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.

Bee Online

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

Download the MP3 file here.

Hovering Over The Delete Button

Today I re-read an email sent around from a large national organisation who are scheduling used / un-used discussion groups for deletion. Hang on a minute…did I read that right ?

Yes..I did…scheduling extensive conversations and knowledge gathering for deletion.

My reply was thus;

…….I’m amazed……. now that I’ve had time to digest the directive and the flowing gowns of tribute.

Schedule it for deletion ?

An SQL dump and an Internet archive schedule surely…..or perhaps we’ve overlooked the visions of those who seek to see that endurance also has it’s place in networked learning history.

Anything less and I’d begin questioning whether OMN was yet another fund driven acronym.

*ducks*…..you know what I’m getting at…..leave it alone…..change your policy….leave archives open and direct your efforts to sustain what will be worn in 2020 when the jargon gets a new catwalk to wander down…..”

The whole is idea is absurd……like….delete it ?

No wonder some areas of the internet are black holes to dump precious time into.

VMail

I’ve often wondered how effective commercial solutions are for Vmail as opposed or indeed competing with “free” solutions and channels like ustream.tv.

I suppose I’d better dip the toe and find out what ripples in the pond.

Here’s an example from Meredith Collins.

Ten Steps To Facilitating Online

With Nancy White’s guidance and some deep slow thinking I’ve put together a resource for more than one presentation venue on my take for facilitating successfully online today.

I’ve taken the slant of the ‘responsible orgnaisation’ positing responsibility as a collaborative and enduring exercise rather than a teacher compliant model for delivery. I hope this makes sense…please distribute far and wide for comment;

 

 

Connectedness

The other day there I was invited by Twitter ( Josie Fraser ) and by Gmail chat ( Mark Van Harmelen ) to join the George Siemens keynote at the 2008 Emerge Conference which as I understood had Slideshare notes ( gone down ?  )

Stephen Downes comments on the ‘inward’ nature of Twitter fish bowls and I have to agree with him. Which herd ? is also a good point.

What struck me was that across the blogsphere and micro-blogosphere there is a sense of anxiousness as to the continued foray into cross-polination of inclusion permission. Psycho-geographics of participation as Josie . Nice term !

Almost as good as ‘Architectures of Participation ‘ that Kim and I tossed around with NMC and CogDog last year.

The session was interesting but mostly from a voyeurs perspective. Talk, question, answer, talk. Lots of tools and nowhere to go. I’m kind of getting the connectivism message but it’s seeming a little black and white of late….is it just me or do we need some colour in the slides ? I’m still not convinced that a staggered head does much for the future identity drillers.

Strange…..I watched the bridge between Twitter and the event on parallel screens. It’s interesting seeing the timing dynamics between the presentation chat, Twitter and the larger > video as each stage has it’s own masters and magicians. All in all well worth the 30 min drop by.

I’ve been following this participation idea through a lot with the FLNW crowd and exploring things myself a bit however, I’m pretty well content with the dynamics of openess as a political and participatory empowerment process…….. through which ‘permission’ is often not granted but almost always dynamically generated for reason.

Take for instance my up coming presentation at the Western Institute, TAFE NSW CSHT&R Faculty Forum where I’ve forcibly re-morphed ‘Technology In Delivery’ to ‘Technology in [Delivery] Teaching & Learning. CogDog threw in his tidied desktop and lucychili let me have her ’spam’ - penguins and all.

Thanks guys…..desktops have changed so why are we still using IE6 in TAFE ?

Maybe that was my desktop Macs. confuse and amaze me.

If your a Vista refugee you’ll be able to see things in ppsx. - erk. Failing that download the ppt. or if inclined to chase the pdf. around.

So where’s the learner ? Chasing their own technology……… that we choose to shut out of our organisations ? Perhaps the heavy hand of connected[delivery]ness is really an over simplified equation. Danah must be right…it’s ‘their’ technology right…wrong…..we can plan parties using email too you know. Bah !

Let them have rock n’ roll. Sure there were fatalities but none more so than self-absorbed conservatives claiming it was work of the devil only to fall prey to it’s social evil.

Like my Twitter feed in this blog/site.

Blocked but not silent in spaces where once Twitter’s feared to mention the expletive.

All in all a good day. At least now you know how much it will cost to hire me.

School Of Everything

Got to give it to them because it works and it flows nicely as a social application and it’s just the sort of site that excites me in it’s potential.

Not so keen on the empahasis on ‘teacher’ however can understand where thats at with so many people defining themselves by the term and little by the action.

Have iconed it and added it to the sidebar and must go explore a bit.

Use the icon if you like.

LinkedIn for teachers.

School Of Everything…..good one folks.

Friends & Colleagues

It’s a hard thing to distinguish between these days and in my area of work it’s an increasingly blurred line between one and the other.

I’d just like to acknowledge the kind and considerate actions of a friend and colleague Merelyn Treanor who last weekend took me out to the Orange, NSW Australia Botanical Gardens to have a coffee and a chat. As you may well know I’ve been with my leg in ice for the last two weeks on all sorts of pain killers after a second arthroscopy.

Merelyn brought me four books to read and some beautiful cakes and croissants which I devoured at midnight…on two occasisons. How fortunate I am in friends and how fortunate I am that my work colleagues at Western Institute have shown me the same kindness picking me up on the way to work and dropping me off at home also.

With Jane away in the countryside and a house to moan in all on my own it certainly has been a solitary re-cuperation but look at all the wonderful things I’ve had happen all in 7 days.

Thank you Merelyn & Mort & Sharon.

I truly appreciate your actions and your considerations.

Just Click It Punk

[ image : graffitisearchlab ]

Courtesy of Leigh Blackall ….something to bolster the spirits on a cold autumn day here in the city of colour.