14 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2016
    1. in a culture where everyone has access to values-based conversations, people above and below the median level of formal education are joining different conversations

      How do we have different conversations? How do we make conversations more inclusive? I love things like annotation flash mobs because we are doing that - opening things up for anyone to participate. But if we enter different conversations based on value, how do we reconcile differences in values?

    2. They’ve done it by reaching out through 5000 community partners and access points, through trade unions and housing associations. They’ve done tough, on-the-ground community work and provided the one-to-one support. That’s democratic work.

      I just need to +1 this 1000xs. I feel like there is something insightful for me to say here, but I just can't find the words for it. Community is ever important. Once again, it isn't about having information, its about usage, interactions, how things work for people in situated contexts...

    3. Let’s upload our materials and call it open learning, regardless of whether anyone is being helped to overcome the many barriers to success.

      This is such an important point. Usability must be a component of "open" that we consider. And one we consider often.

    4. access to this knowledge rarely means educational success

      I'm often caught up on the words "knowledge" and "information" and wonder can we have access to knowledge, or do we only have access to information and must construct or own knowledge? Then the assumption that we have access to knowledge becomes the problem, because it is inherently means we have a complete package or picture when we must do the work of making connections ourselves. I think knowledge resides within individuals, within collectives ... within but not alone and not static. Alone it is simply information. And access to information can be entirely useless if you don't have the ability to turn it into knowledge - something that works and makes sense for you [the collective, etc]

  2. Sep 2016
    1. Being an effective educator cannot remain a quest to be a master with a masterful product.  Rather, it is dynamic performance and a practice.

      I love this, am in complete agreement with this entire paragraph, and strive to create learning experiences which leverage the possibilities which are both unknown and endless.

      But often I feel we are constrained. It takes an impressive amount of trust from an institution to allow designers and instructors and students this freedom. I've been thinking about privilege on and off a lot lately, and it seems to me that being able to execute something like this takes a lot of privilege. ...something I wish wasn't so in the educational system/schooling.

    2. They were taken aback by the amount of control they were given to learn on their own terms. They hesitated, they waited for signals and structures. It was a delicate dance in supporting without commandeering process. I had to practice a certain kind of discipline in mirroring back to them their own inquiries

      How do we, as educators, learning experience designers, learning engineers, learning scientists... what have you... approach this balance? How do we provide support and perhaps some structure until those we are facilitating are able to stand on their own?

      I love the thought here of mirroring back. It reminds me a lot of my experiences with therapy/counseling. It is not the therapist/counselor who is doing the work but ME. They are there mostly encouraging me, lending a hand where I need it, but largely providing positive support for the tentative steps I take...

      Should I now consider myself a learning therapist, or learning counselor? I'll have to ponder it, as I like the possibilities.

    3. knowledge direct from my student’s lives

      I love this. I love breaking down the artificial barrier between academic and lived knowledge and experiences. For all that I love the abstract, it really is the pragmatic that is important. What works. And often I feel that schooling looses sight of that far too easily and too often, using a distinction of "academic" to make itself feel more important or significant.