But we so often forget that we are all students. And that is why I loved this post at Students 2.0. The only thing I love more than a student is a cheeky, independent minded student who calls it as she sees it. So yeah–Where IS the student in “edupunk”? In fact, where is the student in the education “system” at all? And why don’t professors think of themselves as students? Why do I have to be such a good salesperson to get folks interested in changing up the classroom?
The thing is, I know Jim Groom, and I know that the work he is doing will eventually empower students IF professors get inspired. Right now, the tool of choice, Blackboard, is a classically patriarchal, instructor-centric tool. Instructors leave little knowledge nuggets there for students to find if they can. It isn’t now and has never been a tool useful for creating community in (and out of) my classroom. And learning communities are what it is all about. Jim’s work with the gang at UMW has given me the inspiration I needed to piece together my own tools for the classroom with blogs, wikis, etc. But most of my students have never blogged! For years now I have been waiting to see when that tide while change. But maybe it won’t. Now on my campus people are trying NING, which more closely resembles the student favorite, Facebook. It seems like just a tool change, but it isn’t. A group on the Ning lets you do fundamentally different things than Bboard does.
To tell the truth, I’m not in this to use the latest tools or make history as a cutting edge technology user. I’m in it to remind people of the importance of their own voice. I want students to know that, contrary to what the system has taught them thus far, they have within themselves stories that need telling and creations that need sharing and knowledge that needs pooling so it can contribute to progress. I see them every day pushing the boundaries of what we know about relationships and community on their phones. I see them editing Wikipedia. I see them making and sharing videos on YouTube. People like Jim are trying to say: Hey, we could do this classroom thing so differently! But I want to say “Who needs a classroom?”
Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'It is about the students (and we are all students)'.
:: Trackbacks/Pingbacks ::
Pingback by Recent URLs tagged Edupunk - Urlrecorder -
What are your campus folks doing with Ning?
Bryan,
Some folks in the Dean’s Office of the School of Arts and Sciences installed a NING site (not sure my technical terms are right there) and started inviting folks to join. Then some of us started setting up groups for committees we have going and inviting committee members to join. We have been using Bboard for committee “archives” but this is a real step in an interesting direction. A few people are doing some blogging within the Ning. I have seen that there is an event calendar that they are hoping folks will use (it is for the whole UR Ning –not sure yet if we can do private group calendars…) So, basically, we are just playing with it to see what it might be able to do. So far I have been surprised at the number of faculty who are jumping on board. I think it makes a nice alternative to Facebook, since faculty and students can have a social networking environment without the “TMI” that currently comes with Facebook.
If you know of others using it, I would love to hear more about their experience.
In certain ways I think it’d be foolish for Jim to try to determine the student role in his edupunk idea. The students ought to be saying what they think their role is.
I don’t particularly like her tone but then I can be pretty hostile towards strangers. She seems overly arrogant and claiming both punk and DIY as the domain of the young seems pretty misguided. Punk is now history. DIY is pretty eternal and certainly has been led by people older than teenagers.
I don’t really see the chance to wait for the traditional student to take the lead. They have been brainwashed into apathy for far too long. She has to go back to the 60s for examples of youth leading change. I’m not saying no students are active now but the percentage is pretty poor.
The whole thing irritates me. If you want a voice- step up and say something useful, better yet do something useful. Whining about not being included or deciding someone is too old to fit your definition of punk or DIY is useless- just as useless as arguing over whether you’re an edupunk or an edufolkie.
I think I may swear off posting anything other than lesson plan ideas for the rest of my life. The petty philosophizing and subsequent hair splitting makes me tired. Or maybe just angry.
or maybe just bitter and whiny sounding.
Tom,
Don’t you think that writing in the student authored blog IS using her voice, stepping up to the plate, etc.? I agree with you that most of our students are still in passive, “will-this-be-on-the-test” mode, but I see this blog as a step toward being the authors of their own education. And, yes, you are probably right that she’s too harsh on “old folks” but I remember reading that there was a lot of that in the 60’s too–I mean, they created the term “generation gap.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_gap)