Several people on Twitter have asked recently for images they can use for the #blimage challenge. For the uninitiated, #blimage (blog-image) is a game we started to encourage learning professionals to blog. You are sent an image which you then have to write about, metaphorically or literally. At the end of your blog post you then challenge some of your friends with another image, of your own choice. And the challenge spreads... So far there have been over 150 blogposts from the education and learning/development community, in at least 5 different languages. Many of those posts are hosted on the #blimage list.
So here are several photos from my own collection (I'm sharing them under a Creative Commons licence - see details below) for you to choose from, so you can also take part in the #blimage challenge. Consider this your personal invitation. It doesn't matter whether you are a regular blogger, a novice who has never blogged before, or a lapsed blogger who used to be active. Have a go. You will learn a lot from it. I hope you have a lot of fun writing and posting your blog, and hope you and your colleagues and friends will participate in this creative way of encouraging the learning community to share and interact.
The #blimage challenge was started as a bit of fun between Amy Burvall and I. We started it on July 18th and it has been growing steadily ever since with many of our friends and colleagues participating. The challenge is this: Send an image to friends in your personal learning network and ask them to write a learning related blog post about it. They then challenge their friends with an image of their choice. All the posts are labelled with the hashtag #blimage (blog-image) so they can be easily discovered and aggregated. Since the start of activities, the following posts and other artefacts related to #blimage have been posted. Several are destined to become classics of educational blogging.
This list of posts will grow, so if you know of any that are missing, please let me know via the comments box at the foot of this post. Also, if there are any *notable names* missing from this list, please challenge them to participate! Oh, and if you need an image, there's one here to get you started. #blimage Resources
Jannie van Maldegen - Rups (Dutch)
Judith van Hooijdonk - De bloemen van Zuyd (Dutch)
Tessa van Zadelhoff - Over oude busjes en het verbreden van je horizon (Dutch)
Sandra Verburggen - Rups wordt vlinder, het onderwijs (Dutch)
It is barely a week since the fabulous Amy Burvall and I started the #blimage challenge, and we are both just a little breathless as we watch how rapidly it is catching on. The challenge was just a little fun between the two of us at first. We didn't plan for it to become a global movement, but that seems to be the way #blimage is heading. In just 6 days, almost 100 edubloggers have taken up the challenge, and have then paid it forward to their colleagues and friends. There is now a Dutch language version called #blimageNL and a Spanish version (#blimageES set up by Juan Domingo) and other language versions will also follow. Who will be the first to set up a Japanese version #blimageJP or a German version #blimageDE or a French version #blimageFR?
We anticipate that #blimage will grow even wider in its influence, because it has an appeal for everyone who is thinking about education and learning. Ultimately, it's great to see how people are enjoying blogging about education, sharing their ideas, having fun with images, discussing their interpretations and generally connecting with each other in new ways. It has spread across all sectors of professional practice, from primary, secondary and tertiary education, into the workplace learning sector.
Here's the video Amy created to explain the #blimage challenge:
As Amy says, #blimage 'makes your brain dance with metaphorical thinking', it compels you to think more creatively, and I might add, it gets you involved in dialogue and connections with your personal learning network. Some educators are now blogging for the first time. Others have returned to sharing their ideas after a time away from blogging. Still others (like me) have discovered new and fascinating education blogs for the first time. The #blimage challenge exposes new ideas, new resources, and new people you really should get to know. It's about learning through storytelling, and this is lucidly explained by H J deWaard in an insightful post entitled Stories and Spaces within a #blimage Challenge. I would argue that this is learning technology at its very best.
Here are just a small selection of #blimage posts:
You can see the diverse range of topics these bloggers have written about, inspired by the images they were sent. I'm looking forward now to seeing what the #blimage challenge will unearth next. Do visit the collection of #blimage posts and artefacts that are being collected on a Pinterest Board and a Flipboard, both set up by the marvellous Simon Ensor. So please do take up the #blimage challenge yourself - and use the image above to inspire your next blog post. You never know where it might lead you!
Here's my latest contribution in the series of #blimage challenges. (Someone sends you an image and you write a blog post about learning based on it - that's the game of #blimage). This image was sent to me by Australian educator Aaron Davis (@mrkrndvs). So what do I make of it? How can I frame this image in an educational context?
It looks as though Bart Simpson is having a cup of coffee with Darth Vader (how surreal is that?). Maybe they have been playing a game of chess ala Seventh Seal (the film directed by Ingmar Bergman in which a medieval knight plays a game of chess with Death), and are now taking a break. Coffee or chess anyone?
Drinking coffee with the enemy is less risky than playing chess with him. Generally it's not as formal, and the rules assume less importance. Strategy is still involved in conversation, but its a different kind of strategy, low stakes. Playing chess with the enemy can be very dangerous because ultimately, it results in a winner and a loser. Chess could be a metaphor for formal education where testing separates those who are 'bright' from those who are 'not so bright'. Testing naturally promotes success, but it can also generate failure and stigma. Personally, I prefer the coffee drinking analogy, where everyone participates, and where there are no winners and losers, just a community of people, all interested in the same end. To learn as much as they can, and to share their ideas together, simply for the joy of learning. To me, this is the kind of learning you will see in schools where teachers take a back seat, and where students are assessed on a continuous and formative basis. There is plenty of latitude for improvement, and plenty of opportunities to learn better next time.
Drinking coffee with your enemy may also bring its own rewards. You get to know them better, and the more you discover, the more you are prepared to meet future challenges. That quite easily relates to he deployment (or not) of technology in schools. We should be preparing our students for challenges that are unpredictable, so exposing them to technologies such as the Web or social media at an early age, and in the safe environment of school has to make more sense than banning them completely.
...and what if you don't like coffee? Well you can always eat Bart's shorts.
I'm always looking for new ideas to promote blogging for teachers. For me and countless others, blogging is a very important part of professional practice, and I have written extensively about its benefits for teachers in articles such as 7 reasons teachers should blog and The truth about blogging.
In conversations recently with members of my PLN including Amy Burvall (USA @amyburvall) and Simon Ensor (France @sensor63) another method began to emerge. It's a challenge/game that Amy called #blimage - a confection of Blog-Image. (Yes, we are now in the age of blim!) You send an image or photograph to a colleague with the challenge that they have to write a learning related blog post based on it. Just make sure the images aren't too rude. The permutations are blimmin' endless.
My first challenge came from Amy and my response was published under the title of 'Off the rails'. It made me think hard, because I incorporated the 3 images she sent me into one blog post. Following on from that, Simon sent me another #blimage challenge, which became the post 'Piece by piece.' Subsequently, other bloggers took up the same challenge, and Simon set up a Pinterest board to capture their efforts and aggregate them in one place. The discussion on the blogs and on Twitter is just beginning around these efforts. It's a very creative way to encourage teachers to think about their practice, and get them blogging about these thoughts. So, if you're up to the challenge, and you're at a loose end, let me start you off.
The challenge is this: Use the image above (or another of your own choice), incorporate it into your blog, and write a post about learning based on it. It's OK - the photo is mine and it's licensed under Creative Commons so you can use it with attribution. See what you can make of it! (Then pass an image of your choice on to someone else so they can do their own #blimage challenge).
I'm continuing the challenge that was featured in my last post Off the Rails. The #blimage challenge is where people send me an image/photograph and I have to write a (reasonably intelligent) learning related blog post about it. This image was sent to me by Simon Ensor, (his blog Touches of Sense is well worth reading by the way) and here is my response:
The is a photo of jigsaw puzzle pieces, which brings three things to mind about education that are key to our understanding of good pedagogy. Firstly, all learning has the characteristics of an incomplete jigsaw. You don't really know exactly how you're going to get to the end (if there ever is an 'end'), or how long it will take, but you do have a an image on the front of the box that contains the pieces, as a reference point to what it should look like when completed. The box top image is a little like a curriculum map in education, where the subjects or the schemes of work are described, and teachers are expected to use it as guidelines to deliver content and facilitate experiences that help the students to achieve their learning outcomes. Testing is then applied to measure whether the students have indeed reached the ideal standard. This ultimately represents a product based approach to education.
Secondly, the means by which an individual successfully completes a jigsaw can be almost infinite. There are methods that people adhere to. Many people start a jigsaw off by finding and assembling all the edges. Others are more prescriptive in their approach to a jigsaw puzzle, preferring to gather together all the colours or shapes that match, and then assembling the jigsaw on the basis of similarity and pattern. Still others adopt a more random approach. Who is to say which method is a) more effective and b) more enjoyable? Whatever methods are employed, it is likely that each of us would complete a jigsaw in a different sequence, which of course is also true for most learning processes. Individuality is a key component of all learning. Wouldn't it be sad (and very boring) if each of us had to complete a jigsaw in the same sequence, piece by piece? This is a very idiosyncractic approach to education, where the student is central to the process, and where the teacher acts as one resource amongst many.
Thirdly and finally, we could accept that the image above is quite an eye catching image in its own right. Abstractly, it has a beauty and a form that derives entirely from its incompleteness. The discussion then can turn to the question of whether all jigsaw puzzles should be completed. Ostensibly this is the intention of the jigsaw manufacturer. But should it always be the intention of the person who builds the jigsaw? What if the jigsaw is more aesthetically pleasing when only partially complete, or not complete at all? What about the value of missing pieces? Do they not also add some appeal? What about the beauty that is inherent in the chaos and uncertainty of the jigsaw? Isn't the process by which you put together the pieces more enjoyable than the ultimate satisfaction of completing the puzzle? And... what would happen if we threw away the box cover image and there were no guidelines as to what the jigsaw should look like? These questions are reminiscent of a postmodern perspective on education - where learning is random and chaotic, has multiple layers and diverse possibilities, and where the rules might just as easily be thrown out of the window. Ultimately, we know that not everything that is taught is learnt, and not everything that is learnt is taught.
I'm sure there are many other messages that could emerge from the image above, but I'm going to stop at this point to give someone else (perhaps even Simon himself?) a chance to interpret it in a pedagogical context. So what are your ideas? (And what image will you send me that will present a challenge for me to interpret?)
It so happens that my friend, colleague and fellow Edupunk from two oceans away has set me a little challenge. Amy Burvall has sent me three images, and my task is to create a learning related blog post using one of them. She calls it the #blimage challenge. I'm not one to shy away from any challenge, so I hereby present a post that incorporates all three images.
The state education system can easily be compared to a railway network. Trains arrive and depart from designated stations, passengers embark and disembark, and somehow, the train delivers everyone to their destinations. There is no deviation from the track (unless there is a disaster and there is a derailment - trains run on the rails), and generally there is a prescribed timetable that dictates the schedule of arrivals and departures of all trains in the network. This is a great metaphor for school systems, which generally operate on the same principles. There is a timetable that all school lessons and schemes of work run to. A bell divides activities, and everything is scheduled for a specific part of the school calendar. This is the easiest and most cost effective way to manage the delivery of a curriculum, but is it the most helpful for learners? It doesn't suit all students, just as a railway timetable doesn't suit all travellers. But we comply with them, because there is no alternative. Or is there?
Some prefer to travel in a taxi, or even by using their own personal transport. This transport will depart at the time the traveller decides and hopefully get them to their destination. This is a metaphor for personalised learning, with the personal learning environment supporting an individual's learning. There is plenty of opportunity to deviate from prescribed educational processes, which leads to endless possibilities for personal research and digressions into uncharted territory. Furthermore, unlike traditional formalised education, the personal learner determines his or her own destination. To learn at this level of individualisation, the learner requires several things. Firstly, they need a set of tools they can use to access knowledge, and to communicate with others. In other words, they need technologies that are networked. They need to be able to connect with experts, peers and content.
One of my tasks as an academic working in the field of teacher education over the last few years, has been to develop and promote this kind of alternative, off the rails education. Now and then I deviate into some alternative practices, which have been documented on this blog and elsewhere. Things can happen that are not planned, or may not appear to have a clear purpose. You might say these are 'strainge sessions' (I love the alternative spelling) in the sense that they don't comply with conventional educational practice. In one of my recent sessions I asked my students to use their cameras to create a 'story without words'. They not only had to create the videos or image sets, but determine what exactly the learning outcomes were. It goes without saying that each decided their own learning outcomes, and each got something different from their participation. Each had to solve their own idiosyncratic problems, and each had to think critically and creatively to successfully complete their task (the success criteria were also decided by them). Some teachers might consider this to be completely off the rails. For me it's a necessary, creative approach to support and promote personalised and critical learning.
How's that Amy? Anyone else want to set me an image/blog challenge?
Learning in many organisations is going through radical change. Some are ditching their training rooms in favour of digital delivery of content, and bosses that are forward thinking are investing in social learning, social media and mobile devices to support the learning of their employees. When I was invited to speak at a Human Resources and Corporate Learning conference in Cologne, Germany I did an interview about how organisations are remodelling their learning strategies around new and emerging technology. The interview, by Bettina Wallbrecht and Stefanie Hornung for Zukunft Personal is also available in a more extended version in German at this link. We started by discussing the rapid development of new technologies such as social media and mobile phones, and their implementation in work place learning.
What do these new developments mean for trainers and how do they adapt to these changes?
Some trainers find it hard to keep up because they think it is too fast and too complicated for them to understand. But any teacher or trainer can exploit the power and potential of these new technologies. Many of them are free and easy to use, and there is a definite pedagogy underpinning the use of these technologies. They just have to be aware that there are privacy and identity issues, issues of safety and content management. I urge every teacher and trainer to try these technologies out in a safe environment to see how they work and what they can do for their learners.
Can we apply this also to corporate learning? Do companies use these technologies, and how?
Oh yes. I can give you at least one example: Just recently I was speaking at a conference in London (Learning Technologies). 450 people attended representing many major companies, from for example, banks, manufacturing companies, the police, the military and government departments. Many of these 450 people were already doing something new with technology and wanted to hear all about the latest digital media and technologies. I think that it is a growing trend that corporate trainers are tapping into the power of these new media and technologies.
Do companies support the use of these technologies by their employees?
Well, corporate barriers are a problem - for instance when the management says you are not allowed to use Facebook because it's against company policy. I say to them, if you ban Facebook, you are losing one of the greatest opportunities to gain social credibility and social traction that you are going to have: the power of social media to connect people professionally as well as personally. The ability to tap into a professional network is one of the most valuable that an employee can have. So don't turn your backs on social media in the workplace. Rather than block it, facilitate it in a way that it becomes a benefit to both your employees and your company.
You once said that learning transcends the boundaries of the classroom. Do you see problems when professionals, for example specialists in a certain field, connect with others from different companies?
Companies obviously want to protect their secrets, they have to - to a certain extent - because if they don't, their rivals will come in and steal their ideas and capitalise on them. But there are ways of sharing information, there are also ways of marketing where messages become viral, enabling you to exploit the power and potential of social media, to sell your ideas to people. You see, all of my content is licensed under Creative Commons, which means that it can be shared and repurposed under the same licence with which I have licensed it. Sometimes people translate my blog posts into other languages, and this way I get a huge audience which I would otherwise not have had. This is what companies have to see: They may wish to protect some things, but they may also wish to open up their ideas to sharing, to gain more credibility, more effective marketing and more efficient promotion of their ideas and products.
In Germany, HR professionals have to face the demographic change. Are the new learning technologies just a new way to learn for digital natives or also for older people?
I don't believe that younger people are more adept in using technology just because they were born after 1980 and I don't want to categorise people this way. In my view, it is all about context rather than about age. What matters is what uses you see for the technology and then there is a willingness to learn how to use it. When you understand that these technologies are for everybody to use, demographics such as age don't really matter that much.
How far are all these changes we talked about international phenomena?
In one sense, there are huge differentials between how people use technology to learn to connect with each other, to communicate, to do commerce and business. If you go to Singapore, a small country where there is a population of people who are very much immersed in technologies, because it is one of the most wired - or wireless - countries in the world. You can't compare that to the Gambia in Western Africa, another very small nation where they don't even have a power (electrical) infrastructure for most of their country. But in other ways everybody is in the same boat, because everybody wants to learn, everyone wants to have a good life. The needs, aspirations and hopes are the same, but our opportunities are not the same. The future is unevenly distributed, which means tat the future is not here yet.
This is a brief video I did in 2012 at Learning Technologies that is related to theme of companies integrating new technologies into their corporate learning strategy (and how to get around some of the perceived barriers in organisations). Look out for my comments on positive deviance and the IPD - Innovation Prevention Department!
Photo by Niklas Wikström on Flickr
Video courtesy of Martin Couzins
I have been working in the field of learning technologies for almost 40 years. As you can imagine, during this time I've seen quite a few developments. Have there been any surprises along the way? Plenty. In fact my specialism never ceases to amaze me, because there is always something new to learn, some new technology, app or software tool to get to grips with, or some new theory or model that is being proposed. The most important thing for me has been to find out what is coming next, so that not only am I prepared for it, I can also tell my students, colleagues and my wider academic and professional community about what I think will be the potential impacts of new ideas and technologies.
Frankly, that's why I started this blog.
One of the biggest surprises for me has happened in the last decade or so. Social media, in all its forms, is I believe, one of the greatest innovations ever to impact on the world of learning, in all sectors. It has caught on very quickly. The fact that anyone can connect with anyone else in the world, and can tap into any community of practice they are interested in, is very powerful. Knowing that you can learn from others, especially those who are knowledgeable in your field, and can sometimes obtain instant responses from them, wherever they are in the world, is very liberating.
I don't see this as a revolution in learning though. Rather, I'm inclined to agree with the argument proposed by Brian Winston (1998), that we are witnessing an evolution of tools, and that all new technologies and ideas are based upon older versions, updated, upgraded and extended. We are always building on the previous work of others, and we should never forget this. The phrase 'standing on the shoulders of giants' is always very apt in the world of learning technology.
The first technology for me has always been language. We cannot overemphasise the importance of language. All other technologies derive from it. Language was developed by various cultures and societies so we could communicate directly and clearly to each other, and it has evolved into the multiple tongues and dialects we now see being used every day around the globe. Ever since we learnt to communicate through speech, we have been devising new ways to convey our thoughts, to amplify them and to disseminate our knowledge, ideas and beliefs. From the cave paintings of the Paleolithic Age, through the early forms of distance communication such as smoke signals and flag semaphore, then the printing press and the telegraph, to the modern day versions including the telephone, radio, television and the Web, we see a gradual progression of our ability to communicate with each other. One-way communication enabled instruction. Two-way communication enabled discussion.
Inherently, we are always striving to find new ways to connect with each other to communicate our thoughts, share our knowledge, and learn from each other. That is the basis of education, and language is the principle technology upon which all learning is based.
Reference
Winston, B. (1998) Media, Technology and Society: A History: From the Telegraph to the Internet. London: Routledge.
Blended. It used to be something you did in the kitchen. With a machine. Saved you having to mix ingredients with your hands or a utensil. Took away a lot of the effort. Hopefully, the end result was edible.
Now blended has come to mean something else, at least in the education domain. But what exactly do we mean when we talk about blended learning?
Once, blended learning was an easy concept to understand. It described the difference between traditional and distance education. You mixed your face to face learning experience with remote learning, usually mediated through some kind of technology. First it was paper based, and then there was a rapid evolution of technology, and now the distance side of blended learning comes in many shades and hues. The most common form of blended learning today is where you spend some time in the classroom, but the majority of your time studying online. Some people call it the flipped classroom. Whatever. It's blended. Local and remote. There you go.
But it's not a simple as that now. Blended learning is taking on a number of other connotations, because thanks to the advent of the digital device, there are now many more modes of learning. Consider for example the blend between mobile and tethered learning experiences. You can be mobile and take your learning beyond the classroom, but you can be away from the classroom and still be tethered to your technology. What are the issues here? There is plenty of debate and much research in this area, not least around student preferences. Some people prefer to learn on the move, while others are more comfortable with larger screens, and with all their resources physically around them.
Then there is the blend between paper based texts and e-readers. Which is best? Who prefers which? It's a blend we are taking an increasing interest in, throughout the education community. Both can support learning on the move, but then, learning has always taken place exactly where the learner goes.
This blog post was inspired by the above illustration by Amy Burvall
What about the blend between social learning and personal learning? Surely this is another important dimension to contemporary education? You can learn different things when you're in close proximity to others, especially if they are intent on reaching similar goals to you. And yet, personalised approaches to learning are also on the increase, and although social and personal learning are not mutually exclusive, they tend to be separated out because they afford different possibilities. My view is that social learning amplifies personal learning, and all can benefit from the knowledge of each individual in the community. Blended again.
There is also learning within the same time frame, and learning outside of the time frame. In education we call these modes synchronous and asynchronous, and each has its own benefits. For example, in asynchronous mode, you don't have to respond immediately to a prompt - you can take your time, reflect, go and do some research, and then come back to contribute to a forum or online discussion. Another kind of blended.
So blended learning is becoming an increasingly complex concept, with multiple possibilities and infinite options. Blended is about choice, and about maximising your learning in the modes you find most convenient. Learning in all its forms is a little like the blender in your kitchen. Put in the right ingredients, and use a little effort, and hopefully the result will turn out to be very useful.
Photo by Steve Johnson on Flickr
Image by Amy Burvall
In yesterday's post entitled 'Open or shut', I wrote about a rise in the number of academics who are turning their back on traditional research publications such as closed journals, in favour of more open, accessible outputs such as blogs and open access journals. They are doing so to ensure their research is read by larger audiences, to open up public debate, and to disseminate their knowledge as widely as possible. They are doing this without the approval of their parent institutions, and as an act of conscience. The pitfalls are there, but so are the benefits. As Claude Lord tweeted yesterday, 'it's no longer publish or perish, it's now publish to flourish'. The fact is, academics are still judged on their ability to research and publish their findings in 'high impact' peer reviewed journals. High impact journals are those considered to be the most influential in their field, and they are calculated by an algorithm that considers a number of factors including article citations. It's notoriously difficult to get articles accepted for publication in these elite journals - the editors often pride themselves in their high rejection rates. However, the elite journals may have had their day, because as John Bohannon highlighted in 2014, the more highly cited papers are actually beginning to emerge from less prestigious (non-elite) journals.
"In 1995, only 27% of citations pointed to articles published in non-elite journals. That portion grew to 47% by 2013. And the non-elite journals published an increasing share of the most highly cited papers within each field as well, growing from 14% to 24%."
So is the journal impact system still a valid measure of academic value? Publication in high impact peer reviewed journals has been the yardstick to measure academic prowess almost since academia began. And yet, as Asit Biswas and Julian Kirshherr argue in a recent online article for the London School of Economics, there is yet another big problem with this:
"Up to 1.5 million peer-reviewed articles are published annually. However, many are ignored even within the scientific community: 82 percent of articles published in humanities are not even cited once. Rarely do scholars refer to 32 percent of the peer-reviewed articles in the social and 27 percent in the natural sciences. If a paper is cited, though, this does not imply it has actually been read. According to one estimate, only 20 percent of papers cited have actually been read. We suspect that an average paper in a peer-reviewed journal is read completely at most by no more than 10 people. Hence, impacts of most peer-reviewed publications even within the scientific community are miniscule."
Those who publish their work elsewhere, in lower echelon journals or (perish the thought) in open access journals, are often frowned upon by the academic community, or are certainly not regarded as playing the game. They are often excluded from research assessment exercises, and can be overlooked for promotion or tenure. This is all part of the ivory tower game that is played out in universities across the globe. It has to stop. Maintaining such exclusivity is damaging to the credibility of academia, and restricts knowledge that is made available to the general public. There has always been a power struggle between those who control knowledge and those who require it. What would have happened if Jimmy Wales had been overruled by his colleagues, and Wikipedia had been exclusively a knowledge repository populated by credentialled academics and scholars? What if talented and knowledgeable lay-people had been excluded from contributing to Wikipedia? Would it be as popular and useful as it is today? Fortunately Jimmy Wales won the argument, and Wikipedia is testament today of crowd sourced knowledge, the wisdom of the many, and dialogue of the masses. It is the largest and best used knowledge repository in the world. In their LSE article, Biswas and Kirshherr go on to argue that academics should participate more in public debate to raise the profile of scientific issues that impact on daily lives. There is currently a paucity of academics willing to do this. Without the use of popular tools such as social media, blogging and public press however, this situation is unlikely to improve. You see, the problem with peer reviewed journal articles is not confined to their lack of accessibility and their exclusivity. They are often lengthy pieces of text that are laden with impenetrable language and scientific jargon, peppered with obscure diagrams, complex tables and statistics. Brevity and to-the-point summaries are required if most people are to understand the implications of research. How do we solve real world problems, and what are the practical applications of academic research results in daily life? These are the questions the general public are interested in, and academics will need to find better ways to disseminate their findings than publishing as they always have, in obscure, privileged-access journals that are read only by a handful of their own community. If we are going to see a shift away from this elitism, then the universities, the funding councils and ultimately, governmental education ministries must take a lead. Some universities are now beginning to accept opinion pieces, open access journal publications and social media contributions as a part of submissions for the promotion process. It's a good start. Photo by Tom Murphy on Wikimedia Commons
Is the ivory tower crumbling? by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
A new breed of academics is emerging in the digital age. They are the researchers and teachers who freely share their knowledge and studies online. They are circumventing traditional approaches and discovering new ways of sharing their work. They are the open scholars.
Increasing numbers of high profile academics (such as danah boyd and Martin Weller for example) are turning their backs on traditional methods of research dissemination, publishing their work exclusively on free-to-read open access platforms or on their blogs. Many have openly pledged to never write, edit or review for closed journals again. Others choose to continue publishing their work in conventional peer-reviewed journals, but also disseminate their work widely through non-peer reviewed digital channels.
"...for a growing number of academics the benefits of blogging outweigh the drawbacks. Those who blog - including me - agree there are positive outcomes, such as networking and collaborating, finding new audiences and opportunities, disseminating research more widely, and building one’s reputation. Bloggers argue that far from diluting scholarly success, online writing can be a serious tool for academic practice."
These are clear benefits that any academic who has blogged for a while will attest to. The opportunities of networking, discovering new audiences for your research and that rapid dissemination capabilities of the web are just a few of the benefits you cannot find easily in more traditional avenues of publication. Additionally, the potential of social media to amplify content and expand reach exponentially should also be acknowledged. But there are also disadvnatages, mainly of a political nature. Fullick highlights the disdain some academics hold for open access publishing and personal publishing through blogging:
"Peer-reviewed articles are still the benchmark for academic professionalization, and some graduate students and early-career academics feel that blogging is a waste of precious time that could be spent on “legitimate” publishing. Because it’s a form of self-publishing that lacks peer review, blogging isn’t usually viewed as a legitimate form of scholarship."
Blogging and other non-conventional forms of research dissemination tend to hit a road block where tenure and promotion are concerned. They are not accepted by universities when it comes to applications for research funding either. Blogging and unconventional publishing are not for the faint hearted. Indeed, many early career researchers are forced to toe the traditional line just to stay within their posts. This is a shame, but a necessary obligation.
For established researchers and those who have gained a reputation, it's different story. The benefits of publishing your work through blogging can be huge. Some academic bloggers can boast of thousands, or even millions of views each month. Many would argue that this is what research dissemination is really all about - sharing your knowledge with as many people as quickly as possible, with maximum impact. Universities usually reject this approach because peer-review is absent from the process, and it is difficult to assure the provenance, quality, rigour and veracity of the work. Having had first hand experience of a number of closed journal review panels, I have to say that formal peer review doesn't always assure these. But the universities and the funding bodies persist in their support of this antiquated and far from effective method of research dissemination, and the dominant publishing houses rub their hands as they cash in.
And yet as increasing numbers of academics and scholars are pledging their allegiance to open scholarship and open publishing, so the blogs written by reputable scholars continue to appear. Recently, Dutch universities boycotted the publishing giant Elsevier because of its 'stranglehold' on the academic community. Academics are beginning to stand up and speak out. There is a sense that a change is in the air. We must fervently hope so, because our academic communities deserve to have access to the latest knowledge in a timely manner, in a format that is of high quality and, in an openly accessible form. What they don't deserve is for publicly funded research to be hidden behind pay walls that only a handful of academics will ever read.
I must admit I'm a big fan of Richard Gerver and have had the pleasure of working with him now and then over the last few years. Richard was also kind enough to write the foreword of my latest book Learning with 'e's, in which he swears blind that we met on a camel in the Saudi desert - during a social event for the ELI conference. Well, he spins a very good yarn, but we really did meet in Riyadh, and we had a lengthy conversation during the same conference (back in 2013). We discussed a number of issues around skills for the 21st Century, the role of the teacher, the nature of education and the future of schooling. Richard is a well known speaker on the circuit. He's an ex-headteacher and he has some very thought provoking views and insights on leadership, change and education. And so we took the opportunity to compare our personal visions for the progress of education, discuss our mutual concerns about the current state of schooling, and share our optimism for the future. Our dialogue embraced a number of themes including the necessary skills and literacies children will need to survive in the digital age, the impact of technology and change on education, and an insight into the concept of personalised learning. It was a conversation we enjoyed very much, and as luck would have it, a film crew was on hand to capture the entire discussion on tape. Here is an edited version of that discussion, courtesy of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Public Education Development Project.
A few months ago I was invited to do an interview for a Saudi Television company. I was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to keynote a conference on technology enhanced learning, but for the interview I ended up talking about reflective practice and pedagogy. One of the key points I made was that reflection on practice is important for every teacher to adopt, because thinking critically about what has occurred while you are teaching, and considering ways to improve your decision making skills are essential elements of any form of your professional practice.
Something that is less easy to achieve is reflection in practice. When you are in the thick of it, it is often important to consider what is happening and perhaps change tack, if what you are doing isn't working as well as you expected. This might mean changing your method, introducing a different activity or resources, or actually scrapping your lesson plan and doing something completely different. It's not easy when you are focused on what you are doing, but it is worthwhile never the less. I pointed out that reflection on and in practice are often catalysts to do some action research. I also discussed the idea that blogging and other technology tools can support teachers as they attempt to reflect on their practice.
I hope you find this video interview useful - it also includes subtitles in Arabic for anyone who requires them.
Photo courtesy of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Public Education Development Project
Pedagogy is not about directing children. Nor is it, in Brennan's terms 'concerned with the work or art of being a teacher.' Those are mere glimpses of the reality, and only a part of a larger equation. In its absolute form, pedagogy is not just about teaching. It does not simply concern itself with the 'delivery' of education or content. In the truest sense, teaching is just one element of pedagogy and not the entire story.
Pedagogy focuses on the learner and what they are capable of achieving.
Previously I wrote about the origins of the word pedagogy, and how it can be appropriated into current practice. Pedagogy is about leading learners to the place of education. What does this mean for teachers today?
Pedagogy certainly doesn't require us to drip feed students with content and it is far removed from the harmful and relentless testing of children in schools. Much of the content you and I learnt, and were tested on in school was often lost from our memories days, or even hours after the exam. It is the deeper learning, formed through personal interest, experimentation and reflection, that remains. Pedagogy, when practised appropriately, is about creating environments in which students can learn for themselves, and pursue their curiosity. Pedagogy is about ensuring that students are motivated to succeed in their learning, and it is about providing them with the best possible tools, resources and contexts in which this can be realised.
Teachers have an important role to play in the pedagogical process, but they are often just the ignition point. Inspirational teachers are catalysts for lifelong learning, but they cannot do the learning for their students. Think back - which teachers inspired you to learn, and does their influence still inspire you today? And yet it was you who did the learning. It was you who made the effort to learn and to develop the skills and competencies you now own.
Pedagogy in the purest form describes the leading of students to a place where they can learn. In today's digital age, that learning can be any time, any place, and at a pace that suits each individual. Students already carry the tools to be able to do this. Banning these tools from the classroom has a similar effect to removing an artist's paint and brushes. A wiser decision would be for schools to explore safe, appropriate and effective use of mobile personal technologies to maximise learning. True pedagogy would recognise the opportunities that exist and exploit them. As teachers, we need to appreciate the diversity of learning opportunities that now afford themselves, and adapt our practices accordingly. That will mean standing back and letting students discover for themselves, monitoring their progress, and intervening when necessary.
Reference
Brennan, R. (2003) 'One size does not fit all': The pedagogy of online delivery of VET in Australia. In H. Guthrie (Ed.) Online Learning Research Readings. Leabrook: NCVER.
It is said that Robert the Bruce once sat in a cave watching a spider as it attempted to spin its web. While in exile and hiding after a defeat at the hands of the English, he was inspired by the small arachnid as it tried time and time again, and never gave up. Whether Robert the Bruce was actually inspired by watching a spider spinning its web I know not. But I can see how such a spectacle could be turned into inspiration.
Inspiration to try again comes from many sources. The great wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill gave a famous speech when Britain was at one of the lowest ebbs in its history, when it seemed that a Nazi invasion was imminent. His speech had echoes of the stirring speech in Shakespeare's Henry V before the battle of Agincourt. One of Churchill's inspirational lines was:
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty— never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
Churchill was nothing if not inspiring. His rhetoric spurred on countless members of the armed forces and civilians to fight against all odds and never give up. That was one of the key reasons why, against overwhelming odds, the British managed to defeat a better equipped, more powerful foe.
Seeing the unseeded players doing battle with the elite tennis stars this week at Wimbledon was a real lesson in perseverance for anyone who watched. They had nothing to lose, and in some cases, actually triumphed. Dustin Brown (a lowly 102 in the world professional rankings) defeated Rafael Nadal, winner of 14 grand slam titles. Yesterday at Wimbledon, Britain's Heather Watson (ranked 109 in the world) came within two points of defeating world number one Serena Williams. You can bet she will come back stronger next time, knowing that she can go toe to toe with the very best in the world and not be embarrassed. No matter how hard or deep the failure, we should never stop thinking about tomorrow.
No matter what anyone tells you, failure is not the end. It is just the start of finding better ways to do something well, as long as you don't give in. We all experience disappointment in our lives. It is how we deal with that disappointment that tells the world about our character. I personally believe that my own failures and disappointments have made me a better teacher. I can empathise with my students when they don't do as well as they had wished, and I can point out to them that it is not the end when they fail. It is simply another opportunity to reflect on their performance and discover what they have to do next time to improve or succeed. Victory after a series of defeats is much sweeter.
If you are fighting a bear, you don't quit when you are tired. You quit when the bear is tired.
