Monthly Archives: August 2005

Oasis in the desert of busyness

I quite like this version of what blogging is about and for:

When a learner sits down and blogs, she/he is engaging in a reflective process. Nebulous thoughts and feelings are put to words. External ideas are scrutinized. The natural capacity of harmonizing our emotions and thoughts with ideas and concepts is evoked. A small cognitive and emotional oasis in the desert of busynes[s]. And, I imagine more learning occurs in only a few minutes here than hours any where else…
(from Siemens’ Connectivism Blog, a real treasure)

…and I’m thinking that this is another facet of Gardner Campbell’s notion of “real school”, and that Rudy Rucker’s wetware fits in too. Obviously.

Alan Levine nails it

…What is more important are the skills in being able to re-skill oneself or to move away from “mastery” to knowing where to find fellow practitioners…
CogDogBlog, last night

Oh but I wish I’d said that. And now we have some effective answers, in various facets of social software. The problem I’ve had is getting the attention of those who need to know about RSS etc. but don’t yet.

Just so

From blog of proximal development:

Our role as educators, to paraphrase Lessig, is to ensure that the past, the linear, visual mode of thinking give rise to but does not limit the creativity and the energy of emerging technologies. This can happen only if we recognize that we cannot impose the old upon the new just as we cannot create the new in a vacuum. It is our job to ensure that our students acquire the skills necessary to intelligently share their views, whether it’s in a wiki, an every-day conversation, or a traditional five-paragraph essay. We need to ensure, as Prensky suggests, that they learn both the “legacy” and “future” content. To do that, we need to acquire the skills of digital pioneers, we need to “remix and feed forward.”

…We are pioneers. We bring the experience with us and we are constantly discovering new territories and adopting to them with efficiency and speed. We “Filter, repurpose, remix, feed forward” to use Stephen [Downes’] words again. We might be newcomers according to Prensky but we come with the tools we need to filter the old, remix with the new, and give our students the skills they need to participate and not just “surf.”