i think
thoughts and ramblings
Its been a while
It’s certainly been a while….
I’m at a cross roads. I love my job but I can’t stand the corporate stat. based bullshit that guides us.
In FE our performance is gauged on P.I. Data and we are basically ranked on how many students that pass a given unit.
If a students has serious personal problems (which happens a LOT) and for whatever reason they do not pass a unit then their failure is marked against us and there is no discussion or debate as to how or why this has happened. A FAIL is a FAIL!!!! END OF STORY!!!!
During our last HMIE visit, I wrote a short report which was presented to them at a meeting and they brushed it aside stating “other colleges manage, how can’t we”…. This was over a year ago and I’m still bitter about it.
Students in 2011 have a range of more complex issues… I’m not talking about dyslexia or dyspraxia, I’m talking about family alcoholism, drug taking or even sexual abuse. Students come to college to better themselves but in a lot of cases FAIL, not because of their inability but because of their personal lives. As a guidance tutor I deal with these issues on more or less a daily basis… I had a rough childhood myself so maybe I can see the signs or know the right things to say but many open up to me and in turn I do me very best to help as often they have nobody else to turn to…
Anyway…. Their attention span is often short or they have poor attendance. At college, I have a fantastic relationship with the finance team and money rarely gets stopped but as they often FAIL units it goes on our scorecard as a poorly performing area.
Maybe I’m over reacting but the point is as I said earlier… I’m at a crossroads. I don’t like the fact that our department maybe under threat because we have low P.I. data. I couldn’t ask to work beside a better team but seeing the stress at times from colleagues isn’t nice… I was bringing stress home last year and since January I’ve adopted a can’t give a hoot attitude…. Meaning, I’ll do my job as I’ve always done and teach to the very best of my ability but I pretty much ignore the threats from above. For me, the student is my primary concern, be it academic or helping with a personal issue…
Anyway….Just had to get that rant out there
Students and tutors as Facebook friends
I have found it enriching to open channels whereby others can communicate their feelings, their private perceptual worlds, to me. (Carl Rogers, from On Becoming a Person, Part I)
At Carnegie College, we use Facebook on a daily basis. Rather than restrict its use we encourage students to get involved. There are groups set up for each class and all students have embraced it. As a result of this, some students have sent friend requests to staff, such as myself which I have duly accepted.
Yesterday, my colleague Colin Maxwell made the following post in a group of leaders in learning technology.
Colin's Facebook post which started this debate
Knowing Colin, I think he just wanted to spice up the group up a little but it was a valid question and I am in the process of writing up a survey to collate information as a series of graphs with a conclusion
Creative commons for teaching materials?
I am currently in the train, heading over to Moray House for my first PhD meeting with Hamish and Jen and I started thinking…. As you do…
This week I introduced the Access Group (int1) to the concept of Creative Commons Licenses and how they can use this to protect their own work. Rather than bore them with the details on copyright and how they shouldn’t use the work of others without permission, I am tackling this from the other side and got them thinking about how others could use their work or even add to it and possibly improve.
So I just started thinking about a Creative Commons approach to educational materials in Colleges and Universities. In these times of cut backs, surely there is an argument for a Creative Commons share-a-like approach between educators. I feel the hurdle would be with management as they are quite blinkered by politics at times but educators are becoming more open to Internet based materials especially as development time has been cut.
I am looking to build a community based site around my research, this may well be an approach.
#just thinking
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Teaching?
How can my idea on what I do be based around learning and teaching when I openly state I am not a teacher and I do not teach?
Edupunk by definition? v1
## Nov 1st 2011) ##
I say this is version 1 as through time I know I am going to change my outlook on the whole concept (if there is a concept here at all), but I want to show/track my thoughts as my research develops
—
I sat for around three hours this morning gathering thoughts and stating a case that Edupunk is not dead. Those who follow the cause so to speak would already know that but how? Is there a definition of an Edupunk?
I get paid a decent salary for my job as a college lecturer. I use cloud solutions as part of my every day work to help myself, the student and ultimately the college (as it saves them money). Does that make me an Edupunk or an Edupreneur?
#### just thinking ###
My thoughts and beliefs are with the concept of the Edupunk but am I? I suppose it depends how hard you look at what I do. I have the option of the VLE and Microsoft Office, but I choose Google Docs and cloud storage.
I’m going to have to go for a walk, a bath or whatever and think this one through a little further before I continue to write.
—-
It’s been three hours since the paragraph above. Yes I am an Edupunk. I had to think about is because if you read the post by Jim Groom titled “Dear Edupunk” there are a series of heated responses. This I don’t get. Jim Groom coined the phrase as a way of working because that made sense to him and he could not think of a better analogy at the time. I like the name because it has beep roots with the 2nd generation Punk movement of the early 80′s, fundamentally it is a way of thinking outside the corporate guidelines we are asked to follow.
I have no idea how college funding works in other countries, but in Scotland, a college is allocated a set number of student places and we get paid on that basis. Okay, there are some other factors but that’s the main source. From that the college pay rates, wages, software etc. My Edupunk approach may save the college money somewhere which will only be spent somewhere else but is the main point not that I am passing this approach on to others. I am showing my students that there are alternate ways to do things and from that I make no monetary gain. The legacy of my teaching methods will hopefully be taken forward into the next generation, which brings another argument on should I do this, should I not just go with the corporate big-guns? That is another post I think.
My Edupunk definition?
A D.I.Y. Attitude towards learning and teaching which involves sharing and collaboration with no direct monetary gain.
This could be argued and counter argued. Who says I am correct in anything I do as an educator… I teach web design — there are other ways to do it. I teach 3D modeling — there are other ways to do it. Arguably, find a different way to do anything in learning and teaching then you are an Edupunk… Which poses another question in How Edupunk are you?
Please feel free to comment, I would appreciate all thoughts and views.
Edupunk’s not dead
So the research starts.
For the last 6 or 7 months I have been collecting my thoughts about the whole Edupunk concept.
Edupunk (2008-2011) is an approach to teaching and learning practices that result from a do it yourself (D.I.Y) attitude. The New York Times defines it as “an approach to teaching that avoids mainstream tools like PowerPoint and Blackboard, and instead aims to bring the rebellious attitude and D.I.Y. ethos of ’70s bands like The Clash to the classroom.” Many instructional applications can be described as DIY education or Edupunk. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edupunk)
The term was coined by Jim Groom who distanced himself from the ‘movement’ in a heart felt blog post titled “Dear Edupunk“. The parallel between this and the punk movement of the 70′s is uncanny. In the late 70′s the main band (in the UK) was The Sex Pistols. A manufactured band who played with aggression which they channeled into the unsuspecting youth. The band split in 1979 and there were cries on “Punk is dead”.
The truth of the matter is that this was only the beginning. After the winter of discontent, unemployed youths formed bands and played for free at small local halls. Rather than sign to major record labels they formed their own. Rather than take any profit, they put the money back in to promote a new band giving them the chance. The bands further connected with the troubled youth of the time by singing about real life issues such as Unemployment, Nuclear War and Political Unrest making them more aware and together they stood up and said ‘No’.
There was an honesty about punk which was refreshing. By ‘being a punk’ it was more than listening to the music, it was a way of life, it was an attitude. Even at the rife old age of 44 I still hold the values I had as a punk, in fact, as a middle aged (respectable?) guy, I AM STILL a Punk.
I remember in 1984 during the Miners Strike that there was a gig at The Hayfield Centre in Kirkcaldy.
It was a pokey little place. There were 15 bands playing and it was FREE to get in, all you had to do was bring a food donation for the miners. The place was so small that the bands were mingling with us and talking about the music and their thoughts, looking back it was quite surreal.
So back to Edupunk. In the Dear Edupunk post, Jim discusses the Edupreneur, people who make money from education and quite rightly so, this goes against the whole idea of punk. Sure, money was made by punk bands and promoters but it was frowned upon when the big record labels or promoters tried to jump on the band wagon. The whole punk ideal was to help each other without personal gain or profit… so are YOU an Edupunk? For me, as an educator in 2011 I NEED TO BE. My employer can not afford to pay £20k on specialist software licenses every three or four years, especially where there are free alternatives. My employer can not afford to send all staff on training courses costing thousands of pounds, especially when there are cloud communities with people at hand to advise and point us in the direction of a good tutorial.
Call it what you will, the Edupunk movement is very much alive and it will continue to grow as long as there are people willing to help, share and collaborate. For many it will be a tough journey because as with the Punk movement of the 70′s and 80′s there will be an element trying to cash in while others will back off and fight against it which will be brought on partly with fear of change but more of ignorance.
Further info:
UK/DK – A story about punks and skinheads (skip through the music and listen to the views of some of the bands)
and we’re off…
Today I had my first meeting with one of my PhD co-supervisors, Dr John Lee at The University of Edinburgh. To cleat one point up, why am I being supervised by a member of Informatics and Architecture when I am doing a PhD around. Well basically, he was my main tutor on the MSc, he was knowledgeable and I felt comfortable talking to him… But most of all, he inspired me. He inspired me during my MSc and from the 45 minute chat we had today he inspired me further, just by saying the things I suppose I wanted to hear. I feel I have a clear plan for my PhD research and as someone with no direct background he seen my point or origin and was able to advise. John even had a co-supervisor in mind who, from the School of Education is on my wave length.
So today, I got back from Edinburgh today and my head has been buzzing, so much so that I need to get some of it out. Even though I should make no firm judgments and decisions for at least a year but I signed up for the PhD in January, ten months ago, sonce that time I have been working and thinking non-stop. I need to take a slight step back and look at the origins or my topic but this is in hand and has been for some weeks.
So where now?
Well firstly I want to make any work I do as accessible as possible. This site will be my main port of call for all thoughts, ideas and crazy moments. I want to write, look back, reflect and evaluate and hopefully those reading may gain some insight and understanding.
### thought whilst writing ###
Whilst writing this I just thought about what I just wrote. Okay, I could have removed the text above and made it seemless but how would that show the thought process I have gone through and for that matter, what is to say my thought process is right. We are all individual so please make your own mind up and leave a comment to the post as all are welcome…
Anyway, the whole point of that ramble was to say who or what says that my thoughts and ideas are so correct that anyone could gain any form of understanding, my hope is you can see where I am coming from and you can empathise or add to my thought, again, all comments are greatly appreciated
So, rather than edit any text I will add ### to ‘hopefully’ explain my thoughts as I go.
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A class with no rules?
As a tutor, I deliver a wide range of modules or units, whatever you wish to call them. These units are governed by either the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) or by Edinburgh Napier University (as we are linked with this establishment, we are required to deliver their materials to their standards)… but what if on a given unit (being 36 hours spread over 12 weeks) the class were able to decide the content of the unit. What if, rather than a given framework or unit descriptor, the class could decide on the content and outcomes through a series of forums, discussions and debates. The unit outcomes would then be decided at class level.
In the short term it may be a concept I could try at college level the main issue would however be who would sanction such a unit and allow it a grade at a given level
#just thinking
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- F = lm(dot) ve + ( pe - pa ) Ae (that's rocket science), <a href=http://smithereenz.com> smart ass </a> (that's web code)
- I'm a tutor @carnegiec come along and I'll show you how to do it. Its not rocket science
- I build websites on occasion and I can almost guarantee a top google listing... Am I an SEO specialist? No I just know what I'm doing.
- RT @bkmacdaddy: A New Way To Think About Privacy - http://t.co/8ZdWuMqj
- Now have @hamacleod. And @jar. as co-supervisors. Exciting and hard times ahead :)
- http://t.co/Fs2Hs7HG nice
- @pedagoo Scottish education is very good, but there are cultural differences we can benefit from
- @pedagoo not sure, possibly add "through a collective understanding from educators from around the world"?
- Steve Jobs: Bill Gates 'unimaginative' - Telegraph http://t.co/nbeEqb8Q via @Telegraph
- @pedagoo not really, I subscribe to websites in the U.S. Maybe reword it slightly to encourage collaboration?
