation of the linearity of the Lesson Plan, a beginning a middle and an end, temporal and bound despite it social constructivist origins; I wonder has its success and malleability resulted in its becoming an antithesis to is social constructivist origins?

the web of one, rose coloured glasses and filtering

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:20:00 +0000

"You couldn't get functioning democracy without free information." I really like the experiment he did with the take a screen shot and see the difference between each others searches. This would be an excellent activity for students to do for an assignment. You could define a search term then get each student to search and screen shot on their own PC and another PC in the house. The next day print off and gather all the images place them on the floor and work out what you can tell from the search results that were returned. This activity could be a spring board for discussion topics such as, ethical use of user information, surveillance, privacy and the rights and responsibilities of individuals and corporations. So there you go, online video leads to lesson idea, leads to increased awareness by students and real connected teaching based on data gathered by students... hmmm might rethink my senior IT unit on social and ethical issues and the Internet.

social media, the nature of news and meaning making, are we preparing our students?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:57:00 +0000

Tweets per second., a photo by @Twitter on Flickr.

The news broke on Twitter about the death of Osama, which made me reflect upon how I have received information about world events. Now I very rarely purchase a newspaper, the only magazine I read, and infrequently at that, is now available online for iPad. When 9/11 happened I watched it unfold on the Internet, Osamas death I found out about via twitter, the demise of the Australian PM Kevin Rudd I found out via Facebook and quickly turned to Twitter to see it all unfold. More recently I watched the riots in London via twitter and news reports from ABC online (www.abc.net.au). Despite the criticisms of using these sources as a way to gather and form opinions on world and local events it appears that even the more traditional media is also turning to these sources on a regular basis, one only has to observe the print and TV media around any major international disaster or political upheaval to get a sneaking suspicion that it is not only the general populace that watch and gather news from the social web. So perhaps the new journalist now aggregates these streams of social media bringing to the fore their ability to contextualize meaning within contested political and social discourses. Therefore, as an educator my question is are we preparing our students to deconstruct the meanings that are constructed by others? There is always [His]tory, [Cult]ure and [her] story and more recently the London Riots will be part of British [His][Tory], but more importantly will our students be able to tell the difference.

Blogs, what, why and is there a point to it all?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:52:00 +0000

Everyone is so hot for twitter and Facebook so it may seem that Blogging has had it day, or has it! Unlike twitter or Facebook blogging (well at least interesting blogs) requires a longer attention span and the ability to bring together ideas and communicate them via text and images. Furthermore, blogging unlike much of our daily communicative writing gives individuals a chance to have a say, form an opinion and tell it to the world. However, often the criticism that is leveled at blogging is that you may as well be shouting at the ocean. But as more and more people shout at the ocean the sounds will be heard, yes as noise but a noise that is created by individuals. I am grateful that I can express my ideas freely and using a global medium with much greater reach than any medium I had access to as young man growing up with a head full of ideas and no place to express it. Perhaps we should see blogging as a global creative activity that consists of many seeking meaning and their voice in a time when the mass media of the past is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

Some Resources

Blog report from technorati http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2010-introduction/

Being online: social presence as subjectivity in online learning
Benjamin Kehrwald London Review of Education
Vol. 8, No. 1, March 2010, 39–50

Being online: a critical view of identity and subjectivity in new virtual learning spaces London Review of EducationVol. 8, No. 1, March 2010, 1–4

Education, the formation of self and the world of Web 2.0
Aidan Seery London Review of Education
Vol. 8, No. 1, March 2010, 63–73

[be]ing in a human world is what is important... NOT NOT NOT mindless, vacuous consumption

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:04:00 +0000

This info-graphic speaks volumes about how we and others find ourselves in what can largely be called Western Society. It now may appear that the world is waking up with a massive hangover from a debt fueled mad capitalist binge that has damaged the lives of so many and enriched the very few. I am amazed at the parallels that can be drawn with Huxley and to some extent Orwell. They are so stark that Brave New World and 1984 should be on the reading list for all students as a wake up call, a prod to awaken and develop the critical minds of our students. No kids things just don't stay the same! Yes change is violent and frightening! And no violence is not, not an answer to violence... Intellect, Human compassion and a deep understanding of what it means to be a human [be]ing in a human world is what is important... NOT NOT NOT mindless, vacuous consumption.

source: http://visualnews.columnfivemedia.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/orwell-huxley-world.png

Education Finland and stating the obvious, what does it tell us?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:57:00 +0000

So let's see the clip is telling us that education should be... caring, inclusive, focused on student needs, professional, learning in groups is good, self reliance, trust, time to think and just enjoy being young, hope for the future, engaged parents, society allows time and space for the nurture of young adults and overall education is highly valued. Hard to disagree so what is this saying about other education [systems] in other countries? And meanwhile as I write this riots continue in the UK, Greece and the ranks of the poor and disenfranchised grow in other supposedly first world countries. So what does this tell us?

The voice of life calls us to learn and the school of hard knocks

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:53:00 +0000

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;ok&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

This is what it should be but often it is rephrased to be " The voice of life calls us to earn". Education when debated in terms of cost/benefit analysis dehumanizes the whole idea of education. And this is the root of the problem. Education needs to be broadly seen as a project that enables humanity to hold up a mirror to itself rather than a diploma mill as the unexamined life is not worth living.

"Everyday our children spread their dreams beneath our feet"

But the great difficulty is making sure that children do not get a false sense of reality, not every child is going to become a star and telling someone that they will really is a lie. We can never predict the future with enough certainty to tell a wide eyed child that they will become "famous" nor should we. So yes dream because if we do not life can become a nightmare, and yes tread lightly on the dreams of others but false hope and folly can make us blind to real opportunities and our actual strengths.

Though I cringe every time the term is used, resilience is generated by experiences where dreams are sometimes crushed but with support and empathy given by others we grow. Therefore, while noble TED-Ed is a collection of short online videos, it is just a start, but like genius education is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.

Resilience and development: Contributions from the study of children who overcome adversity

Ann S. Masten, Karin M. Best and Norman Garmezy (1990)

Development and Psychopathology, Volume 2, Issue 04, October 1990 pp 425-444

Students doing research, Diigo, Google Scholar and ICT literacy

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:31:00 +0000

Currently my year 12 Information Technology Systems (ITS) students are creating an essay on a social and ethical issue in IT; really I have a hidden agenda here, that is to expose students to a key ICT literacy "seeking information online and being critical of what they read". Key to this is learning about the wealth of research and information that can be accessed via the internet, the two tools I will discuss are Diigo and Google Scholar.

Google Scholar is a Google search service specifically for articles, books, journals, legal opinions and patents; ITS students are mainly interested in the books and journal articles. The beauty of this service is it provides our students with access to academically rigorous material to support their learning. The site details the number of times an article has been cited, a brief summary of the article and often a link to a pdf or HTML copy of the original article. This is undoubtedly a very valuable service because it enables students to gain an understanding about how knowledge and opinion is formed around the topic they are researching. Furthermore, when a book is retrieved from the search a link is provided to an online copy of the book on Google books. Interestingly very few students even knew about Google books.

Diigo is an online social bookmarking service. The key to Diigo is its ability to harness previous searches by others and so hopefully provide more relevant information. In addition to Diigo’s ability to share links it is also enables students to use virtual highlighting of online text if the free plugin has been installed, something that I recommend students try. Links, highlights and virtual sticky notes all can be shared and grouped together. All bookmarks can also be tagged with key term to assist with later retrieval. Often a student may find a website that would be of interest to another student. With Diigo they can save, tag and highlight the website and then create an email link to a copy of the website that has all their highlighting and sticky notes. Over time a user of Diigo can build up a large collection of links, annotations and notes similar to an online notebook. My own Diigo Library contains 1050 individual links and annotations which everyone is free to view and use.

Some of you who are reading this post might being saying, "yeah so what, I use this stuff all the time". However, you would be surprised at how few students actually are! I have at times done a straw poll to see how many students are users of these types of online tools, I would regularly get about %10 who put their hands up. As the futurist Thomas Frey argues there are social and ICT skills that are vital for the future such as communication management, reputation management and privacy management. However, interestingly he appears to not mention critical thinking and a healthy skepticism for what one reads online. The inclusion of concepts such as Digital Creativity are also necessary because by being creative the students interactions becomes participatory rather than primary consumptive in nature.

The next evolution of learning will occur outside of schools, Changing Education Paradigms,

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:28:00 +0000

Is it the institution of education that constrains learning? Schools are primarily places of socialization and the indoctrination of people to fit within the dominant economic ideology of the nation or state in which they are situated. School is not primarily a emancipatory place of learning, learning happens in school despite the school itself. The long held legitimacy of schools and schooling is now challenged by the multiple sources of information now available via information communication technologies. More recently the participatory nature of the Internet has created vast opportunities for anyone to create, modify and explore knowledge. Yes a lot of content on the Internet is mindless filler. However, this is no different from television or popular print and visual media. Therefore, the idea that the internet only provides second class information quality should be tempered with the growing realization of the codification of the body of human knowledge into digitally transmittable formats

The next evolution of learning will occur outside of schools. This change has already started the precursors being the uploading of educational content by leading American universities. Educators themselves are creating networks of like minded teachers via social networking platforms. The use of YouTube and other online video services are becoming ubiquitous. The use of online presentation sites like slide share to upload existing PowerPoint presentations and develop and disseminate new presentations. Despite these trends schools still block and restrict access to many Internet sites, especially social networks and video feeds. This attitude of blocking the perceived risky online services is based on a miss-understanding of the relative merits of the technology. Blocking this technology to protect students is often counter productive because many of them have access to social networking site from home or via a Internet enabled mobile phone.

The reason that the new state of education will occur outside of secondary educational institutions are because of the very institutional nature of schools themselves. In Australia the essentially two tracked education system private/public is equally unready or unwilling to embrace the changes that ICTs ultimately bring to learning. Public schools will strain under the lack of flexibility and work force that is heavily unionized and sometimes combative in nature, large changes can only occur via a large show of good will by all parties and this is often something that is in short supply. Private education is more flexible but is still bound by the expectations of the parents, whom provide private capital, and the culture of the school which may be etched into the collective psyche of the staff and be bound to a reproduction of class based structures and captive to narratives of perceived success.

The great hope for education lies in the increased professionalization of it's workers. Teaching at one time was a career that was mainly dominated by women, and therefore often underpaid and not held in high regard as other professions due to unenlightened patriarchal social structures. However, the sisterhood lead the charge and pushed for change to such an extent that now the career driven look back over their shoulders and see the ghost of motherhood haunting their success. Teaching is now better paid and held in higher -although more recently this is an arguable point- regard but just as these victories enabled the battle weary to pause for breath the ICT revolution arrived. However; the leaders in education do realize the profound impact of the information technology revolution. While some leaders may not understand or have a deep technical grasp of the direct impact of ICTs, good leaders have given the space necessary for educational ICT innovators to ply their trade and experiment.

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Is this the beginning of the end for education in America?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 06:27:00 +0000

I have recently begun following the tweets from Diane Ravitch and the above youTube clip I think encapsulates what the current state of play is in American primary and secondary education. The letter that she reads from a primary school teacher is heart breaking and I am amazed that the USA does not have a major teacher shortage on their hands. The tweet feed is full of themes of desperation, sorrow and down right unfairness for teachers, parents but MOST importantly it is the children's voices we are not hearing!

Perhaps these voices are silent because of fear or a sense of powerlessness. Perhaps those in power don't want to hear their voices because if the letter from the teacher fighting to give kids a chance makes your eyes fill with tears then a semi literate, broken, struggling barely audible voice from a child who is talking about visiting his sole parent in jail should create despair and soul searching.

What is happening in America? The land of the free and brave?

Here your president talks about making sure that going to College is affordable to all of those who have the ability. He backs the ideas of supporting community Colleges and overall his message is very positive. He sounds like a president that understands that education can be an emancipatory force for the American people. But what keeps coming is still stories of disappointment and unfairness.

I tip my hat to all those teachers and educators in the USA fighting for the right of your nations children to a decent and fair education. And I count my lucky stars that here down under things have not gotten this rotten. And finally if our current Prime Minister looks to the US for educational policy inspiration I dearly hope she talks to the teachers first then the apparatchiks.

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The Resume is dead? Or has is metamorphosed into something more dynamic, writing the Self

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:34:00 +0000

This presentation is intriguing because the presenter does have a point, despite the fact that I am usually very weary of marketing in general. The ubiquity of online media and social networking, especially its ease of use, gives employers the ability to consider possible employees in much greater detail. However, this needs to be tempered with a greater critical eye on what one reads and takes as truth online. It is all to easy to take a surface view of an applicant especially is the main way they have communicated is via visual imagery - I guess unless you are hiring a photographer or visual media developer. This presentation does bring to the fore the dramatic change in how people are using online media ; you can now put yourself out there, carve a space or niche that is you. But this takes time and is not something that can be done over night. A blog is a good place to start, then twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. But before you go nuts... social networking is something that requires careful consideration, planning, nurturing and crafting.

So what does this mean for teachers, teaching and knowledge in general?

Everyone can have a say. This increases the plurality of opinion both informed and ill-informed. Teachers can share and compare classroom practice hopefully resulting in improved approaches to teaching and learning. All this may sound trite for those of you already blogging but so many teachers are still cautious of taking the first step of creating that online space populated with who they are as teachers. This space/niche over time becomes a representation of who you are, textually constructed with meaning emerging over time, your thought become language and your language is thought

What can you do or not do?

Just write, but make use of the draft function. Do not write then publish straight away. Writing is a reflexive practice,

"The language one uses is designated by one's relational position in a field or social space. Different uses of language tend to reiterate the respective positions of each participant. Linguistic interactions are manifestations of the participants' respective positions in social space and categories of understanding, and thus tend to reproduce the objective structures of the social field." source

Of course the other thing to remember is the Web is open so post with care.

My recent professional development session relating to this topic

Recently I presented a professional development session to a few of my colleagues about using social networking tools to create and expand personal learning networks (PLN). The online space/niche which form your online professional persona is feed and nourished by these PLNs. So your PLN and your online presence become a dynamic presentation of YOU, this becomes your resume in a continual state of becoming, a living textual,visual and signed manifestation of yourself. Although Eric Fromm's "To Have or to Be" predates the internet and the social web the following excerpt

[Man's] human relations to the world- seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, thinking, observing, feeling, desiring, acting, loving- in short all the organs of his individuality ... are in their objective action [their actions in relation to the object] the appropriation of this object, the appropriation of human reality. This is the form of appropriation in the mode of being, not the mode of having...

provides a sketch of the idea that your online persona within your space/niche when seen through the prism of the idea of a resume is you looking back at yourself - digital reflexivity perhaps.

Android, is it robotic pedagogy or is the pedagogy robotic?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 05:29:00 +0000

Is this the future face of teaching?

« The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it. »
Nietzsche

Perhaps this is a fully physical realization of Drill and Practice. No matter how good the simulation is teaching remains a human practice. Education is for humans by humans as it is at its core a human and social practice. The idea of robotic teachers is the ultimate end game of what is increasingly an irrelevant modernist view of education. Robotics is a tool. Learning how to build, interface and engage with these tools are important but this is a large step away from cybernetic anthropomorphism

It seems to be a rather consistent obsession of Korean and Japanese robotic engineers that a teacher can be simulated by a robot. Recently I heard professor Hiroshi Ishiguro on the ABC program Night Air, 13 March discuss these ideas and use the term post-human. I'm not a protein based chauvinist anti silicon and hater of robots but... To envision a world that is post human is to have a vision where our 'being' is no longer present. It is all to easy to forget the beauty that humans can create and experience, a beauty that is human not post-human. The rare thing that is birth, life and death and the fact that we are conscious of these processes is part of 'being-in-the-world'

“Dasein exists. Furthermore, Dasein is an entity which in each case I myself am. Mineness belongs to any existent Dasein, and belongs to it as the condition which makes authenticity and inauthenticity possible.” Heidegger

http://bit.ly/gUMpLr

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Data, Information, Manipulation, Fear...

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 12:57:00 +0000

What is said on the Internet is not secret, which some teachers have found out the hard way. With freedom comes responsibility but also the responsibility lies with those that hold and hopefully protect private data and information,

"Information privacy, or data privacy is the relationship between collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, and the legal and political issues surrounding them" (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_privacy).

But when do the lines get blurred, when does information become a tool of power? At the point that power controls information then the production of knowledge is compromised and wisdom becomes dogma. Orwell then is a futurist, double think destroys rationality, newspeak becomes the lingua franca and room 101 becomes the destination for the erudite and the free.

dou•ble•think ('d&-b&l-"thi[ng]k), noun, Date: 1949 : a simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas.

X Marks the Spot (Generation X teachers), but are we Fitter Happier more productive

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:48:00 +0000

I am going to go right out a limb here with a broad brush and splash a bit of text around ...[insert legal babel that I mean no harm] Being a Generation X teacher means for me that I have a highly critical view of any form of media, especially commercially based media and possibly the whole modernist ideal of unfettered continual economic growth, essentially my views could broadly seen as postmodern [1]. Unlike my more mature colleagues who fought for or against the reds under the bed only to watch it all implode,

As the Iron Curtain cracked the fall of the wall looked inevitable. In the evening of November 9th, 1989 Gunter Schabowski, Minister of Propoganda, read out a note at a press conference announcing that the border would be opened for "private trips abroad” (http://www.berlin-life.com/berlin/wall)

It was cool to be a leftist and Che Guevara was on t-shirts but I think only a few would have wadded their way through Das-Capital in earnest. Generation X , in Australia at least, watched the recession we had to have unfold upon our parents. Things where rather bleak on the employment front and being at school during the final phase of your high school education was not very encouraging. Those who could got jobs or went to University some just bounced from job to job [2]

It was not really until my early twenties that the internet started to become something to watch, essentially late 80's early 90's saw the explosion of the online world. Essentially generation X was at a very important juncture in history we saw the Net grow exponentially but at the same time remembered pre-Internet mass media, Television, Radio and Print. Now we have young families and watch our children engage with the multitude of media spaces that exist. However, times are different our children and generation Y have the opportunity to be far more creative using technology that are far more powerful than those enjoyed by earlier generations. But the question is will they use this opportunity to become thoughtful creators of content and will we as Generation X teachers help them develop the critical skills for becoming active and informed contributors on the Net. Furthermore, can we teach these skills within existing educational and institutional paradigms? And one final question, as Gen X are we, Fitter Happier More Productive?

Learning within the eCloud, the tipping point

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:14:00 +0000

Learning occurs not only in schools but every where at every time. The human mind is wired for learning it is a fundamental reason why we as a species have covered the earth for better or worse. Now for the first time in history the sum of human knowledge and a chronicle of our times is being poured into the Internet and converted into digital forms. This is not new news and has been occurring for sometime; however, I believe we are at a tipping point. This point is defined by how people consume, create and communicate information and form knowledge and in addition how they act when informed by this information and knowledge.

With the emergence of meta tagging, for example Diggo and Delicious, the reflexive process has started in earnest. Users both informed and ill-informed are giving thumbs up to things they like, for example youTube, leaving comments on Blog posts as well as news items. The Internet has become one of the largest, if not the largest discursive spaces ever available. Anyone who doubts this only needs to wonder why various authoritarian governments spend vast amounts of resources filtering, blocking, monitoring and in some cases attempting to shut down access and user created Internet content. However, with the emergence of social networking the net is now viral and rabid and a lot harder for these governments to control.

The Internet and social networking is beginning to display its power to disrupt and push change when faced with institutional structures and power. This in conjunction with how people consume, create, communicate information and form knowledge via the Internet and social networking has created an environment that is reactive, reflexive and in a constant state of change. The real impacts, modifies the representations of the real within the Internet. In turn the simulation of the real is connected via global networks to the creators, transmitter and receivers of data and information. This constant to and fro increases until the hyper real emerges. But this hyper real does not need to be a dystopia it can be viewed as a hybrid, a cloud of data and information that coalesces into a discursive and semiotic space. The eCloud (educational Cloud) is one region of this space. The eCloud is fed and nourished by individuals and groups who follow their passion to know, understand and share information, to make new and update/modify existing knowledge and collectively push the boundaries of the cloud; and ultimately further human wisdom and understanding.

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Down time and space to think

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 12:15:00 +0000

The continued avalanche of data and information has created a form of confusion, more is not necessarily better. While there is lots of concern about obesity due to over consumption and our increasingly sedentary life style of equal importance is what we consume with our minds. The proliferation of media channels does not necessarily result in greater well considered discussion. However; the global reach of technologies like the internet has greatly benefited thinkers, enabling them to reach a global audience for little cost. Perhaps we are entering an ages where good ideas grow within the very media channels that produce the mindless drivel that is in danger of swamping intelligent online conversation... Perhaps
,but it remains to be seen.

This is the book that was the origin on this blog post, I have read it and it is worth while mainly because it gives a fresh perspective on ICT usage.

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Beginings and paradigm shifts, seeking a quite space

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:57:00 +0000

This is the YouTube clip that started it all for me. During this year my (twin) sons were born and children of my sons generation are mentioned in this clip. Now I am approaching my 40's rapidly and have charged into many things web2.0...ish it is time to pause. Yes the net is cool, yes social networking is cool, but clarity is the new horizon to aim for. Finding a quite space within the noise of data & information so one can touch wisdom is now so important. Having face to face time is now more important than ever because it is becoming a rare commodity. In music sometimes you hear the term "Less is More", and also quality not quantity is apt as well, perhaps this should be a mantra for us all to consider.

ICT, don't forget the 'C'

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 10:15:00 +0000

All to often we get excited about the 'I' and the 'T' when talking about ICT in education. This is understandable as it is easier to grasp a concept if it is embodied in an actual solid object, a laptop, iPhone or a digital camera. However,we are textual beings. We are surrounded text, texts in various forms which we absorb by osmosis and eventually we have a head full of semiotic static. Is it time to step back, pause, think then act?

Wordle on minor project/thesis

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 12:20:00 +0000

SharePoint 2010 as an effective Learning Gateway

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 11:11:00 +0000

An interesting presentation about sharepoint in a secondary school context

SharePoint 2010 as an effective Learning Gateway

View more presentations from mikeherrity.

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:38:00 +0000

This is a very stirring speech and it is hard to disagree with him. If we live in the knowledge age then investment in education needs to take highest priority. Not only should education be high priority but the standing of teachers and educators must also be elevated in the eyes of the wider public. All to often we raise persons of fame and fortune to the lofty heights of public adulation only to find the feet of giants are made of clay. Another common view, touted in the IT industry is, "well he got in to College then dropped out and became a billionaire!". Why this maybe true for some very successful IT entrepreneurs it really only tells part of the story. Often forgotten are those who do work hard at University despite great financial and personal challenges and contribute to enriching the culture of a nation. Furthermore, in your local community or city thousands of doctors, engineers, nurses, teachers and countless other professionals create the delicate network of interactions that create the very societies we live in. However, I digress and Sir Ken is right that we need to think differently about education. If we can maintain the creativity and imagination that a young child has and enfold it with a disciplined academic mind that is tolerant of other cultural perspectives and has a well developed ethical compass great things will happen. Now the challenge for education is to create, foster and champion systems, that encourage, grow and empower their citizens to continue to be creative and constructive thinkers, life long learners and also positive nurturing human beings. If we do this not one or a handful of people will be remembered as the paragon of virtue and financial success, but an entire generation will be remembered as the driving force behind a learning revolution. A revolution that we need and have to have.

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:18:00 +0000

| Get your Presentation Pack

Supercomputing the brains secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:52:00 +0000

The strangest thing about this is the way the image of a rose ghosts itself within the visualisation of the data. Another interesting point is the idea that the brain stores a model of the world, almost like a VR world, within which it constantly reflexively refers to. In the context of education this informs us that the mind is in a constant state of re-imaging its surroundings at the same time the past interferes with the present in an effort to explain the experience of the 'now'. Are we in a constant state of becoming? If we are, then realising this constant becoming and bringing this to the forefront of our attention is a demonstration of the perceiving self constructing the 'Now' within - we forge ourselves in a crucible of our own reality.

YouTube - Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:58:00 +0000

- Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide -

I have often thought that once all the worlds data starts talking to itself could we then begin witnessing an emergent global intelligent knowledge network. Data --> Information --> Knowledge -- > Wisdom, where would we locate this network on the continuum? It would be owned by everyone and yet no one, a global human textual corpus.

Reading and teaching IT, don't forget the reading

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:44:00 +0000

It is all to easy to get entranced with technology and forget that unless you can read a lot of the power of technology is not available. The amount of text that the Internet consists of is large and yes there are heaps of movies, images and other interactive items on the net. But the ability to engage with text is paramount in order to participate meaningfully in a learning environment. This clip points out, and rightly so, that a wide range of knowledge can help and support reading. Therefore, those who do not advocate a broad based education at primary and secondary level are really closing off large amounts of human knowledge. A narrow education reduces a students exposure to the richness of human knowledge and understanding.