Month: May 2018

Replied to Blogging, small-b, Big B (W. Ian O’Byrne)

Currently, my main blog serves as a space for me to narrate my work, or think out loud. I see it as a machine where I consume, curate, and archive materials on my breadcrumbs site, synthesize each week in my newsletter, and then perhaps pull together the loose threads (as I see them) in posts on my blog…or elsewhere. All of these ideas are half-formed at best. They may go on to other things or spaces. As an example, bookmarks saved in the breadcrumbs often turn into blog posts. A series of blog posts have turned into keynotes or lectures. A collection are currently morphing into a book or two. But, all of these ideas are raw, and serve as pre-prints to work that may live later on, or always exist in their current format. When content turns into an article, publication, or other content outside of my main website, I usually bring it back to my spaces by providing a “Director’s Cut” version of my work that includes the Google Doc of the original draft or other insights.

There are times Ian when I wonder why I post what I do. Then there are moments like this, and also recently with another post, where the comments and interaction have really stretched my thinking.

I also really like your point about little beginnings leading to greater things. I have found that the more deliberate approach of using my blog for more, rather than social media, has led to more connections. Reminds me of Amy Burvall’s point about ‘gathering dust for stars.’

Bookmarked Professional learning and collaboration: Where have they Gonski and where are we going? (the édu flâneuse)

As teachers are asked to increasingly use data, be aware of research, collaborate, and engage in ongoing professional learning, workload remains an issue. Collaboration and professional learning take time. Professional learning, in particular, often happens in teachers’ own time, and using their own funds. Time and resourcing are important considerations influencing to what extent teachers are able to collaborate and participate in effective professional learning.

Deborah Netolicky reflects upon the need for time and collaboration called out in the recent Gonski review. I have been a part of the introduction of Disciplined Collaboration in my previous school, as well as the development of collaborative presentations for conferences. I think that this comes back to the challenge of funding associated with such endeavors. Even if various administrative tasks are taken from teachers, they need to be done by somebody and that is still a cost.
Replied to Future of Things (FoT): In An Era of Encroachment (DCulberhouse)

The question is no longer as much about whether automation and artificial intelligence will come after my job, but whether or not I am continuously learning the skills, skillsets, and knowledge that will still make me viable and valuable whether automation or artificial intelligence comes after my job or not.

David, I am really intrigued by the comparison between flight and AI. What I feel is missing in the conversation are the consequences associated with such change. For example, we are now grappling with the challenges associated with fuel and pollution. Listen to RN Future Tense for an interesting take on where things are at.

I am not against the ‘future of things’, AI and changes in work, but I think that we need to do more work to understand and appreciate such changes. For me, this involves:

  • Asking questions as a part of critical reflection
  • Learning from and through others (as you touch on elsewhere)
  • Continually engaging in new challenges to disrupt habits
Liked 9 Ways To Make Student Work Authentic by Michael Niehoff (EDU CHANGE & STUDENT ADVOCACY)

As always, this not intended to be an exhaustive list, but rather a series of reminders, starting points or check-ins. The continual pursuit of connecting learning and the real world will only get more vital and intense. These various paths to authenticity can help solidify that connection.

Liked Invisible Labor and Digital Utopias by Audrey Watters (Hack Education)

The efficiency of teaching and learning – that means we need to talk about labor, in this illustration, in our imagined futures, in our stories. Because it’s not just the machine (or it’s not the machine alone) – in this depiction or in our practices – that is doing “the work.” There is invisible labor here. Not depicted. Not imagined. Not theorized or commented upon by Asimov.

Liked Why do we go to university? A new insight from Howard Gardner by Ewan McIntosh (Medium)

When students choose what universities to go to, two key trends can be seen in Howard Gardner’s latest research, revealed at the International Conference on Thinking. Some go for transactional purposes — to get a good degree and pack their CV full of things so that they can head into ‘real life’ in the best possible way. Others go for transformational reasons — they see university as a chance to evolve from being a high schooler into something new, to reinvent themselves.

Bookmarked Truth in an age of truthiness: when bot-fueled PsyOps meet internet spam (Kris Shaffer)

Harald D. Lasswell wrote that the function of propaganda is to reduce the material cost of power. On a social-media platform, that cost-reduction comes in many forms. By their very existence, the platforms already reduce both the labor and the capital required to access both information and an audience. Automated accounts further reduce the cost of power, for those who know how to game the algorithm and evade detection long enough to carry out a campaign.

But when artificial amplification becomes itself artificially amplified through the presence of spammers and opportunists, the cost to power for those who game the system in just the right way can be incredibly small. For those of us studying the digital information landscape, whether we seek to understand it or to effect positive change in it, it is essential that we understand all of the ways in which messages can be amplified — and the effects those methods can have on each other when they overlap.

Kris Shaffer continues his work in regards to bots, unpacking the way in which our attention is hijacked through attempts to influence and advertise. It is important to appreciate the mechanics behind these things for they are the same mechanics that those on social media engage with each and every day. One of the points that Shaffer (and Mike Caulfield) make is that whether something is true or not, continual viewing will make such ideas more familiar and strangely closer to the truth.
Bookmarked The “They Had Their Minds Made Up Anyway” Excuse by Mike Caulfield (Hapgood)

If Facebook was a tool for confirmation bias, that would kind of suck. It would. But that is not the claim. The claim is that Facebook is quite literally training us to be conspiracy theorists. And given the history of what happens when conspiracy theory and white supremacy mix, that should scare the hell out of you. I’m petrified. Mark Zuckerberg should be too.

Mike Caulfield explains the dangers of fake news and the way in which the repetition and familiarity with such lies can lead to an odd sense of truth.

People exposed themselves to Facebook multiple times a day, every single day, seeing headlines making all sorts of crazy claims, and filed them in their famil-o-meter for future reference.

Bookmarked Education lessons from the dog trainer – Leading and learning in the big wired world by Ross Leung (mrsleung.edublogs.org)

In dog classes, the dog owner cannot simply send their misbehaving dog to the trainer to be ‘fixed.’ There are a few reasons for this, including: 1) the problem is likely to exist between the owner and the dog and possibly centres around the lack of respect in their relationship- therefore sending the dog to the trainer will not address the heart of the problem and 2) it is not long term sustainable to offload the problem to another person -when the dog and the owner go home, the trainer will not be there to rescue them.

There is sometimes when I think that I should go through and clean out all the stagnant blogs from my feed. However, then one becomes active again, like this post from Riss Leung.

In it, Leung reflects upon the experience of going to dog training school. She then compares this with ‘training’ in the classroom. She explains that no-one, dogs or humans, learns when under stress. What is important then is creating the environment and investing in an ’emotional bank’s.

This continues on conversation involving Benjamin Doxtdator and the TER Podcast.

Bookmarked When words won’t suffice: behavior as communication by Benjamin Doxtdator (Long View on Education)

Just as I try (and sometimes fail) to de-center myself when addressing student misbehavior, I try to de-center myself when I write. The vast majority of the students that I teach won’t be racially profiled in a behavior policy or by the police and that’s why I think it is especially important for me to seek out literature that reflects on those systemic injustices.

Benjamin Doxtdator unpacks behaviour in the classroom. He touches on knowing your child, student choices and systemic inequalities. This is useful post to read and critically reflect upon various practices. I think that it all often starts with the language that we choose to use to describe these things.
Bookmarked The Glass Bees (bavatuesdays)

BlackBoard will leverage their relative omnipresence to gouge schools everywhere into using their tools because they can, and they’ll sell them up with all the administrative, vending machine, and surveillance cameras one could dream of. This is what we are missing. BlackBoard makes an inferior product and charges a ton for it, but if we reduce the conversation to technology, and not really think hard about technology as an instantiation of capital’s will to power, than anything resembling an EdTech movement towards a vision of liberation and relevance is lost. For within those ideas is not a technology, but a group of people, who argue, disagree, and bicker, but also believe that education is fundamentally about the exchange of ideas and possibilities of thinking the world anew again and again, it is not about a corporate mandate to compete—however inanely or nefariously—for market share and/or power. I don’t believe in technology, I believe in people. And that’s why I don’t think our struggle is over the future of technology, it is over the struggle for the future of our culture that is assailed from all corners by the vultures of capital. Corporations are selling us back our ideas, innovations, and visions for an exorbitant price. I want them all back, and I want them now!

Jim Groom celebrates 10 years of Edupunk as a part of Martin Weller’s 25 years of EdTech. This is the post where it all began.
Bookmarked Civix Releases New Online Media Literacy Videos (Hapgood)

As I say — it’s the internet — you’re not stuck with that one story that comes to you. By going out and actively choosing a better story you will not only filter out false stories but also see the variety of ways an event is being covered.

Mike Caulfield shares a series of videos summarising his work around Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers. Although it only touches on the basics, it still provides a useful introduction to the ‘Four Moves’ approach.
Liked Artificial Intelligence and education: moving beyond the hype by Jelmer Evers (Medium)

Going forward we need to be aware of all the inherent limitations of what AI is and the very human challenges using algorithms and big data. They are human inventions and are embedded in political, economic and social contexts that come with the biases and ideologies. AI can definitely augment our profession and help us become better teachers, but as teachers and students we need to be aware of the context in which this change is playing out. We need to understand it and use it where it will be to the benefit of us all.

Bookmarked Messing About with Messy Play: Messy Maths and More (Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research)

By messing about and getting messy, teachers learn the value of messy play. They see the potential of open-ended exploration with loose parts indoors and outdoors. Perhaps a belief in the Theory of Messing About will support the reconsideration of “Pinterest Pretty” and “Instagram Beautiful”.

I recently attended a regional meeting which involved a focus on ‘STEM’ involving random objects. It was amazing to watch the creativity with the seemingly scrap materials. This is a hat that my table made with that being our brief:

One of the interesting things that I observed through the activity was the storytelling that naturally came out of the activity.

Replied to It’s spring cleaning time for Blogger (Official Blogger Blog)

To make room for some exciting updates coming soon to Blogger, we’re simplifying the platform to enhance the blogging experience for all of our users.

It feels like these changes have been mooted for a while. I was told last year to think ‘Medium’. It will be interesting to see.