Stephen Downes - A very, very special guest
I don’t think I have to do anything more to introduce this incredible human being than to copy and past one of his DAILY newsletters. And add a few links. Welcome aboard Stephen Downes, a class act if ever there was one!
Here is a copy of his September 22 newsletter. Subscribe to Stephen and you get one of these every single day. Do I need say more?
The following is all from one of Stephen’s Newsletters (and heavily snipped) — This man never sleeps! What a joy to hear from.
Stephen writes: September 22
Archives
E-learning links and commentary by Stephen Downes
September 22, 2006
OLDaily
Stephen Downes Journal
22 September 2006 (sample)
So today wraps up another week on the road, with an abbreviated newsletter this week, due to very poor internet access and to being in six hotels in six days. I am frankly chafing against the restrictions at the moment, as I am shuttled from place to place, with no knowledge of where I am going, no sense of where I have been, hustled about with no time to reflect or read or post, and placed in events where the discussion swirls about on issues and trends alien to my own sense of things. As I said to one person, this conference is on one track, I am on another. More on this later, when I get a few seconds to myself (though you can see the themes permeating my posts).
Anyhow, I have managed to squeeze enough internet access through the last week to upload several sets of photos (nowhere near enough time to title them or write descriptions, though).
About Christopher D Sessum — Getting it right socially
Reflections from ALT-C 2006, Sessums : Weblog September 22, 2006
Here it is again. Is it just me? Or is it merely that I am just especially sensitive to it? “Is the locus of control of learning different given ICTs and social software and what should educators do? … Social software, ICT, the Internet, education… it’s all about people. Control should be a matter of choice. After all, isn’t that what democracy is all about?” Also: more on Alt-C: Transforming Learning: Evolution or Revolution. It would have been interesting to be there, though I’m glad I wasn’t.
Someone Conviviality and the FLNW (un) Conference,
Yes. This is exactly what I am taking away from the New Zealand experience thus far: “What I came to think in the early hours of this morning is that one issue that is central to our imaginings about learning in a networked world, one issue that represents the weight of all that has been, is how we understand freedom. “We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship.’” Hear hear (feeling very unfree at the moment).
Marc Meola
Facebook to Open to All, ACRLog September 22, 2006
My take: if your behaviour is such that opening it to public access is a source of distress, then you ought probably not to have indulged in that behaviour in the first place. As for a community reserved exclusively for those rich enough to afford university tuition fees - well, you can probably guess my take on that.
Steven B Sudden Thoughts And Second Thoughts,
ACRLog September 22, 2006
Hm. I’m feeling some of this at the moment. “… a lone dissenter is likely to fear voicing his or her opinion because with technology tools backlash can be magnified and distributed far more quickly. So even if there are some flaws in the post - a lone dissenter is unlikely to make that known for fear of instant backlash.” I have been thinking today about the distinction between groups and networks. Groups require unity, networks require diversity. Groups require coherence, networks require autonomy. Groups require privacy or segregation, networks require openness. Groups require focus of voice, networks require interaction. The group I am with right now is very intent on being a group. That doesn’t interest me. I have no wish to lose my identity and my freedom, my empowerment. Because a group is subject to this very objection - backlash, groupthink, the works. But a network is not.
Joachim Niemeier Enterprise 2.0,
7 Days and More September 22, 2006
Ross Mayfield has discovered neural networks, or at least, has discovered the article by By M.R. Rangaswami of the Sand Hill Group, who has discovered neural networks. “The software of Enterprise 2.0 will be flexible, simple and lightweight. It will be created using an infinite combination of the latest - and possibly, some old-fashioned - ingredients.”
Tim Grant Rendell Launches Program to Put Laptops in Classrooms, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette September 21, 2006
The governor of Pennsylvania is announcing “the start of a three-year, $200 million program to furnish high school classrooms with laptop computers and wireless Internet access.” This is good, but there’s something weird about the idea of “a laptop computer on every desk” - shouldn’t laptops be associated with individual students? Computing is personal. Via ASCD SmartBrief.
Wikipedia:School and University Projects,
Wikipedia September 21, 2006
Useful page on Wikipedia that provides advice, examples and templates to assist in the use of Wikipedia in the classroom. “An advantage of this over regular homework is that the student is dealing with a real world situation, which is not only more educative but also makes it more interesting (”the world gets to see my work”), probably resulting in increased dedication. Besides, it will give the students a chance to collaborate on course notes and papers, and their effort will remain online for reference, instead of being discarded and forgotten as is usual with paper course-work.”
I’ve snipped and snipped…but you get the point.
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