Steve Wheeler (Learning with 'e's) seems to have kicked off something interesting in the ALT-C fringe event this year with talk of 'anarchy' and 'no quarter' whilst mooting the concept of Edupunk - self-organised learning!
While we all struggle with the incoherence, inconsistency, chaos and downright stupidity that abounds in our institutional support of 'e-learning', there is a rumble in the jungle that might be the beast rising against the tide of over-constrained, bloated, expensive and often not fit for purpose services we're expected to work with.
Edupunk, maybe not a new phenomenon, but certainly the breaking out into the open of the idea of going outside the box, breaking the convention of using institutionally controlled facilities, letting students (and teachers) have more freedom and control in their e-learning endeavours: self-organised learning. I like it.
So where is this rumbling coming from? Well, there have for some time now been educators and students working together outside the confines of their universities' online facility, often in small, quiet and pretty successful ways. They have kept their heads down, who needs the aggro (and possible contractual worries) of standing up and saying, 'Hey, I'm doing this outside of your control, in a way that doesn't fit how you think, and it works'?
Now it seems that the time has arisen to give this 'out of control' e-learning a name, and to stand up and be counted if you're in for the ride. It will not suit all, that goes for teachers and learners alike, but lets go with it, let the creativity be exposed, see what might come of it.
Edupunk - I like it...
Tuesday 23 September 2008
Edupunk: let the beast free
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2 comments:
Very well put. There have been pockets of innovative experimentation, and many more who weren't sure how to proceed. Now there are efforts being made to completely replace and outdo the institutional solutions offered.
Another part is that this beast is trying to take the aggro to tackle the things that will come after any coming after. Pave the way, provide solutions and help those who can improve and/or replace our ideas.
Thanks Steven, and I agree with your comment there. We do need to pave the way, and to ensure that our paving materials are up to withstanding the load we are expecting (or maybe more than we expect). It's a balance I would guess between building new routes of exploration and not getting caught standing in 'the Emperor's new clothes'.
I worry that as a profession we seem to rush off after the new 'pot of gold' in learning technology at the drop of a hat, whilst our institutions develop the same old lumbering beasts which never quite get up to speed. I hope some day we can break both trends and stand together with our instutions on solid and exciting ground in a world of both innovative and robust elearning.
Until such a day the battle will rage on between innovators and institutional monoliths; they do say that war is the mother of invention... don't they?
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