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Architectures of Participatory Learning

But the meat of the argument is about how the best explanation for many of the group phenomena we see online, from ICanHazCheezburger to Wikipedia, is that people like sharing with each other and collaborating. Not always, of course. But there are architectures of participation that encourage the kind of sharing and generosity that enriches us all, and by experimenting with them, we can create media and social change that harnesses millions of people to help and amuse each other.

via boingboing.net

Just got this on my Kindle/iPad/Desktops/iPhone (have I mentioned I love the type of portability the Kindle platform offers and hope that iBooks can replicate that type of cross-platform experience?) and can’t wait to dig in today.

I’m a big Clay Shirky fan (click the link if you need a sample), and I’m hoping this book, along with Daniel Pink’s ongoing work, becomes a pointer I can use when folks ask about the “effectiveness” of my teaching style.

I love the idea of the Teacher/Learner as an Architect. There’s something inherit about teaching that lends itself to the type of mystical and very practical practices of masons-meet-Howard Roark.

We’ll see and I’ll, of course, keep you posted.

Steve Jobs on Educational Entrepreneurism

When you have
kids you think, What exactly do I want them to learn? Most of the stuff
they study in school is completely useless. But some incredibly valuable
things you don’t learn until you’re older – yet you could learn them
when you’re younger. And you start to think, What would I do if I set a
curriculum for a school?

God, how exciting that could be! But you can’t do it today. You’d be
crazy to work in a school today. You don’t get to do what you want. You
don’t get to pick your books, your curriculum. You get to teach one
narrow specialization. Who would ever want to do that?

These are the solutions to our problems in education. Unfortunately,
technology isn’t it. You’re not going to solve the problems by putting
all knowledge onto CD-ROMs. We can put a Web site in every school – none
of this is bad. It’s bad only if it lulls us into thinking we’re doing
something to solve the problem with education.

Lincoln did not have a Web site at the log cabin where his parents
home-schooled him, and he turned out pretty interesting. Historical
precedent shows that we can turn out amazing human beings without
technology. Precedent also shows that we can turn out very uninteresting
human beings with technology.

It’s not as simple as you think when you’re in your 20s – that
technology’s going to change the world. In some ways it will, in some
ways it
won’t.

via wired.com

Thanks to 37Signals’ blog for the link.

And amen.

I’m lucky enough to teach at an amazing place that allows me to do amazing things like pick my curriculum and textbooks and breadth of study (even though it’s technically Physical Science).

Many users, however, will have to add more memory …

Many users, however, will have to add more memory if they want to run Mac OS X: It requires a minimum of 128 MB of RAM, which is more than Apple included in most of its consumer models until recently. The operating system runs even better with twice as much memory. (Fortunately, RAM is at record low prices, with many vendors now offering 256-MB modules for $50 or less.)

Ah, the good ole days…

Something you don’t expect to say while making waffles unless you are the parent of a 2 yr old (and perhaps a geek): “Please take the Google yoyo off of your neck. Now. Thank you.”

Flickr Says Thanks for All the Fish

It’s really not that big of a deal, but I’ve been a Pro member for the last three years… words like this lead me to think that maybe Yahoo isn’t putting that much long term investment in the Flickr service.

Thanks, Flickr…

Why only until June 1?
We promised you access to your all time data, and we’re disappointed we’ve not been able to deliver on that. We’ve been trying for over a year to get the data ready for you and in the process we have found that it’s just not sustainable for us to offer this access over the long term. What’s available is what we have managed to generate so far, it’s offered as is with no guarantees. We know it’s missing some data but fixing the holes or offering the data for longer would require us to divert too much attention from making the rest of the site better which, as always, is our main goal.

Yikes.

Picasa maybe?


As technological skills become synonymous with literacy, it is imperative that students learn to use emerging real-time technologies for research, experimentation, problem-solving, collaboration and creativity. Tech-savvy teachers are already taking advantage of these very technologies to build their own skills and lesson plans.

The Real Time Web & K-12 Education – In and Out of the Classroom

Amen.

Young digital natives are training their brains for technological expertise but are not developing neural networks that modulate the ability to maintain eye contact during a conversation, recognize non-verbal cues, and perceive and convey empathy.

iHUMAN | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters

Even with cheap printed books, you can tell that someone proofed every page. With many e-books, they’ve clearly just been run through a converter with no proofing whatsoever.

Daring Fireball Linked List: Texts, as Opposed to Books

Astute comment from Gruber that reminds me of the transition from handwritten manuscripts and texts (often laboriously copied) to texts manufactured on printing presses at the end of the late Renaissance. 

Over the next five years, I expect for ebook curation and formatting to become a serious issue.  This will be especially true for the education space as we teachers continue to move away from textbooks and towards reading devices. 

Pay Per VOIP

Me initially: “yay! Finally.”

Me after reading description: “wait, really? Sigh.”

I have no issue paying for services. However, paying for 3G calls via Skype even though I already pay Skype and ATT seems a little… opportunistic by the vendors?

Just sayin’