Our application to create a new public, online high school based on OERs has been approved!
http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/499 Now the real work begins... D On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 4:01 PM, simonfj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Leigh, > > Sorry this has taken so long. A lot going on at present. > > Re the blog. What would I want want with a blog when people like you > say everything so much better than me? > > You know i inhabit lots of forums like this one - some inside > institutions, some (like this) on the border, some which represent the > new (global) institutions like sitepoint. The nearest thing to a blog > = http://me.edu.au/p/Simonfj > > It's not much but you know it's constructed by education.au, and > they're starting to see that me.edu.au could also be an Aussie's > lifelong learning account = an OpenID to other .edu and .gov.au > domains. > > Like most institutions, the edna guys have a problem separating > eteaching from elearning. > http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=25285#78420 > But there getting there. Conflation is such a wonderful description > isn't it? > > You might want to keep tabs on Moodle's Social lounge. > http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=6801 > And compare it to what Wayne''s doing and the (unreported) Tectonic > Shift between wiki stuff. > > We seem to be at the stage now where there's starting to be some focus > on the Real Time Communications stuff. The 'web 2.0' focus is tiring > now = so many domains producing so many "me too" courses/information. > But the driving factor is that the National telcos have squeezed the > lemon dry (with VoIP, etc) and Skype has attuned global communities to > just how much they are ripped off. So all those skills you've picked > up by working with it should prove to be useful as its Open versions > grow legs. > > I can't push this (my lady is sooo ill, so i can't get out) but i do > have a patent which should be useful as the geeks start focusing on > this little challenge. > http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1172 > > In the meantime, thanks for all your stuff and others around this > space (Wayne). It keep sane to see so much creativity and common sense > in the one place. > Here's one other. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66 > regards, > http://me.edu.au/p/Simonfj > > > > > On Apr 26, 7:15 am, "Leigh Blackall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Well said Simon. Do you keep a blog I'm not aware of? I'd like to be >> following this type of advice and insight. >> >> Regarding very slight change all too slowly... >> >> The thing I am seeing more and more of in the institutions and the people >> like me that have been in them for far too long, is the adoption of the >> rhetoric but not the action. >> >> I am seeing many projects get funded based on their 'participatory' models, >> their openness, their 'action' research. But in reality they don't have >> anything near participation or openness, and as a result very little action >> to then research. >> >> Simple things like, a fella in charge of a project organising a public >> seminar to launch the project, in which 3 other fellas position themselves >> centre stage and proceed to TELL everyone what they have planned. Typically, >> they have not organised any back channel, their feedback loop (if they have >> one) involves sending an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] that gets no reply. And >> at >> the end of the seminar people walk out feeling ripped off that they missed >> their fav TV show to attend it and NOT participate. >> >> I'm sure this is the way it has always been, but today it is even worse >> because we have all the lobby and research that says participation and >> oppenness is the way, and the government and funding bodies are positioning >> their criteria for this, but the measures and accountability for >> participation and oppeness are not in place. As a result, millions of $ are >> being awarded to some projects for people who are simply good at wearing >> rhetoric without really changing their action. Their reports end up the same >> camelion output. >> >> I hope all this ranting is trikiing a chord your end, because I am seeing it >> more and more, and it is concerning me a great deal. >> >> So, your suggestion to get the grant and do it 'ourselves'. Would we do it >> any better? Given that to get the grant we have to adopt both theirs and our >> rhetoric AND be accountable to that? The projects I am a part of that have >> that accountability involve so many compromises that its easy to lose sight >> of what you were trying to do in the first place. >> >> How can we obtain resources and retain the freedom to act and react quickly >> and spontaneously like we have done so all along? Is this what the US >> ideology of free markets and corporatism is trying to tell us? This self >> organising principle based on a very simple funding arrangement of user pays >> and demand... >> >> I'm starting to wonder off and become incoherent (if I'm not totally that >> way already). >> >> In short, it seems that we ARE doing it already, and each of us individually >> dragging our institutional blobs and resources along with us. I have managed >> to position my job and its performance indicators so that my work with >> Wikieducator can be sustained. So in that way, the institution I am working >> in is changing, and I have the freedom to act and react in that new >> framework. When I started, they would have had me work in their LMS. So if >> we can get enough people doing that (positioning their job into this Wikied >> utility web service), we might start seeing more sustained resources into >> Wikieducator's participatory and open model, and the individual freedoms >> with that. At the moment, I suspect that most people are simply dabbling in >> Wikieducator and are doing so outside their job description and performance >> indicators. >> >> So either things like WIkieducaor continue on that path and be patient, CoL >> and other facilitators doing what they can to promote and develop it. And/or >> we find a way that will suddenly tip the balance in a Google/Youtube kind of >> way that involves us getting a large amount of money and working outside our >> institutions with a very to subverting them... > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
