http://www.cocomment.com/comments/mweller Copyright 2007 coComment.com 2009-11-25T03:40:07.685+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/images/logo4rss.gif http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=2433523&comment_id=61405197 Martin You should work for the Canadian Tourist board - lovely photos. Who knew Canada looked so nice :) 2009-02-25T14:27:17.770+01:00 2009-02-25T14:27:17.770+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=2433279&comment_id=61354206 Martin It could be even worse than she fears ;) http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2009/02/social-networks-will-make-us-scared-of-kittens.html 2009-02-25T10:16:22.241+01:00 2009-02-25T10:16:22.241+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=1517791&comment_id=28902031 Martin D'Arcy - yeah, but, no, but - let's take your example of 'open' - this is an attitude that is made more relevant and apparent by the technology. Before digital content there wasn't a clamour for CC licences, we all signed the copyright forms for publishers, because that was the way things were done. And the way things were done was that way _because_ of the technology - ie the limitations of physical products. The way the record industry was constructed was because of the technology - shifting atoms. But when it becomes digital the concept of openness changes - we begin to think of access to digital content as almost a right. We know it can't be stopped. The copyright forms suddenly seem archaic and draconian. So, if you take web 2.0 as a set of principles (openness, democracy, reuse, etc), then in many ways it _is_ the future - at least the future of education is one that grapples with these issues, which are in many ways at odds with those currently enshrined in educational systems. From this perspective actually technology _is_ the future, because technology is about how we communicate and work - and if education isn't about that, what is it about? I know you wouldn't argue that technology wasn't important, but saying 'teaching and learning is the future, not technology' will sound like that. Sure learning (not so sure about teaching) is the future - but isn't that like saying 'education is the future of education'? Technology, and more importantly, the attitudes and approaches it embodies and encourages, will be a bigger part of this future than it probably ever has before. Told you this was a pet topic of mine ... can we still be friends? 2008-07-23T16:10:34.167+02:00 2008-07-23T16:10:34.167+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=1517791&comment_id=28893168 Martin Sorry D'Arcy, as much as I big up my respect to you, I'm going to have to fight you on this one. This sounds dangerously close to my favourite bugbear 'Technology isn't important, it's pedagogy that counts.' I can't tell you how many times I've heard this, and it makes we want to scream. What people usually mean is 'I don't like technology so I'm going to pretend it isn't important'. I know that isn't the case here, but it gets close and the danger is to underestimate the effect of technology. Think about changes in transport technology - would anyone argue that 'the jet engine isn't important, it's still just travel'. These technologies changed society. I also don't believe people sit around with a bunch of pedagogies in their back pocket thinking 'if only I had a technology to realise these'. I didn't know I wanted a wiki until I saw one, and then I immediately saw the educational possibilities. The pedagogy followed the technology, but also helped inform the practice. It's a dialogue. So what the new tools represent are new ways to communicate. And, as we saw back in your twitter post, the technology itself can change the way we communicate. As Shirky says 'when we change the way we communicate, we change society.' As I argue on Feldstein's blog, you can see the technology as a metaphor if you like, or the medium, through which some profound social changes are happening. The way we view content, and who gets to act as a filter, are very deep issues in society. Does anyone in a content industry think technology isn't significant? I think it would be a shame for education not to engage with these changes because it was busy denying the role of technology. There, that's my rant over. 2008-07-23T09:37:20.514+02:00 2008-07-23T09:37:20.514+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=1517735&comment_id=28892163 Martin I kind of know what you mean D'Arcy - I started _dreaming_ in Twitter a while back. I think this backwards pressure from online apps to the real world is rather under-researched. Let's take Flickr as a (good) example. The very act of sharing photos online makes hitherto casual photographers much more active. They begin to think about photos they can take to upload, they join groups (like 366 photos) that encourage them to take particular photos, etc. The online environment has an impact in their real world life. And with blogging, I particularly noticed at the start that I often sat in conferences or meetings thinking about the blog post I would write. This was generally good - it made me more reflective. Like you, I often think about the witty, pithy Twitter post I would write about something. Maybe, as you suggest, this isn't always good. But I think it's a sign of Twitter settling in to my mental repertoire of expression, like blogging. 2008-07-23T08:41:04.143+02:00 2008-07-23T08:41:04.143+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=1505515&comment_id=28779651 Martin Really nice post John (don't you two look alike!). I think the idea of thinking about history in terms of changes in social networks is very powerful. If you did an analytics diagram of your grandfathers social network (or let's play around and do a word cloud too), then I bet the differences would be very visually striking. The big question is - what will my daughter's social network look like compared with mine? 2008-07-18T14:13:37.131+02:00 2008-07-18T14:13:37.131+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=1361827&comment_id=25830269 Martin Aw, shucks Sue, I blog-love you too. On commenting I still feel I should do more... 2008-04-26T08:55:40.442+02:00 2008-04-26T08:55:40.442+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=1308257&comment_id=24899646 Martin What a widget-fest Sue. I really want to make my blog roll from Google Reader (because I haven't updated my blog roll for about a year), but when I do this I don't have the option 'add a blogroll to your site'. What have I done to upset them? 2008-03-20T12:40:00.508+01:00 2008-03-20T12:40:00.508+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=1292911&comment_id=24733951 Martin D'Arcy - I don't know much about SCORM, it always left me cold. We've had some success with common cartridge. You can get one from openlearn - e.g. http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2969 (scroll down on the left). See if they work. 2008-03-12T15:14:20.630+01:00 2008-03-12T15:14:20.630+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=1287471&comment_id=24687197 Martin Thanks Sue, looks like I owe Feedburner an apology. I do subscribe to my own blog feed (on the basis I'm my ideal reader), but the advantage of being part of a global twitter network is that an Australian reader had picked it up before I was even awake. What it made me realise was how vulnerable I was - if I lost my feedburner feed it meant having to start again. I was in a panic yesterday! Anyway, I'm glad what will be known as 'the motherhood phase' is now over. Thanks for your help in this. 2008-03-08T16:41:18.153+01:00 2008-03-08T16:41:18.153+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=mweller&conv=1281174&comment_id=24598495 Martin Thanks for the offers and interest guys. I was talking to Stuart Sim last night (he's the developer in NY who's heading up our work), and he suggested piggybacking on another conference, and my response was similar - it would be good because people are there anyway, but bad in that we want something less formal and more freewheeling. So I came down on the go it alone side too. There definitely seems synergy between the edugluers and social:learn - whether they are exactly the same thing I'm still not sure, but they are at least close cousins. What it shows is that it is an idea whose time has come, and who better to do it than a bunch of indie-lovin edubloggers? Warning - I am likely to be the academic who gets lost amidst tech speak after 10 minutes and adopts his nodding dog face. 2008-03-04T09:32:26.135+01:00 2008-03-04T09:32:26.135+01:00