2011pp107Week4


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given in September-October 2011 for TESOL, pp107.

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Week 4: Jan 31 - Feb 6 , 2011

Theme: Many stories: A sociopolitical lens

 

The theme this week verges on disruptions to prescribed order when transformative technologies are brought to bear on traditional gatekeepers.  Mark Pegrum's chapter this week is on sociopolitical issues, and the readings concern the concept of "edupunk."
EduPunk and Learning Management Systems - Conflict or Chance?
View more presentations from Martin Ebner
Punk or pedagogy: Points to ponder ...
 
We have in fact been viewing our topic through a sociopolitical lens all along, in Keen's suggestion for example that the "cult of the amateur" was creating a new elite that would rise to power by virtue of putting aside those who could not navigate the new folksonomies and identify with social networks; whereas Weinberger rejoiced in owners of content no longer owning the organization of that content. 
 
To view such disruptions through a more pedagogical focus, take the ePorfolios that we hope participants here will create and/or develop as a record of their brief journey through this session.  How would ePorfolios work as an assessment system where you teach, as opposed to the standardized testing and other exam-based criteria that might be driving your curriculum now?  If you feel that ePortfolios are valid assessment tools and you have your students create them, you might be at odds with an entrenched system. If you use them anyway (because you think they are the best tool for the job as you perceive it), you would be 'edupunk'.
(For interesting insights, see Ambrose's presentation on Googlios, http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=478.

Recorded materials pertaining to this topic ...
 
When we interviewed Mark Pegrum in January, 2010 (recording at http://tinyurl.com/100131pegrum; and also an interview he did with Gavin Dudeney in February http://tiny.cc/ZdIbV) he turned the tables and asked us this question: what key literacies should we be teaching students in a digital world?

The 2009 K-12 Online Conference left a rich archive of video and podcast presentations, where many of the presenters addressed this very question thoroughly, in great detail and in many aspects, and with strikingly vivid illustrations.  Listening to these presentations you might think that edupunk had gone mainstream, that everyone is teaching digital skills and using web 2.0 tools with students these days, and you would be very fortunate to be working in a place where this was the case. From the K-12 Online presentations, it's clear that educators have identified a broad set of multiliteracy skills needed for knowledge work in the 21st century, and that their own creativity and that of their students has blossomed as a result of ubiquitous access to tools leveraging these skills
(see Valdez, http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=443). . 
 

Here is feedback from our Sept 2010 round of Presentations (on these current topics)
Jennifer Verschoor mentioned my list of 21st century competencies for educators referred to above (http://ning.it/ctMFsN) in her talk on Sept 26, 2010

Recording: http://connect.pi.ac.ae/p57572846/ 

Podcast: http://vance_stevens.podomatic.com/entry/index/2010-12-10T08_33_01-08_00

(If PBWorks persists in redirecting the podcast link above to a nonexistent URL then copy the link in your browser:)

 

Also Mark Pegrum and Gavin Dudeney chatted with us on Wed Sept 29, 2010, 08:00 GMT, also in Elluminate. In preparation Mark posted a remarkable wiki page at http://e-language.wikispaces.wikispaces.com/mr3 and I've transposed much of that to http://tinyurl.com/pegrum-dudeney, which I hope to annotate in order to prepare myself for the interview.

Recording: http://tinyurl.com/2010sept19recording 

Podcast: http://vance_stevens.podomatic.com/entry/index/2010-12-10T02_43_29-08_00

(If PBWorks persists in redirecting the podcast link above to a nonexistent URL then copy the link in your browser:)

 

We also had a presentation from Carla Arena and the crowd at Casa Thomas Jefferson in Brasilia where they discussed their approach to materials development, of which this is one example: http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume14/ej54/ej54int/ - on Sunday Oct 3 in Elluminate

Reflections: http://buxiban.blogspot.com/2010/10/use-of-moodle-and-web-20-tools-in-efl-e.html  

Recording: http://connect.pi.ac.ae/p55432632/ 

    

Tasks for Week 4
Scan the annotated list and identify the presentations you think most interesting and then view them and feed back to the list your reflections and answers to Mark's questions, not only

In conveying answers to your questions, try to utilize the tools and project formats mentioned in those sections below.

 

Yet another task, post to Twitter using the hash tag #evomlit and let's see if we can populate this Newsletter at http://paper.li/tag/evomlit 

 

Seen on Twitter: "Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority."

- Thomas Huxley http://www.famousquotesandauthors.com/authors/thomas_huxley_quotes.html

 

And now for something complEATly different.  The concept of edupunk suggests that there are issues regarding new technologies not being addressed by institutional learning, and it also suggests an 'in your face' approach to resolving some of these issues by stepping around the established authority and just doing it.  This week we'll consider what some of these ill-addressed issues are, and we'll ask: when is it justified to simply take off on one's own tangent on the assumption that this is best for one's students? What are the up- and downsides to such an approach?  In what way is this a multiliteracies issue?  Participants should enjoy addressing the question: Do you feel that you, or anyone for that matter, is, are, or should be an edupunk?