Shut my right index finger in the front door this morning… ouch… so don’t expect much in the way of typing today!

‘Firmer’ (?) and more!

OK, I may be an Aussie now (as well as…) but am cursing at each of Ponting’s hard worked runs… grrrr… come on en-ger-land.

Update: 169-4 now, or should that be 4-169… am going to have to crash soon though, most annoying… a bit more ‘coming on’ would be great!

• email subscription plugin for WP
  via infOpinions this looks like another pretty nifty subscribe by email plugin for WP… wonder how it compares with subscribe2… anyone?

I’m embarked on a pretty ambitious project over at Blogsavvy to examine not just the different tools for providing blogs for users in multiple contexts but also to look at examples of these ranging from blogger to edublogs… and to come up with some conclusions about how his can best be done.

This is partly for myself and partly because I’m guessing that:

“what we’ve been exploring up till now is how people use blogs & aggregation individually and how blogs act as alternative publishing / broadcasting media, whereas in 2005 – 2006 we might start to have a reconceptualisation of what exactly blogging is and in light of this what kind of multi-user blogging tools can best facilitate the uses of the technology in business, educational, community and other contexts.”

I’ve created a post which is going to function as a content page (and discussion for extra content / material and more) and have just posted my first offering, on Drupal and would be fascinated to know what people thing of that and the project as a whole…

You can follow the whole series by grabbing the feed.

Elgg radio has kicked off with a fascinating interview with George Siemens on, basically, how we should stop shunting old models / practices through new technologies.

He uses the great comparison of how movies were initially filmed drama (I love me historical comparisons) and fields some pretty full on questions rather well indeed.

You’ll be bale to hear me ranting about blogs in education in between grouting tiles in the nearish future, so go grab the feed.

Nice new look too guys… very professional!

(but do you have permalinks for each show?)

Go write something for this!

New media, networks and new pedagogies (2006)

:: fibreculture :: has established itself as Australasia’s leading forum for discussion of internet theory, culture, and research. The Fibreculture Journal is a peer-reviewed journal that explores the issues and ideas of concern and interest to both the Fibreculture network and wider social formations.

Papers are invited for the ‘New media, networks and new pedagogies’ issue of the Fibreculture Journal, to be published in early 2006. This issue will be guest edited by Adrian Miles.

There are guidelines for the format and submission of contributions at http://journal.fibreculture.org

***

New media, networks and new pedagogies.

It is easy to argue that much of the rhetoric attached to “new media” and the internet in relation to pedagogy has mistaken quantity for quality. It has been a conversation that has confused the qualitative changes that our new conceptions of media, knowledge, and networks afford with the quantitative changes beloved of those who confuse teaching and learning with instruction and consumption. These new qualities are the differences between the vector and commodity, blogs and books.

However, imagine if our universities had been invented now. What would pedagogy be? What form would teaching and learning take? What would count as knowledge? Expertise? What forms would this knowledge take?

Taking this as a departure this issue of the Fibreculture Journal invites those working in new media, internet studies, education, and cognate disciplines to discuss the strengths and celebrate the possibilities that new media and its networks affords teaching and learning. The emphasis in this issue is not on the criticism or description of existing models and paradigms but to invite the exploration and celebration of new possibilities, real or imagined. What new knowledge formations should there be? How would they be taught? How could they assessed (if at all)? What critical academic work, and in what forms, would our students be producing?

Submissions are welcomed in any relevant format, including essay, hypertext, interactive time based media, projects, or imaginary annotated curricula.

Please send abstracts or enquiries to Guest Editor Adrian Miles adrian.miles[at]rmit(dot)edu(dot)au with “fibreEducation” as the subject header. Alternative material (eg interviews, curricula, interactive work, podcasts) are all able to be considered for publication and are welcomed.

Abstracts and proposals should no be no longer than 500 words and must outline the relevance of the key ideas, methodology and format.

Abstracts due: October 14, 2005
Responses to authors: November 14th 2005
Final work due: February 6, 2005

… hmmm, something tells me that I should spend more time that I’m about to on considering the free curriculum discussion from Wales>Reynolds>Downes>Reynolds>Downes.

(reminds me of something Greg Ritter used to do… come back Greg… please!)

Here’s my take… in 95% of cases curriculum is artificial, unhelpful and obstructive. Learning has in many contexts become what it is not about, content.

I believe that all education proceeds by the participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race… I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child’s powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself. (John Dewey 1897)

…only through communication can human life hold meaning. The teacher’s thinking is authenticated only by the authenticity of the students’ thinking. The teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thought on them. Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. (Paulo Freire 1970)

Yes, information and ‘knowledge’ is becoming more freely and widely available through projects such as the ones mentioned by Rob, yes there is a positive need and demand for materials / curriculum / call-it-what-you-will and, in a practicable sense, you can’t do without the stuff in todays classroom.

But fer crissakes let’s not get bogged down in it… let’s not replicate the embedded and deeply flawed transmissive models we’ve been endowed with (and which, if anything, have picked up steam through this digital ‘revolution’ we’re experiencing) and please please please don’t go developing kinder curriculum or aiming for ‘a complete curriculum… by 2040’… like there’s *one* set of stuff that’s all we need.

Wales is right, he is making this prediction “completely by the “seat of [his] pants.””… but unfortunately he’s also talking out of them…

:o)

Wow… we passed 250 over the weekend which now gives us 254 edublogs.

Not bad for a first week :)

Personally I’ve just spent the last two days plumbing, tiling, painting and at Bunnings… so haven’t had a chance to do anything in terms of features… but have very sore hands and am not sure whether I’m most happy about plumbing in this emerging community or the bathroom sink I have *almost* got going at home….

Either way… if you could keep on spreading the edublog word – especially through listservs (aiming at people who don’t already have a blog) then I’ll be a very happy bunny!

I edited the about page to say:

“edublogs.org is a no-profit adventure into providing free WordPress blogs and hosting for teachers, students, researchers, librarians, writers and anyone who is interested in or working in education.”

Does that sound about OK?

Gizmo looks interesting as a SIP based Skype alternative … is anyone using it?

If you are and wanna try it out… my username is, as ever, jamesnfarmer