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Replied to Plug and play studio (austinkleon.com)
So, for about a $150 investment, I can have all my old microphones, bass guitar, and keyboard plugged in at all times, and all you have to do is plug in an iPad (or an iPhone!), fire up Garageband, select the inputs, and go. I’ll often make a drum pattern with the built-in sequencer, then record myself singing and playing my old Yamaha piano through the MIDI input. It’s fun to do the basic tracks, unplug the iPad, then sit on the couch with headphones and do the mixing.
I remember getting a Creative soundcard for my desktop computer that had a single line in and line out. I would use this to record snippets to build tracks. How far technology has come.

I watched a documentary (I think that it involved Trent Reznor) and they were discussing the temperamental nature of early sampling where the computer (think it was an Apple) would sometimes just crash and they would need to wait hours for it to process again.

Replied to A Classroom Romance | Hybrid Pedagogy by Laura Witherington (Hybrid Pedagogy)

Joannne Lipman in “The Fine Art of Tough Love” describes principles she learned from her music teacher Jerry Kupchynsky, or “Mr. K.” The steps in her roadmap to success include:

  • Banish Empty Praise
  • Set Expectations High
  • Articulate clear goals — and goal posts along the way
  • Failure Isn’t Defeat
  • Say thank you

While these may sound like obvious practices, it’s the attitude that makes or breaks their instructional implementation. None of these steps addresses the actual student. These are steps that could be taken by an alienated expert. If these are the principles of tough love, they are missing the love. And the love is almost always excluded from those who claim to practice tough love. My rejoinder to them is to try plain love, without the adjective “tough.” Why not just love? Just loving the students refocuses the teacher’s efforts onto the students.

This reminds me of the Finnish idea of ‘Pedagogical Love‘:

In the same way, ‘pedagogical love would rather aim at the discovery of pupils’ strengths and interests and act based on these to strengthen students’ self-esteem and self-image as active learners’.

Replied to Doug Belshaw on Mastodon (Mastodon)
I don’t really pay much attention to the ‘format’ of a newsletter, I am more interested in the person and the story told. I love the personal nature of Laura Hilliger’s rambling reflections and the structured collections provided by Ian O’Byrne. I am sometimes sceptical of newsletters which are really means of summary and self-promotion. I think that Austin Kleon is someone who gets that balance right.
Replied to Defining the IndieWeb by Chris AldrichChris Aldrich (Chris Aldrich | BoffoSocko)

The IndieWeb can be many different things. It is:

  • a website;
  • an independent network of websites;
  • an idea;
  • a concept;
  • a set of broad-based web standards;
  • a set of principles;
  • a philosophy;
  • a group of people;
  • a support network;
  • an organization;
  • an inclusive community;
  • a movement;
  • a Utopian dream of what the decentralized, open Internet could be.

In some sense it is all of these things and many more.

In the end though, the real question is:

What do you want the IndieWeb to be?

I have had a go at defining or at least mapping out what the IndieWeb is before here and here. However, you have taken it to the next step.

I liked Greg McVerry’s recent rewrite of the principles, as much for the intent as for what he captures. Maybe that could be a possibility for people? Like WordPress did with GDPR, provide a default starting point and revise it to represent your own flavour?

I am reminded of my many debates and discussions around the notion of ‘digital literacies‘, that what matters is the process. That is why I really liked your closing provocation:

What do you want the IndieWeb to be?

This comes back to your point about building a better web:

I’m not looking for just a “hipster-web”, but a new and demonstrably better web.

Replied to Choosing a Music Streaming Service by Chris (Betchablog)
Right now, given that Google Play Music is going away, I’m leaning towards a switch to Spotify. Although if the New YouTube Music service adds the ability to upload my own files, then I could be swayed to stay in Google land, even if they do want an extra $2 a month to remove the ads from YouTube.
I saw all the news about YouTube Music and changes to YouTube Red, however I must have missed the information about the closing of Google Play Music. I wonder what will happen on Android for playing audio? I have actually come to like Google Music, so it is kind of annoying.
Replied to Why do we STILL have reports? by Edna Sackson (What Ed Said)

Why do governments and administrators continue to dictate not just the existence of report cards, but often the format and parameters they should fit?

What if the hours teachers spend writing and proofreading reports were instead allocated to professional learning and collaborative planning that enhanced future learning?

and…

WHY has so little changed in the four years

since I last wrote those questions?

Being in a role that supports the implementation of biannual reporting, it is an intriguing question. What I find the most interesting is how little schools are actually mandated to do. Even though they need to provided judgements (for some things) twice a year and feedback to parents twice a year (which can be in person), it sometimes feels as if we have bought into some myth that we must provide written reports and that parents want it. Even worse, everyone has a belief as to how they must look.

It has been good to see some of the schools that I have spoken to really strip back some elements, especially in regards to specialists. It always amazes me the amount of time spent by a teacher who would potentially see the children for an hour a week.

It will be interesting to see if Gonski 2.0 brings any changes, but I guess that is your point about solutions being pushed on schools. I also look forward to reading ACER’s research into the area and the general guidelines that they put forward.

Replied to Using Facepiles in Comments for WordPress with Webmentions and Semantic Linkbacks by Chris AldrichChris Aldrich (Chris Aldrich | BoffoSocko)
An update to an IndieWeb WordPress plugin now facilitates more streamlined conversations and interactions online
I feel that I have done something wrong, but my facepiles have been turned into names.

I thought this was somehow related to GDPR and have finally gotten to lifting the hood, but there is nothing there? Have I missed something? Is it being broken by something else? I have ticked the various types in Settings>Discussion. Disabled Jetpacked based comments.

I am wondering if something occured by moving webmentions out of Discussion

Aldrich screenshot

And into IndieWeb plugin settings?

I am sure that it is just me.

Replied to Maths in Motion by FH (technologylearningjourney)
My planning this term has been fairly slack given that I’ve been so sick and there’s nothing worse than being sick at home and trying to plan lessons.
Fiona, I love your honesty with this reflection. So often when it comes to technology it involves using some other time to prepare for a lesson. This is not always feasible and as you demonstrate, not always sustainable.