For the past month or more, my public voice has been somewhat curtailed. Two graduate classes have captured my thinking inside two separate LMS’s. While the principles of reflection and deep thinking have been honoured, the choosing of my personal learning network has not. And while I appreciate the views and opinions of my fellow grad students, I miss the opportunities to reflect more broadly on issues that interest me, and potentially the rest of my network.
I’m back to share, however, the more public part of my work this last month. I was privileged to participate both as a committee member and presenter at the annual conference of the Alberta Technology Leaders in Education (ATLE). We worked hard this year to fulfill a dream to open the conference beyond the registered participants. Synergy 2008 included an interactive website that hosted blogs, forums, and session materials. The keynote presentations and several sessions were ustreamed and recorded. I’m writing this because the website is live and will remain live for review and comment. From innovation to change management, from digital field trips to creating music with students, from personal learning networks to procurement, there is a wealth of information on the site we are happy to share. Go to http://atle.adeta.org to check it out.
I’ve also posted a proposal for a paper about learning with dance and technology for, as Sir Ken Robinson described, “people who have to move to think”. I’d love to connect with others who may be interested in this area.
Reconnecting with my PLN is invigorating. Alice is back.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Richard Schwier // Nov 10, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I love this post, Cindy. Let’s bring this up at our next class when we talk about connectivism.
This is an issue I’ve considered several times, and I guess it is worth mentioning my current thinking (while reserving the right to change it, of course). This isn’t a defense… just want to be transparent, and maybe I haven’t been. In my case, the decision to house the formal class discussions inside a LMS was deliberate, in order to promote a safe and comfortable environment for those who might be concerned about making public everything they might want to say in the class. As you know, several people in our class are new to online conversations, and some are also new to a graduate program after years of being away from the academy. The class invites people to address issues and to take risks in examining those issues – and I’ve found it takes time to build the trust necessary to be open with each other even when everyone is “known” to each other. And while there are some people in the class who would relish the soap box and extended conversations, there are just as many whose voices will be modified or silenced if they think they are talking publicly. There are also some people in the class who are very protective of their privacy (not new, there always are), and that has to take precedence over the preference for some students to hold conversations in public. Doing so might also restrict my voice – to address student conversations in a way that might be misinterpreted by people outside the learning contexts–and I’m trying to get everyone talking. I’m a believer in building learning environments that are inclusive and intimate. This, however, comes at a cost: it means that students who want to engage their wider PLN in conversations about things in the class need to do it in their own spaces—when and where they choose—not when and where I require. I see that as a problematic, but reasonable trade-off for now.
But I try to make my own stuff as available as possible. For example, the course content (my stuff) is open to the public and has been for a long time. Take a look for yourself at <a href=”http://edxserveg5.usask.ca/rick/classes/ecmm802″ http://edxserveg5.usask.ca/rick/classes/ecmm802, and help yourself. The discussions are in the silo, but there is a door where you can scoop out your own grain and share it with whomever you like. You’re not trapped; you just don’t have permission to scoop out everyone else’s grain and put it on the open market.
The most interesting part of all of this for me is the language we use around open learning. We often use language that glorifies one stance and by extension, vilifies another. I’m a big proponent of open learning, but I just haven’t found it to be the only answer. I’m feeling a blog post coming on this topic, but maybe not tonight. I can’t pinpoint when, but @Ingenuity once mentioned that it is important to give full comments in others’ blogs. That struck me as very Canadian – respectful of the person who opened the conversation. I hope that’s what comes across.
Richard Schwiers last blog post..Top 13 Horror Films
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2 rdrunner // Nov 10, 2008 at 5:41 pm
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3 Richard Schwier // Nov 10, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Yeh.. that “death of community” issue is an important one to me too, and it is particularly evident in formal communities housed in LMS. I love your notion of providing leadership to connect people to our external communities so that the explorations continue beyond the confines of a “course.”
Richard Schwiers last blog post..Top 13 Horror Films
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4 Michael // Nov 30, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Nice post … really gets to the source of frustration for many Web 2.0 veterans finding themselves stuck in institutionalized learning environments. However, this opinion is a clear representation of an ed tech veteran … not a novice learner so to speak. Novice in the sense of the use of the technology. I’m concerned some of the back and forth regarding PLEs/PLNs is ignoring the fact that 99.9% of the talk comes from Ed Tech gurus. I understand they know what they are talking about and want to push the envelope. I’m not sure about the legions of novice learners out there however. Your other post regarding these barriers is critical and timely if you ask me. We in Ed Tech have talked ourselves up an ivory tower regarding Web 2.0 so to speak and need to remember the stairs are not for us but for the entire learning community. Are they too steep and do we need better handrails?
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5 rdrunner // Nov 30, 2008 at 8:18 pm
You raise a valid point, Michael, and the one I think that Jen Jones was making. As I work with others that are not as engaged, I am more aware of the need for guides. We need to be those handrails that you speak of – the mentors, guides, and insiders. Just as we know to chunk in instructional design for students, we need to chunk the entry for our colleagues. Start small, create some successes, provide support (can be training or ideas or feedback), and help connect. People will ebb and flow in their networks – but the power of learning is in sharing.
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