Hey, we got an ace write up in the Blog Herald, go read it :)

Why ever not.

Will beat that pillow thing that never happened :)

Mike Temple has started an Edublogs Tutorials blog… ace :)

Edublogs working out well.

After hassles of getting new students logged on to Blogger, email not working for students in the first couple of weeks of school, etc I (on the recommendation of many Year 8 students) have started a new class blog at room3tai.edublogs.org.

Edublogs certainly allows more variety in presentations, widgets etc and the students did not need an email account. I was able to add them to my gmail account.

Rock on!

Sweet, have added the new divshare WordPress plugin to edublogs – so now you can upload and unlimited amount with individual files up to 200MB.

No no, no no no no, no no no no, no no there’s no limits :)

In terms of number of ‘Australian’ blogs, perhaps not, but in terms of blogs & stats for a site run from Australia, maybe…

Anyway, here’s more interesting analysis from Meg, whose Dipping into the blogpond I’ve been enjoying of late.

You’ve served me well
For a number of years
But I have to go now
Bloglines, my dear.

You were an absolute joy
When Radio I left
But I’m afraid that right now
I’m not so bereft

Yes, you were usable
Yes, you were my first
Web-based aggregator,
But now you are cursed

On a daily basis,
I’m afraid this is so,
You screw up my sites
You make them so slow,

Your concurrent connections
To my database
Have driven me crazy
My load times a disgrace

I’ve throttled you back
With a tweak of the ear
But as a result,
You’re rubbish my dear.

So to reader I go
With a fond parting wave
Until you teach your crawler
How to fucking behave.

I’ve spent a lot of time committing a lot of stuff to paper – digital or otherwise – and a similarly large chunk of my life waffling on to whoever’s in the vicinity.

I must’ve talked to everyone from taxi drivers to state politicians about how education is being ruined by technology – how the transmissive, stifling, market-driven pedagogies of the Blackboard and WebCTs of the world are taking us back twenty or more years in terms of what we actually know about teaching and learning.

CC Jenkin

Shit, it’s been said not just by me but at every conference in every corner of the world in which I inhabit that we’re in trouble, that learning isn’t about content management and quizzes and that these social technologies, web2 if you like, are going to save us.

And I agree, these technologies have to potential to be absolutely transformative: By incorporating subversion into the design of our educational technology, by focusing our efforts not on thr ‘class’ but on the individuals who make up the class and by moving beyond the ‘oh so painful’ discussion board and ‘chat room’… we can make changes that will influence teaching and learning for the better.

We know that teaching and learning isn’t about the technology, but we also know that if you put every teacher you have into a lecture theatre – odds on most of them are going to give a lecture. The technology does matter. It shapes what we do as much, if not moreso, than our physical environments shape our everyday lives.

But I’m sick and tired of talking about this – and not sure that I agree that the best way to make a diference is to attempt to excert political pressure. We can talk till we’re blue in the face and Blackboard will pick up more licenses.

The only way we can make a difference is by offering viable alternatives, which are so damn pedagogically, technologically and economically attractive that they can’t help but work. And it’s not too hard, we know how to do it, that’s what we’ve been talking about all this time.

CC DH Wright

And it’s happening. Tools like Elgg go a long way towards that. Moodle may well be premised on some pretty conservative ideas of how online learning can actually work, but it’s a project to be admired.

It’s exactly what I’m trying to do with Edublogs and Edublogs Premium. To make a positive difference to teaching and learning through technology. And I don’t want to stop at offering blogs.

Let’s actually get in there and take education forward, I’m sick of saying the same things all the time.

Install a copy of Elgg, set-up a Moodle, get an Edublog – and spend your time offering a viable alternative rather that voicing a well worn complaint.

Had a great time this morning participating in the mother of all of this online community stuff – talkback radio!

My opponent fellow contributor was Cameron from The Podcast Network and while it was tough to really get into the issue – and I was a bit blown away by being in the same room as a man whose voice much of Melbourne is familiar with – I reckon we covered some interesting ground.

Cameron’s take is on it here and we’re going to extend the conversation – plus a fair bit on Edublogs Premium – on G’Day world soon – so I’ll let you know when that comes out.

And, with my other hat on, I’ll be on Melbourne radio ABC 774 tomorrow battling it out with Cameron Reilly over the future of media.

Gonna be fun – tune in if you’re in the area… it may or may not be podcast.