Learning

Learning

Academic Freedom Goes Boink

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James Farmer is an educational technology consultant for an [unnamed] university. James has provided me with some good advice on ed tech and blogging from time to time. As an internal consultant, he is keeping abreast of technological and pedagogical advances in order to better serve his clients (faculty and students). James has been looking at blogs, wikis and other technologies that are not currently being used by his university, and has written about his observations on his blog. James’ blog is a great resource for those working in higher education. Recently he received some feedback from his supervisor:

Last Tuesday I received a memorandum from a manager cc?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d by am exec. director instructing me to cease supporting and promoting weblogging, wikis or any other technology not officially supported by the University. The basic reason given being that I have, anecdotally, not used the CMS (this isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t true, I always use it) and that ?¢‚ǨÀúcommentary?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ on the issue of CMSs (quoted I think from this blog or another I set up for a course) is unacceptable. A set-up for disciplinary action should I not follow instructions.

I think that this is a case of universities and private corporations being too closely linked. There is a growing interest in open source educational software, which is just as good, if not better, than many of the proprietary systems. Therefore, it is getting more and more difficult to justify the huge license fees for these proprietary systems, so we are seeing some heavy-handed reaction to pro-OSS comments. By the way, most blogs and wikis are built on open source software.

Please take the time to read the whole article, as well as the comments, and post your own if you feel so inclined.

Update: James has posted more on what has transpired, which seems to be moving in a positive direction for his job – "In relation to my job, after some further communication it now seems like I may be able to continue to pursue this area as part of my ?¢‚ǨÀúprofessional research interest?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢, which is great if a little unwieldy (as each project I enter into is now going to have to have research / publication outcomes, gulp), but the objection to promotion and support within the University remains the same." – as well as some additional ethical questions.

 

Drucker on Schools

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Peter Drucker, renowned writer on management and the knowledge society, has these thoughts on school and learning:

“Delivering literacy — even on the high level appropriate to a knowledge society — will be an easier task than giving students the capacity and the knowledge to keep on learning, and the desire to do it. No school system has yet tackled that job. There is an old Latin tag: Non schola sed vita discimus (We don’t learn for school but for life). But neither teacher nor student has ever taken it seriously. Indeed, except for professional schools — medicine, law, engineering, business — no school to the best of my knowledge has even tried to find out what its students have learned. We compile voluminous records of examination results. But l know of no school that tests the graduates ten years later on what they still know of the subjects — whether mathematics, a foreign Language, or history — in which they got such wonderful marks. We do know, however, how people learn how to learn. In fact, we have known it for two thousand years. The first and wisest writer on raising small children, the great Greek biographer and historian Plutarch, spelled it out in a charming little book, Paidea (Raising Children), in the first century of the Christian era. All it requires is to make learners achieve. All it requires is to focus on the strengths and talents of learners so that they excel in whatever it is they do well. Any teacher of young artists — musicians, actors, painters — knows this. So does any teacher of young athletes. But schools do not do it. They focus instead on a learner’s weaknesses. One cannot build performance on weaknesses, even on corrected ones; one can build performance only on strengths. And these the schools traditionally ignore, in fact, consider more or less irrelevant. Strengths do not create problems — and schools are problem-focused.”

The above selection is from Peter F. Drucker’s “The New Realities”, as quoted in Newscan Daily, which is [was] available by free subscription.

I have felt for a long time that our institutions have failed to foster the love of learning, and do not motivate students to learn for themselves — in many cases it’s the opposite. I believe that the main cause of this is the continuing focus on subject-based curriculum. We do not live our lives in subject areas, and no workplace is subject-based, but almost all of our curricula are stuffed into category silos. Schools have to take a multi-disciplinary approach, and endeavour to develop process-related skills such as critical thinking, learning how to learn, problem-solving and researching. The subject area is only grist for the cognitive mill, so find out what motivates young learners and let them study any subject, but help them to learn for themselves.

M-Learning from Canada

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Local company, Engage Interactive, is bringing e-learning to handhelds. With its PDA courseware, Engage is looking at expanding its markets:


“We expect our PDA courseware technology to be especially popular outside North America,” said Mr. Heinstein [VP Software Development]. “According to the market firm IDC, China has become the second largest market in the world for handheld computers. Mark Perkins at iBIZ claims the PDA and handheld market is exploding in Europe. And Latin America already has more wireless Internet subscribers than land-based. The market for small wireless internet devices is expected to grow to $73 billion dollars in 2005.”

A demo course, Caring for a Diabetic Patient With Acute Coronary Syndrome is available for viewing.

Learning States

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RTI International has been developing a framework for international development over the past two years, called Learning States. This is a new approach, with significant funding from various multinational corporations (MNC), focused on the base of the world’s economic pyramid (BOP). As MNC’s see their first world markets becoming saturated, but without a strategy to meet the needs of emerging markets, RTI has created this initiative to foster sustainable job and livelihood development.

The Learning States for Growing Economies white paper, co-authored by Hal Richman, gives an overview of the strategy.

Using the lens of learning and innovation,
Learning States is brokering a series of
partnerships to connect (1) the world’s leading MNCs seeking to grow new markets at the BOP; (2) local business, government, and economic development leaders in emerging market states (EMS); and (3) donor organizations
interested in economic and job growth. These learning partnerships will be guided by a new model for growing markets, jobs, and prosperity. Specifically, the Learning States design process creates a space for innovation by selecting pilot sites where traditional business models will not work. As MNC and local business leaders generate ideas for innovative
products and services, the Learning States team brings in local stakeholder groups, such as educators, policymakers, and government officials, who are committed to identifying new opportunities and creating new value in emerging markets.

Perhaps some of the insights on learning and innovation can also be used here in Atlantic Canada, especially since Hal lives in Nova Scotia.

Free social software sandbox for teachers

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James Farmer is offering a place for teachers to test out social and pedagogical software technologies:

So, by providing free-for-teachers hosting, installation, support and consultation for weblogs, wikis, CMSs and more, I figure I get to learn an enormous amount (which will certainly help me in my career), help some frustrated teachers out and show the light to others who would have a lot of trouble technically getting there. Well worth a few bucks a month I think.

The software suite also includes synchronous tools and discussion boards; and the CMS is Drupal. Go ahead and try it out.

NB Innovation Forum

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At the NB Innovation Forum in Fredericton yesterday, members of CSTD and HRANB got together for a session with Don Simpson. Don has a wealth of experience and many stories to share. Don said that the “next big thing” is NIBC convergence (NIBC = nano, info, bio, cogno). Here are his axioms for the knowledge economy, gleaned from many sources:

  1. The Knowledge Economy is an economy of networks.
  2. Matter matters less (increasingly value is found in the intangible assets).
  3. Markets are now conversations and are self-organizing faster than the companies that have traditionally served them.
  4. The language of the Knowledge Economy is the language of systems thinking.
  5. Collaboration is the DNA (the fundamental element) of the Knowledge Economy.

Many of you are familiar with these, from The Cluetrain, and other sources, but for some in the audience I think that these were revelations. It’s good to see the message getting out in more traditional venues. Other items of interest during the course of the day were:

Blogs or LMS?

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Jeremy Hiebert makes an interesting comparison between blogs and LMS in higher education:

But then I really cringed when I hit the conluding sentence: "A blogging tool would be a valuable addition, therefore, to any LMS." No, no, no, no, NO.



In spirit, blogs are the opposite of a Learning Management System like WebCT. If you lock personal publishing away inside an LMS, it’s the equivalent of yet another crappy discussion board in a course. Blogs work because people are engaged in their own interests and can find their network from the entire world. An LMS constrains the topic, assignments and partipants, closing off any potential for authentic outside interaction and personal engagement.

Could not have said it better myself – it’s about learner control.

 

Next NB – what’s next?

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I attended the Next NB education discussion session at Mount Allison University this evening. Not a lot of of people showed up, given conflicting appointments and the rather poor advertising, or maybe just due to apathy. I found out why the website doesn’t work, and now Lisa, our facilitator, has my utmost sympathy.

There were 15-20 people in attendance; most of whom were middle-aged or older. Attendees included university professors, retired professors, school disctrict representatives, teachers’ association representatives and others – not quite what one would call vox populi. I made comments based on my previous posts, so I won’t repeat them here. Some other interesting comments were:

  • We should bring back the teaching of civics in school.
  • We need to be inclusive of all minorities.
  • We expect too much of our teachers.
  • We should reinstate apprenticeship programmes.
  • Low expectations are a critical problem.

As you can see, it was quite the potpourri of perspectives this evening. Not much was accomplished, but all comments were recorded. My suggestion to link to other blogs and conversations will be taken up, and I’m told that there will be links to this blog on the Next NB site.

A document entitled A Covenant with our Children: Education in New Brunswick (PDF) was handed out tonight. From the document:

  • We must embrace the movement towards standards-based assessment, increased accountability and greater social inclusion. [interesting trio]
  • Principals and vice-principals should be removed from the collective bargaining unit of the New Brunswick Teacher’s Union (sic) [is that why there were two reps from the NBTA in attendance?]
  • Education reform is too important to allow the voices of teachers to be barred from the conversation. That discussion must include an open dialogue about French immersion. [and the students?]

Lots of stuff to digest, but I kept asking myself, will this exercise change anything? I’ll finish with an often quoted observation from Albert Einstein:

The world we have created today as a result of our thinking thus far, has problems that cannot be solved by thinking the way that we thought when we created them.