Usefulness & Value

I often preface my posts with an image which I garnish from the undending array of 2.5 CC at FlickrCC - just one of the best cool tools I know of. Very useful….

I link to the source and in doing so acknowledge the brilliance of the creator. I’m also showing I suppose some reverence for the time and space in which the object has transcended a limited range of visual brilliance, appreciation and allowing it to inform another way to lighten the lives of others.

That’s really what I’m after when I rant about access and useability for learners within or outside of the organisational or institutional firewall of protectionism. Concentrating on the guilt and bad feelings that come from being blocked access to new and emergent ways of working using networked communication technologies only seems to heighten my anxiety further. It’s debilitating and I’m actually beyond feeling this way so why do i contiue to engage in the debate ?

What not just give up and find ways to avoid confronting this challenge ?

I acknowledge that I feel angry and dismayed that no one in management is “getting it” but then upon reflection and consideration I realise that in fact they ( management ) in fact are getting it loud and clear …….and that carefully orchestrated planning and history have contributed to that decision making process. I also acknowledge that my expressions of dismay and helplessness are not helping to inform progressive thinking ……..rather drawing upon the vitriolic and senseless mindlessness that erupts from repeat unrequieted ( is that how you spell that word ?) access to that which makes it all easier.

Readers and my colleagues know that I often lapse into fits of sardonisim….. and feeling trapped in situations also leads me to kick-out at the constraint.

Nor am I one to sit in amongst the constraint and accept that this is the way it is and just accept it like a drone. What I’m doing is expressing how I’m FEELING…….I’m feeling trapped ( it’s a feeling and not a pretty one ) HOWEVER, in expressing it I’m seeking ways to move on and experience success, supported and encouraged, connected and really achieving creation. It’s perhaps the base human expression as Jo kay suggests that makes it possible to then contemplate the way to empower oneself which in turn empowers others by example.

The problem ( I’m now thinking…..ticking away here) is less in the fact that there is a reluctance in the education sectors to readily embrace new technologies and use them as part of the education experience, but more of a sociological value as to the affect such technologies have on the other aspects of being human and alive. Take for instance online learning for part-time educators in time poor cities with chronic shortages of beauty and health. Or, consider resource rich lock-step employees trapped in isolated communities where access and useability are seventh to the local football field. Which looks more like war and why ?

Where does openess help rather than induce introspection and anxiety of self value ? maybe pushing for an open view of what’s happening inside only add’s to the anxiety ? When does a wiki not become a wiki ? Just because it’s closed and dosent exist for public view ?

Technology I propose itself is not necessarily the challenge rather the myrid of challenges it poses for base human communication as we struggle to engage in meaningful and human-rich deep and slow experiences without interuptions. Maybe the ’social’ in social networking technology is in fact an enigma and that in fact we’d be better off analysing and informing the debates from a values assessment of technology mediated interaction without it’s “noise”.

That would then render this expression of mine …mute. Best I concentrate on what it enables rather than what it refutes. Find some connectedness amongst the humdrum and show connection in action in a world immersed in security conciousness.

Whilst I’m on the topic, policy ( broad sweep of hand ) seems to me to be a resultant rather than a guide in all of these discussions and helpless expressions. Process oriented action research that informs action ie. Graham Wegner seems more useful than philisophical nuances that inform policy which then governs the manner in which we re-value interaction and devolve responsibility from.

I commiserate with Kim Flintoff and find that he’s willing to openly ( humanely) express himself and suggest perhaps that he’s also not trapped by cynicsm rather seeking connectedness to remain sane and positive.

After much mirth last night Stephan Ridgway, Robyn Jay and Julie Collareda finally broke into fits of laughter at the novelty of re-positing the ridiculousness of where rhetoric is taking our organisations as a whole as they struggle to comprehend the whole change occuring from right underneath them. Not only are humans becoming more complex but the rapidity of the connections means nothing remains un-observed.

Our resolve - It’s our ability to harness survaillant as core capital rather than bork at it’s borgness.

Open up rooms in ourspace.

Turn the machine off occasionally.

Smile more readily.

Seems worthwhile to me. What do you think ?

Feerless Leeder Rudd Beneficent

Local Eyes

[ image : Localeyes Sydney ]

Every once in a while I get to the point where I just need to have a big cry and connect with being emotional…being human and letting go of the stress and pain of being alive and well in the beautiful world.

Tonight I opened an email from my friend Jennie Burrows who has two very special and dear children who have grown up entwined in each others lives like two peas in a pod. I want to acknowledge that Jennie has been a light in dark times for me when I was going through one of the most difficult points in my transition as I broke away from the lands of Western Australia, opening her home and heart to me along with a number of other noted friends I’m lucky to have.

I also want to acknowledge that I’ve witnessed an amazing transition in a small persons life as they grow and love their siblings and that little person is Persia who has just recently won the Local Eyes - http://www.localeyessydney.com.au/ - photographic competition at the grand old age of five years .

Persia has been a participant in the Pathways program and her portrait of herself and her brother Tyler has just moved me to tears and prompted me to write this blog post. Congratulations Persia ( and Tyler ) and it is testament of the amazing energy that Jenny has put into building love in a very diverse and beautiful family.

Read Write Blah.

. .

“……some who complain in the staffroom about not being able to turn off from school when they get home……..they just want their paycheck and to keep doing things the same way they been doing it for the last 10/20 years.”

You’ve Reached A Private Space

You’ve Reached a Private Space
You’ve Reached a Private Space
You’ve Reached a Private Space
You’ve Reached a Private Space

I cannot even post a discussion thread
[10:02:13 PM] all I can do is send……… a message
[10:02:45 PM] shit and I cannot even do that
Please sign in to send mail.
[10:02:54 PM] christ it’s a dead zone

Welcome to business in the 21st Century.

Unending Rhetoric

Excerpt from an email I received today in response to my repeat request to gain access to the most important national database records which underpin the whole success of the flexible learning program being managed ( or rather mismanaged ) or perhaps re-managed by an unsaid body of corporate wisdom.

Read carefully for the resolve

Dear alexander hayes,

We are pleased to inform you that your reported Incident has been resolved.

Reference No.: INC000000291614
Summary: Website Unblock Request

Your reported Incident has been resolved with the following resolution:

Alexander,

Re http://docs.google.com <http://docs.google.com/>

Thank you for requesting that the above URL  be unblocked.

Following examination by the web filtering team it has been decided to initiate no action to unblock this site, at this stage.

Thank you for advising us about this site.

Making Links 2008

Abstract

Socio-global participatory online platforms have positively put pressure on Australia’s educational reform agenda to embrace new ways of working in the 21st century. The tension between policy and this networked learning pedagogy is also causing large organisations to look more seriously at the potential these networked learning technologies have for educators and more importantly students.

This presentation / paper will examine the behaviours and socio-political constructs that have contributed to “banning and ignoring” the use of social networking technologies in the education and broader community context, juxtaposed with success stories from those who have forged a way forward with careful and balanced approachs to very real dangers such protectionist agendas seek to highlight. The nexus between where social media intersects with education organisation pedagogy and the resultant collusion to exclusion cycle that occurs as a result of trying to “control” such seemingly non-linear human communication is part of the digital education (evolution) revolution debates nationally and internationally.

This presentation also invites participants to consider ongoing interaction with academic & social research findings by Danah Boyd( America),Tanya Notley (Australia), Janet Hawtin (Australia) and Leigh Blackall (New Zealand), using the New Media Consortium’s 2008 (NMC) ‘New Horizon’ report as a spring board for discussion.

Making Links site

Web 2.0 : Forward Motion

Image : QUT

Dr. Marcus Foth has contacted me this morning with an article published via the QUT news archive of PHd candidate Tanya Notley’s investigations into the impact of the digital divide and it’s relationship to social inclusion in Queensland.

This follows on from discussions I’ve been having with a number of others Australia wide ( and indeed in an international reference ) as to the importance of access for students to networked learning technologies and the resultant stullification of skills and knowledge as a result of blocking such opportunities ( platforms less specific) in education organisations.

I’m interested in finding the functional balance, exploring a balanced view between those that govern and indeed mandate exclusion from an IT support perspective, informing policy and empowering the organisational referent group which informs or enforces such policy….influencing as Robyn Jay coins.

I’m currently sitting ( typing this ) within one of the largest education organisations in Australia within which all social networking sites such a Bebo, MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and many many other sites are governed by such policy. Like Tanya Notley, I also support the idea that ” denying many students without home internet access use of these sites to learn and participate in an increasingly networked society ” is of disadvantage from a inclusion, ethical and social equality perspective.

It’s plainly eveident that even as an adult it frustrated the hell out of me last year trying to run a national program with registered training organisations from all walks of life from within and without.

The QUT article also contains statements from Tanya that I find compelling and reasonable;

“Firstly, I found that participating in online networks provided the research participants with a way to develop and sustain their personal social networks.

“This is important because research tells us that a strong, supportive and extensive social network improves people’s life opportunities……..Online networks provided these students with ways to participate in society that were social, cultural, civic, economic and educative. “

Far from supporting all social networking sites as the pancea for social ill-will, I’m interested in the nexus between where social media intersects with education organisation pedagogy and the resultant collusion to exclusion cycle that occurs as a result of trying to “control” such seemingly non-linear human communication.

I’m also cognisant that many activists ( some may consider me to be one of them ) seek to exclude the organisational safety, security and intellectual property protection discussion in favour of the anarchist rules modality however, as Kim Flintoff and I explored in SL it’s more about informing the digital education revolution than finding ways to undermine it’s very existence…..to find ways to see inclusion and for OER ( open education reform ) to blend it’s way with organisational pride.

Likewise Bill Wade and I also continue to seek ways forward that inform and include the use of social networking and open source technologies and perhaps even to inform where education and collaboration fit into the picture.

Tanya again points to a way forward that is less about fear mongering and more about finding a way in than a way out;

“Policies would be far more effective if they were focused on teaching young people about the risks and benefits of different online networks rather than on just banning and ignoring them.”

My interest is in the behaviours and socio-political constructs that have contributed to “banning and ignoring” in Australia less from a historical perspective and more from examining how these socio-global participatory platforms have positively put pressure on Australia’s agenda to conform, reform or indeed reject such ways of working in the 21st century.

I’m also interested in pursuing this topic and important aspect of education in a research capacity employing the very technologies I seek to speak of and where needed running the hurdle race to assist others in the process. I find it amazing that many of the research articles I read from an academic perspective contain links to individuals who dont use the technologies and yet speak so candidly of them….perhaps that’s a good thing

This blog serves as one node of the systemic reflective crossroad. I’m exploring the active side of the equation I hope and less rant will help my case markedly.

It’s not firewalls we are facing…..just humans frightened to broaden their own frame of reference.

AFLF E-learning Innovations

Once again I’m back amongst the flurry of Elearning with the Australian Flexible Learning Frameworkand a host of really innovative projects which this year focus more upon engagement with industry partners and development of existing skills and knowledge base with less of an emphasis on professional development for teachers.

It will be a short stint of six weeks or so as I’m up to my neck in consultancy and it’s a fill in position until the new Project Officer and CEO’s are installed.

Some would say this is poor move on behalf of the Framework to change tack from empowering teachers year after year however I’d say it’s definetly broadened the horizons for organisations who would otherwise relegate PD to Framework intervention rather than whole heartedly endorse it as core practice within their own camp. So we may be farewelling LearnScope which will always remain a precious project for me and many others and we are moving into a new time where the catchcry could well be;

“….if teachers havent got it by now then too bad….it’s time to do business using these tools and ways of working and less about exploring…”

I’m working four days with three face-to-face with project teams and the Framework team in Sydney and one day “remote” here in Orange in my home office within which I seem to get ten times the amount of online work completed due to the lack of restrictions on my access to tools that really matter. Thats not to say I’m not getting things done on the inside rather my age old intent to make it easier on the inside for the inmates who would otherwise run through the drills and shake their heads in resignation at the everday challenge of using technology as part of teaching and learning.

I’m keen to hear from project teams and it’s business case building time. An interesting time admist a flurry of other projects I’m involved with that you’ll no doubt know about via the front end of this website.

Just In Time ( Education )

On Friday of this week I was meant to be involved with a group of people presenting at the 2008 Innovation Showcase “transforming Learning Through Innovation” being held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre by Macro-Dimensions.

That means……I attempted to be. The image above elludes to what occured.

I arrived at “work” at 7.10am ( TAFE NSW ICVET ) in the morning to be totally prepared for both this presentation and another online as part of the SIT “Facilitating Online” workshops with teachers and other staff. True to form the slide share in Adobe Connect went wonky and I was forced yet again to run an impromtu range of activities which now in hindsight will markedly shift the way I’ll conduct the next three sessions.

Here is the presentation that I was hoping I could use;

With a shocking cold and feeling like something from an alien planet I soldiered on.

At 12.00 AM with 30 minutes to go till the next presentation I logged into the Elluminate room which usually gives you about 20 mins of run-in time. I encountered the dreaded logged out, blocked, not accessible message which frustrates the beep out of me. It’s just ridiculous that sitting in the middle of the AFLF National manangement arena that this application is blocked or not accessible particularly considering that it is the core platform used for web conferencing communication for the Framework.

Saves on lots of plane flights. However…..thats not the focus of this post.

I dont want to dwell on what didnt happen rather what did. It occured to me that even though I knew I was going to miss the session and also that there was no time to duck back to the house I was staying at to get connected and to get in so, time to be inventive.

I logged back into Adobe Connect. Set a new room with the title of the event and proceeded to record myself during the exact time when I ws meant to be live elsewhere. I may not have been able to attend but perhaps my recording can be forwarded to those involved and in effect become a usable resource for those teachers attending…..over and over again.

You can access the recording here - http://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/p72771278/

Just goes to show that despite not having access to the session I was still able to contribute. I really appreciate being included Carole and I hope that next time I’ll be accessing this from my superfast connection here in Orange NSW Australia.

Teachers must be so disenchanted with innovators who show things happening with apparent ease then encounter things like this which can be a real turnoff. It’s a real challenge in this day and age to access things which have a marked effect on what we were once doing that consumed so much more energy to accomplish. On the other hand, this “just-in-time” education mode is bringing new dimensions to the learning landscape….so much richer and relevant in this digital age that some would say is amidst a revolution.

Incidently, it’s just started snowing outside. Brrrrrrrrrrr.

Locus Of Control

I’m just reflecting on a day filled with three levels of administrivia and / or benign requests for intervention in other peoples issues in as equally diverse a location as the issues at hand in other words a bureaucratic jungle of permissions and finger pointing.

They have occured in three forms;

1. Pleas for responsibility - repeat attempts to shift responsibilities up or in many cases down

2. Blame setting - manouvering discussions to eventually settle on blame for actions taken

3. Behavioural Appropriation - use of tactics that pose behaviour as influenced and therefore admissably incoherent due to influence ie. did I really do that ?

Apart from that here I am at 11.04PM signing off.

Things are on the up and up

Knowledge Bank

Next week I’ll be presenting 5 slides in as many minutes to a group of hungry teachers in Victoria at the invitation of Carole McCulloch … for the “2008 Innovation Showcase - Transforming Learning through Innovation - Friday, 16 May 2008 – Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, Audstralia…“

You can download the Powerpoint slide here - PPT

You can download the Powerpoint show here - PPS

Off Topic

It seems that my reply to a TALOian discussion has reached boiling point and my comment repeatedly deleted. So in an effort to maintain the flow and avoid building troll bridges here’s what I wrote….

“….WTF??

I’m afraid that acronym and others have been reserved for pub poetry night.

I agreethat the initial post that has prompted this discussion contains potentially flatulant and objectionable language of inference that is both Shakespearean, worrysome and of concern. That is was the point on the post. Almost exactly as GR would use and minus some other expletives that didnt make it to air begining with ‘c’.

I was using the language contextually in the first post as it would read at the moment in the press ( SMH etc. ) where objection to foul mouthed antics is entirely circumstantial and culturally objectionable for those who mostly are polite……some would say complicit to atrocities and others simply accepting that in differing cultures the word ‘f…’ is used as often as any other co-joiner.

SMH topics on technology pepper this list’s dialogue, as do politic, religon, cultural affairs and a host of other one liners for use or simply slipped over as trash. I was pointing to an example of where despite all attempts to retain consideration and politeness, open lists dont necessarily lead to adjunct and breakout rooms within which any flow or dialogue goes beyond the begining of another list | group | network……it’s the personal that beats the latency as Mark suggests and how deeply we can read into ones contribution.

As Kylie suggests,

” We just have to tolerate the OT (off topic, for those not up with the
lingo)….or maybe, god forbid, enjoy the discourse. ”

Tolerance is a very tricky equation. We have seen some amazing feats of tolerance, goodwill and politeness observed in TALO over the years involving diverse nations, opinions and personal intent.

Teaching and learning online involves language ,culture , opinion and the odd ramble. By all means use OT it if it seems approriate in your own way as a signifier. Deleting it involves consultation and unravels all sorts of biases and belief systems however in some cases just downright necessary.

It takes courage to press the delete button. It would mean contemplating a shift in our bcc attitudes to anothers opinion.

I see more expletives and acronyms buried daily in an unending flow of organisational consultation rhetoric…. and if parliament is anything to go by, no wonder our humane counsel on petty matters such as popular culture in an educational technology list has such significance and why over a thousand readers and 100 contributors keep this one alive.

Some pose prettily with tight ties and shmarmy Gloweaves. Others smoke Marloboro, slug back triple-shot vodka’s and snarl around corners on hogs as halidome as papal in black.

Which ever way we look at it we need to find ways to build bridges and punch holes through into the next firewall…..”

Thread exists here.

Zest For Life

I spent some time today taking photos of flowers and other things in Orange. This photos has made it into the Zest For Life Flickr group.

AFLF Induction Day

Today was bright and sunny here in Orange, NSW Australia.

I went to the lake and we had a family picnic.

I came home and constructed my presentation for the upcoming Australian Flexible Learning Framework presentation in Sydney - Induction Day involving Kim Cofino, Regan Harding, Carole McCulloch and myself.

Time Out

I’d almost forgotten about this history time capsule - time out !

Sheesh……only two years ago ?…make that one.

The Dystopian Filter : Social Networking Pre-eclampsia

As we drove home today from the TAFE NSW Dubbo ‘Networked Delivery’ workshops on wiki’s and other networked technology demystifications I was struck with a moments silence where re-collections of the digital politic pressed on my inner too-hard-basket.

In a time when too many kids photos spoiled the broth and when the world showed it’s true colours and respectfully showed it’s Medusa like schizophrenic cocktail of opinion.

Wiki’s as dangerous spaces where teachers could say something out of turn…perhaps even link to their Facebook account , imbed a Flickr widget or heaven forbid begin a discussion which leads other people via cleverly located Google map script complete with GPS co-ordinates to their own home !

All of this occuring on a day when the TALON’s are out at education.au exploring DER and  what it means to be living and working in a networked economy tagged by Diigo, commented on and literally dissected via the myriad of social networked channels that underpin our current and dystopic quagmire of media driven fear mongering .

Perhaps rightly dystopic considering the number of ten year olds posing as pedophiles courting and grooming in the more abhorrent and frightening play-act mode of networked politic.

Kim Flintoff and I have pressed the point last year that this behavioural approach to social networking exclusion resembles a mortal morphic form entering the zone of digital pre-eclampsia…..whole sectors unsure of how to deal with the forensically oriented vivisections of organisational servitude bundled through a datastream reflecting back as painful shards of a broken connection with reality.

Bebo indeed. The meta of the morphic …..where your latest thought became someone elses party plan.

Organisations have much to fear and if the borg and bot count on any governing filter is to go by it’s hardly worth opening the ports for fear of the fumes wafting from the overheated filter. Likewise keeping count of how many Kalishnov’s are being brought into the playground is more realistic a notion than trying to monitor, maintain and moderate even 1/1000th of student opinion transmitted predominantly by mediums and modalities which site in their hip pockets.

Two for every human alive in Australia according the the last statistic.

Interestingly the governance issue arose again today in more ways than one. I have a demand notice of removal of  an image posted on a website speaking to the very topic itself open to the net - ‘no’ duty of care….how apt.

How will we take our curriculum forward when we are still squabbling over coffee cup order in the staffroom ?

When the ‘C’ between the ‘I’and the ‘T’ has got the lowest form of Shakepearen slander attached to it’s place in the acronym ?

How much longer will it take Education legal to start it’s own Bebo account to connect more substanitally to the cohort it so cleverly wants to police ?

They have a bebo account ?…..your kidding me ! Whats their username ?

….arhhh dystopia. Mildly myopic.

Seriously deluded if thinking social networking is the next rock’n'roll evil.

More musings over at http://nswlearnscope.com.

Search for pasts pantomimes by keywords

Alls well…..

…….that ends well and by the sounds of it at least 8 out of 10 things were covered in the Learning In The 21st Century gig hosted by education.au in Adelaide today.

Many thanks to all who attended both physically, virtually or in spirit.

Mike Seyfrang has preliminary thoughts and I’m sure Michael Coghlan and Graham Wegner will add their piece later.

Graham passed on some links also - http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1843

Framework - http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=51520

Al upton said hello via Skype.

I was driven to Dubbo NSW and sat with three groups of educators talking about networked learning and wikispaces. The knees gradually on the mend.

So is the head

Bee Online

Barbara Dieu has sent through an MP3 file which talks to the cncept / topic of online safety.

Download the MP3 file here.