Yesterday, I took our two boys (aged 6 and 3) to a place where they could be their best. Not the only such place but a great one nevertheless. The place is called Naturescape, free and right in the heart of Perth’s Kings Park. It is an impressive place with a particularly impressive (if not …
Category Archive: 3. Change?
Sometimes a deeper look at changes (not) occurring as a result of growth of digital technologies.
Mar 05
What if the educational system IS working well?
I have been around the ‘change education’ discussion for a while now. I have argued for changes. I have heard the myriad of grand visions of changers and edu-pundits, waded through the ocean of cliches and (mostly) flowery visions pretty much lambasting the status quo of mainstream schooling. And for the record, I have never …
Feb 14
Mad or what?
This isn’t a ‘flipped classroom’. This isn’t ‘disruptive’ pedagogy or ‘disruptive technology’. This isn’t (just) about what is often understood as ‘critical thinking skills’. I had tinkered with it and applied it in pieces in a mainstream school. Only in dosaged pieces because at the heart of it, this thing goes against the purpose embedded …
Dec 15
What I learned in 2011
My big(gest) lessons and reminders of 2011: The importance of doing what you love doing in your career. I never have or will regret joining Moodle HQ but I never have or will regret leaving Moodle HQ this year either. Thank you Martin & Moodle HQ. I love Moodle and its community but I am …
Oct 06
Overschooled and undereducated
Yesterday, I read and keenly tweeted a link of a(nother) excellent post by Ira Socol (@irasocol) called ‘Schools That Matter‘. It’s vintage, eloquent Ira. A few replies later, I noted a link shared by Geoff Alemand (@scratchie, thanks mate) that pointed to an absolute gem, shared below. I borrow the post title from a book …
Jul 21
Great Moot but …
Quick slideshow… This is what I tweeted at the end of 2011 Australian Moodle Moot 2011: To sum up #mootau11: We flew First Class! Thank you @ns_allanc [Allan Christie] and @netspot crew. It was truly wonderful. Great ideas, great people, great venue, great organisation, great community vibe. It was a three day Moodle love-in. Highlights …
Jun 28
Performance vs Learning
I am getting a little tired of unreflective grade-and-test-bashers, silver-tongued and ‘inspirational’ gurus on the educational speaking circuit peddling a rosy picture of learning and lame ‘garden-like’ analogies. I am getting even more tired of assessment-standard-accountability-statistically-crazed literacy-with-funding, 3Rs, ‘core knowledge’, test and merit pay, bean counters, vote counters and ‘good old days’ pundits. Well, the …
Mar 14
Ed-tech snake oil
A re-read of an old gem (Postman’s speech ‘Informing Ourselves to Death) and a brief conversation with @pcoutas at our local Sunday morning markets prompted me to note a few questions that just scream to be asked every time people talk about ed-tech tools and their use. What problem will use of [insert a tool] …
Mar 04
Ed-tech Ferrari in first gear – why change?
This is a reply to a healthy ‘ring’ of posts by Mark Drechsler (Learning technologies – should the tail wag the dog? – an excellent string of replies growing there!), David Jones (The dissonance between the constructivist paradigm and the implementation of institutional e-learning) and Mark Smithers (e-learning at Universities: A Quality Assurance Free Zone?). I …
Feb 11
The ultimate question
Pompous title? Read to the end and that may change Yesterday I watched an avalanche on Twitter, for lack of better analogy. Within minutes, a very casual pondering of a couple of good, open ended questions (OK, let’s call them philosophical) between Bianca Hewes and myself turned into a frenzy of criss-crossing replies by almost …
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