Teaching Generation Z
Link:
Introducing The EduGroupie
Graham Wegner introduces us to Flat Chat Learning, who in turn introduces us to the concept of the edugroupie and who points to a Blog by Carol post telling people where they can find new edublogs (not from here, though, apparently). Introducing The EduGroupie , Teaching Generation Z, March 9, 2009.
Multiliteracies Conference Notes
There's a lot of scepticism surrounding the whole idea of multiliteracies. Which I suppose is not really surprising - after all, it is seen as "TV studies" in some circles, and it's hard to imagine that it's a real academic discipline that will actually show anything of value in the long run. And it doesn't help when we are told - for the umpteenth time that "Written paper texts are generally consumed in a linear fashion, but digital text can be very non-linear." Which isn't even true (try being non-linear watching TV. Try being linear flipping through a newspaper). And how do you know anything is 'true' in this discipline - what separates an important insight from sheer nonsense (so far as I can tell, it's a connection to a star - like Guy Ritchie)? But... but... there are multiple modes of media, and multiple modes of communication, and probably, multiple modes of thinking and imagining. And - just as with language - the semantic context extends well beyond either the speaker or the speech. It's like any media production carries this 'cloud of meaning' with it. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, May 9, 2008.
In Support Of Al And The miniLegends
The remainder of the blog comments on the closure of Al Upton's Minilegends weblog. Graham Wegner cites Diane McCordell's observation that "the classroom is the logical place for students to receive safety instruction and participate in guided practice." Darren Kuropatwa posts a telling video. Kerry Johnson notes, "doing a blanket ban on images of children on the internet would only make sense if one also banned the use of images and names of kids in newspapers, television and other communications outlets." Graham Attwell asks, "How have we got to the absurd situation that Bebo, Facebook and the burgeoning Disney sites are seen as OK for kids, whilst a well thought through educational project is closed down?" And Vicki A. Davis recites the students' views on the closure, including this: "When I found out that our blogs were closing down, I felt confused, sad and angry. I felt really sad because I felt that all Al had taught us had gone to waste. We had a vote on a name for our new forum. The new name for our forum is Article 13. It means Rights for the Child." Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, March 18, 2008.
A Class Logo - A Small Part Of Building My Class Identity
Interesting exploration of logos for classes, but I am not convinced that a 'class identity' is particularly relevant to learning. Just my view. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, January 25, 2008.
No.2 With A Bullet
Grahem Wegner loks to this interesting new service, something called Learning Signal from Social Rank. Whate we have here is a service that looks at blog posts in a community (presumably defined by topic - such as 'e-learning', but we are not told what blogs constitute a 'community') and ranks them according to (a proprietary blend of?) citations, comments, and the like. It's a good idea, difficult to pull off (I've been trying stuff like that with Edu_RSS but the sorts of server loads it creates are horrendous) and even more difficult to make relevant.
Comparing their list with my list is interesting. Ranked at the top right now is Dissertation 2.0, a nondescript post (sorry Wesley) containing no real content, zero links from other blogs, but which is linked three times from other Wesley Fryer posts and has seven (questionable) comments - this community in particular likes to pump its members up. So the algorithm will take some tweaking, and probably needs metrics like readership, influence (sure, it linked - but did people follow the links), community (ie., treating a community link as a self-link, to highlight posts with reach as opposed to posts of mutual support). Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, October 11, 2007.
Personal Inquiry
Graham Wegner summarizes a post by Konrad Glogowski describing the stages of personal learning: discover, define, immerse, build, contribute. After this week's events, I would suggest there should be one more stage, added to the end: hack. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, August 27, 2007.
E-Portfolio Research Wiki Finalised
Worth a look if you're interested in e-portfolios or in the use of the wiki to present a research report. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, June 4, 2007.
Educationau Jimmy Wales Seminar
Today's lesson is that the best laid plans and all the ambition in the world are no match for a nasty cold picked up while travelling. Sniffle. Anyhow. Sniffle. This post is a summary of Jummy (Wikipedia) Wales's recent presentation in Australia. Sniffle. See also (from the same author) the and the reflections on barriers to knowledge sharing. Sniffle. Sniffle. Sniffle. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, April 25, 2007.
Competing For Attention
Graham Wegner ponders the dynamics of blog readership, as he notes that it becomes harder and harder for new bloggers to become recognized (funny that he harkens all the way back to 2005 as the beginning). This is why I argue we should not be reading people, we should be reading topics. Reading people perpetuates this celebrity culture, giving an undue advantage to the first people in (or those with the loudest self-promotion). Reading topics allows anyone with something to say an equal chance for attention on any given day. But of course, what blog celebrity is going to recommend a reading technique that diminishes his or her importance? Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, April 9, 2007.
If You Read Nothing Else Today...
It's about pragmatism, it's about letting the marketers run the show, and I think I agree with Graham Wegner when he says you should read both Sarah Puglisi on How I see NCLB impacting me and Marg O'Connell on Teacher bashing and the politics of education. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, January 24, 2007.
Networks Of Expertise
Discussion of the concept of community in relation to some of the recent discussions of groups and networks. A community is one of those things that can go either way, in my view - it can be a network of people living in the same place or doing the same thing, or it can become a group, define boundaries, and stress sameness and leadership. The edublogging community has always existed - what is more recent is a subset trying to define it as a group. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, November 9, 2006.
Blog On
Hello, I'm in London and I'm very jet-lagged, so we'll make this a short quick issue. And I couldn't resist the anonymous comment cited in this article: "Blogging. YouâxTMve obviously got a lot of spare time." Pretty funny. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, May 31, 2006.
Flattening The Pyramid Of Influence
In a world that needs millions of learning objects, what's wrong with this math? "My copy of CEGSA RAMpage magazine tells me that both the Aussie and Kiwi governments have committed more than $100 million to the Learning Federation project for 8000 Learning Objects. Using my LO calculator that works out to twelve and a half grand per object." What's more interesting that this reasoning is that it may, possibly, influence policy. "So read, learn, debate, remix, propose, add to and let's take back control of our profession. Do those higher up the totem pole really know what's better for students and their future than you?" Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, January 2, 2006.
Real World Learning Objects
Nice post with many links referencing mostly the Real World Learning Objects (RWLO) website and taking a tour through some other learning resource repositories. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, December 26, 2005.
My Mate, Tom
This is a great story not because it's so unusual but because it's so typical, and it shows how the internet is changing lives, one or two at a time. Today I have internet friendships with people around the world, and while I don't see them very much, if at all, they are important and meaningful to me. And so, too, for many of the billion people now online. How can this not change the world, when it has changed me so much? Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, December 26, 2005.
E- Portfolio Professional Learning Conference
Conference summary from the E- Portfolio Professional Learning Conference in Adelaide. Most of the post outlines a presentation from Helen Barrett, who introduced (!) attendees to blogs and podcasting (Graham Wegner writes, "I was amazed when Helen had to stop and explain what a blog was! There were high flying people from the upper levels of DECS here and they didn’t know what a blog was. And very few hands went up when she asked who knew what a podcast is!"). Summaries also of Paul Luke, who locks all his online content away (sheesh), and Jackie Miers, who has a nice e-portfolios site. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, December 1, 2005.
Posts
Introducing The EduGroupie
Graham Wegner introduces us to Flat Chat Learning, who in turn introduces us to the concept of the edugroupie and who points to a Blog by Carol post telling people where they can find new edublogs (not from here, though, apparently). Introducing The EduGroupie , Teaching Generation Z, March 9, 2009.
Multiliteracies Conference Notes
There's a lot of scepticism surrounding the whole idea of multiliteracies. Which I suppose is not really surprising - after all, it is seen as "TV studies" in some circles, and it's hard to imagine that it's a real academic discipline that will actually show anything of value in the long run. And it doesn't help when we are told - for the umpteenth time that "Written paper texts are generally consumed in a linear fashion, but digital text can be very non-linear." Which isn't even true (try being non-linear watching TV. Try being linear flipping through a newspaper). And how do you know anything is 'true' in this discipline - what separates an important insight from sheer nonsense (so far as I can tell, it's a connection to a star - like Guy Ritchie)? But... but... there are multiple modes of media, and multiple modes of communication, and probably, multiple modes of thinking and imagining. And - just as with language - the semantic context extends well beyond either the speaker or the speech. It's like any media production carries this 'cloud of meaning' with it. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, May 9, 2008.
In Support Of Al And The miniLegends
The remainder of the blog comments on the closure of Al Upton's Minilegends weblog. Graham Wegner cites Diane McCordell's observation that "the classroom is the logical place for students to receive safety instruction and participate in guided practice." Darren Kuropatwa posts a telling video. Kerry Johnson notes, "doing a blanket ban on images of children on the internet would only make sense if one also banned the use of images and names of kids in newspapers, television and other communications outlets." Graham Attwell asks, "How have we got to the absurd situation that Bebo, Facebook and the burgeoning Disney sites are seen as OK for kids, whilst a well thought through educational project is closed down?" And Vicki A. Davis recites the students' views on the closure, including this: "When I found out that our blogs were closing down, I felt confused, sad and angry. I felt really sad because I felt that all Al had taught us had gone to waste. We had a vote on a name for our new forum. The new name for our forum is Article 13. It means Rights for the Child." Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, March 18, 2008.
A Class Logo - A Small Part Of Building My Class Identity
Interesting exploration of logos for classes, but I am not convinced that a 'class identity' is particularly relevant to learning. Just my view. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, January 25, 2008.
No.2 With A Bullet
Grahem Wegner loks to this interesting new service, something called Learning Signal from Social Rank. Whate we have here is a service that looks at blog posts in a community (presumably defined by topic - such as 'e-learning', but we are not told what blogs constitute a 'community') and ranks them according to (a proprietary blend of?) citations, comments, and the like. It's a good idea, difficult to pull off (I've been trying stuff like that with Edu_RSS but the sorts of server loads it creates are horrendous) and even more difficult to make relevant.
Comparing their list with my list is interesting. Ranked at the top right now is Dissertation 2.0, a nondescript post (sorry Wesley) containing no real content, zero links from other blogs, but which is linked three times from other Wesley Fryer posts and has seven (questionable) comments - this community in particular likes to pump its members up. So the algorithm will take some tweaking, and probably needs metrics like readership, influence (sure, it linked - but did people follow the links), community (ie., treating a community link as a self-link, to highlight posts with reach as opposed to posts of mutual support). Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, October 11, 2007.
Personal Inquiry
Graham Wegner summarizes a post by Konrad Glogowski describing the stages of personal learning: discover, define, immerse, build, contribute. After this week's events, I would suggest there should be one more stage, added to the end: hack. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, August 27, 2007.
E-Portfolio Research Wiki Finalised
Worth a look if you're interested in e-portfolios or in the use of the wiki to present a research report. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, June 4, 2007.
Educationau Jimmy Wales Seminar
Today's lesson is that the best laid plans and all the ambition in the world are no match for a nasty cold picked up while travelling. Sniffle. Anyhow. Sniffle. This post is a summary of Jummy (Wikipedia) Wales's recent presentation in Australia. Sniffle. See also (from the same author) the and the reflections on barriers to knowledge sharing. Sniffle. Sniffle. Sniffle. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, April 25, 2007.
Competing For Attention
Graham Wegner ponders the dynamics of blog readership, as he notes that it becomes harder and harder for new bloggers to become recognized (funny that he harkens all the way back to 2005 as the beginning). This is why I argue we should not be reading people, we should be reading topics. Reading people perpetuates this celebrity culture, giving an undue advantage to the first people in (or those with the loudest self-promotion). Reading topics allows anyone with something to say an equal chance for attention on any given day. But of course, what blog celebrity is going to recommend a reading technique that diminishes his or her importance? Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, April 9, 2007.
If You Read Nothing Else Today...
It's about pragmatism, it's about letting the marketers run the show, and I think I agree with Graham Wegner when he says you should read both Sarah Puglisi on How I see NCLB impacting me and Marg O'Connell on Teacher bashing and the politics of education. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, January 24, 2007.
Networks Of Expertise
Discussion of the concept of community in relation to some of the recent discussions of groups and networks. A community is one of those things that can go either way, in my view - it can be a network of people living in the same place or doing the same thing, or it can become a group, define boundaries, and stress sameness and leadership. The edublogging community has always existed - what is more recent is a subset trying to define it as a group. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, November 9, 2006.
Blog On
Hello, I'm in London and I'm very jet-lagged, so we'll make this a short quick issue. And I couldn't resist the anonymous comment cited in this article: "Blogging. YouâxTMve obviously got a lot of spare time." Pretty funny. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, May 31, 2006.
Flattening The Pyramid Of Influence
In a world that needs millions of learning objects, what's wrong with this math? "My copy of CEGSA RAMpage magazine tells me that both the Aussie and Kiwi governments have committed more than $100 million to the Learning Federation project for 8000 Learning Objects. Using my LO calculator that works out to twelve and a half grand per object." What's more interesting that this reasoning is that it may, possibly, influence policy. "So read, learn, debate, remix, propose, add to and let's take back control of our profession. Do those higher up the totem pole really know what's better for students and their future than you?" Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, January 2, 2006.
Real World Learning Objects
Nice post with many links referencing mostly the Real World Learning Objects (RWLO) website and taking a tour through some other learning resource repositories. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, December 26, 2005.
My Mate, Tom
This is a great story not because it's so unusual but because it's so typical, and it shows how the internet is changing lives, one or two at a time. Today I have internet friendships with people around the world, and while I don't see them very much, if at all, they are important and meaningful to me. And so, too, for many of the billion people now online. How can this not change the world, when it has changed me so much? Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, December 26, 2005.
E- Portfolio Professional Learning Conference
Conference summary from the E- Portfolio Professional Learning Conference in Adelaide. Most of the post outlines a presentation from Helen Barrett, who introduced (!) attendees to blogs and podcasting (Graham Wegner writes, "I was amazed when Helen had to stop and explain what a blog was! There were high flying people from the upper levels of DECS here and they didn’t know what a blog was. And very few hands went up when she asked who knew what a podcast is!"). Summaries also of Paul Luke, who locks all his online content away (sheesh), and Jackie Miers, who has a nice e-portfolios site. Graham Wegner, Teaching Generation Z, December 1, 2005.
Links
(Still working on this)
This page first published on February 9, 2010 and last updated February 9, 2010.
Copyright 2008 Stephen Downes
Contact: stephen@downes.ca
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