Now, having finished David Shenk’s, The Genius in All of Us, I’d like to continue my reflection on the importance of this work to educators, students and parents. The notes I made while reading, using that function on my Kindle, highlight that our quintessential thinkers, in Western civilisation, have always suspected that giftedness’ was a […]
The PBS public affairs series Frontline recently aired, Distracted by Everything, the first episode in digital_nation – life on the virtual frontier about multitasking. Henry Jenkins has a word of warning about the program though, he suggests the documentary ‘panders to the biases’ of viewers. His analysis of how students multitask is important and comments about the dangers of […]
Satire, has long been humanity’s answer to limited, ignorant public policy. Enjoy this parody of American educational policies that have failed.
I support transparency, governments sharing information with citizens and believe schools must improve by using data, along with a range of other innovations. I applaud the Federal Government’s Digital and Building Education Revolution policies, while recognising far greater vision is needed, as they go nowhere near far enough in regards to innovation or funding. I believe that Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard […]
I’ve decided to pronounce the year “twenty-ten”. Not sure what the popular wisdom on this matter will be but I suspect most will continue with the “two thousand and…” that we have been using for the first decade of the 21st century. “Twenty-ten” sounds like the never-arriving future is here – and I like that! It is a minor […]
It really would be worth taking some time to explore the nominated blogs, wikis, tweeps, nings and educators nominated for Eddies this year. I intend to look at all of them during the holidays and reorganise my Google Reader to reflect my current interests. After reading Miguel Guhlin’s post it got me thinking about what is […]
I’ve now read a book on my Kindle and feel the time has come for a brief review. Firstly, I’m glad I purchased the device and have no reservations about the outlay of approximately $300. I am happy with the leather cover and the weight of the Kindle. The fact that one can add documents , […]
Context This brief, largely informal and reflective (draft) paper for the Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Online Course, is written with the intention of positioning Connectivism in context, for educational leaders intent on developing new pedagogy in Australian schools appropriate to the digital age. It is perhaps, not what was intended for this assignment but is an accurate reflection of my perceptions of the […]
Disruptive technologies You may remember that I almost bought an iLiad last year. I had been after an e-reader for quite a while but the available product was just not good enough to purchase. The release of the Kindle 2 re-awakened my digital lust earlier this year. Today, my Google Reader presented *drum roll* Amazon’s Reader Comes to Australia […]
This week, like many learning professionals around the globe, I commenced an online course to disrupt all online courses, Connectivism & Connective Knowledge. The #CCK09 MOODLE has many resources and you can drop by and read all the participant introductions. ‘Connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that […]
Last year I started asking around, on Twitter, for the origin of the acronyms that I was reading so much about. ‘Personal Learning Networks’ (PLNs) and ‘Personal Learning Environments’ (PLEs) were so often used by the educators that I was following that it was surprising no-one really could source them. Recently, I have had more […]
The glacial pace of change in Education is a theme constantly discussed by colleagues I admire but mostly I hear the opposite, that change is too relentless, too challenging. Systems seem to have some inbuilt, organic way of slowing change – preserving the status quo – and even when the paradigm shift is acknowledged, key players seem unable to generate the […]
I always like to start the school year with a clear sense of direction and personal professional priorities and goals; a sort of pre-reflection, if that makes sense. It goes without saying that one needs, as an educator, to be a: – better learner – better teacher – better leader and to do something personally […]
We are in a Golden Age, by any measure, us, who reside in NSW in the first decade of the 21st century. Agree? However, it seems that I hear nothing but negativity from a diverse range of people – the media, educationalists, parents, my Mum and Dad – anyone would think that comparative to past […]
Welcome to this ‘Blogs and Blogging’ ETA workshop. We have 30 computers but with so many particpants you may have to share a computer, which may work out well as we collaborate today (and in the future?) to develop our blogs and networks. The rubric for the workshop: The media landscape, especially journalism, has undergone […]
Since Mark Pesce spoke about Twitter at an education.au conference earlier in the year, I have been embarrassingly evangelical about this microblogging service. Quite simply, Twitter lets you microblog pithy 140 characters posts, known as ‘tweets’, to your friends or followers. This often seems inane to the uninitiated but the growing number of influential educators and teacher […]
The nation’s newspapers reported on the release of the National English Curriculum: Initial Advice paper with the following opening lines: ‘GRAMMAR will return to the classroom‘ ‘CHILDREN will be taught grammar for the first time in more than 30 years’ ‘ENGLISH will be stripped back to basics under a draft national curriculum so students learn more […]
My family had the opportunity to visit Monet and the Impressionists at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney on the weekend and my 4 year old daughter’s enthusiasm to learn (without this ever being discussed) was both a joy and instructive to the educator within. I always get an audio guide – when […]
Posting about ‘reflection’ always gives rise to more of the same. It made me feel less than I’d like to be when I suggested my motivation to be a DP was merely, “…for financial reasons“. There’s more that can be said on this point that links to perhaps the greatest social experiment the country has […]
Actually went to Dymocks in George Street and checked out the iLiad. I really wanted to buy one with the money earned judging the SMH Young Writer Comp but couldn’t justify the outlay for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I had the salesman search for the PDF of the last few novels I read and […]
DHS needs to plan creatively and carefully in order to position the school effectively to reap the benefits of the Federal Governments funding of the ‘digital revolution’ for 2009 and beyond. The challenges are many but the opportunities afforded our school community are great. The following outlines a course of action designed to: […]
Colleagues, Increasingly students must take responsibility for their own learning and the teacher becomes more of a facilitator, creating the conditions that allow individuals to progress at their own pace. Self-directed and independent learning will become the norm and the teacher will have more freedom to be the ‘guide on the side’ rather […]
Tuning in to the zeitgeist is a full-time job and one that educators are uniquely situated to both understand and interpret. How many other professions have such an opportunity to analyse the march of generations and the cultural climate of the times while reflecting on the nature of knowledge and learning? How can an educator […]
I was disappointed that – to my knowledge – no colleague at work took up the Dailylit service suggestion. It is a joy to find a thought-provoking piece you can read in a few minutes in your inbox. I’ve been reading The Best of Technology Writing 2006/7 by installment via this service and it has been brilliant. […]