tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post8437131655103323684..comments2024-03-23T12:05:15.956-04:00Comments on Steve Hargadon: Ugh. Classic Politics Now Extends to Social Networking in Education.Steve Hargadonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17776685502090744803noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-71350615472929804372011-04-08T16:39:18.661-04:002011-04-08T16:39:18.661-04:00One more comment to Sheryl.
All that you say is f...One more comment to Sheryl.<br /><br />All that you say is fine and dandy. However I reject it all outright. <br /><br />I don't think government in whatever form needs any say, needs to produce any report or to provide direction/control (and might I say spend untold $ while ..... ) <br /><br />Let it be, let it be.... <br /><br />David here on the ground.David Deubelbeisshttp://eflclassroom.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-10527998466605875382011-04-08T16:33:02.245-04:002011-04-08T16:33:02.245-04:00I'm really not surprised - nor do I think most...I'm really not surprised - nor do I think most posting here truly are. Gov'ts by their nature want control and by default that means, "an outcome". Reminds me of the "sit up straight" remark from a teacher. <br /><br />Good luck is all I can say. I shake my head about America sometimes and like De Tocqueville despite so much to admire, I'm clueless about this morality streak that runs through America as strong as a lot of the fundamentalism it abhors. <br /><br />Good stuff Steve - we should always be calling out the emperor for having no clothes. <br /><br />DavidDavid Deubelbeisshttp://ddeubel.edublogs.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-58645322094722621412011-03-19T21:26:52.180-04:002011-03-19T21:26:52.180-04:00Steve - Can you post your presentation from CUE? ...Steve - Can you post your presentation from CUE? I looked for you at the Exhibit Hall with hopes to shake your hand and thank you for being such an inspiration, resource and voice of reason. As a new teacher I have found your blog and Classroom 2.0 site incredibly helpful as I try to change the educational environment of my school and inspire my students to question the world around them.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />ChristyChristy Tylerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858733283341880901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-54065164269372206272011-03-19T01:12:44.491-04:002011-03-19T01:12:44.491-04:00Sheryl, your comment was very interesting to read....Sheryl, your comment was very interesting to read. In reading the draft report, I did not see that it made the distinction you are making between a social network and a community of practice, and I'm still not quite sure what the difference between social networks and communities of practice would be. <a href="http://edcocp.org/report/2011/03/11/documented-benefits-of-online-communities-of-practice/#3" rel="nofollow">Here is what the report says about online communities of practice</a>; they make it possible for us to:<br /><br />Access knowledge.<br />Share knowledge.<br />Create knowledge.<br />Build professional identity, relationships, and collaboration<br /><br />I do all of those things at Connie Weber's Fireside Ning (a spinoff of Classroom2.0), and I got started doing that at Classroom2.0. So, doesn't that make them communities of practice?Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-24902258170727243112011-03-19T00:22:04.630-04:002011-03-19T00:22:04.630-04:00Hi Steve,
Out of no disrespect to you or for your...Hi Steve,<br /><br />Out of no disrespect to you or for your work I wanted to push back just a little. <br /><br />1. You said, " Can anyone tell me why nobody from the Department of Education called to ask my advice on this project?" Well actually they did. They put out an RFP for anyone to submit their work to and win the bid. I was going to submit Powerful Learning Practice and the work we do with communities of practice, but the paper work just got the best of me. I ran out of time. But it was there and you should have submitted your bid if you were interested. <br /><br />2. You said, "If someone had called, I would have said that this is project has at it's core a mistaken idea: that social media and personal learning networks can be directed from the top down."<br /><br />The project (research) isn't about social networks. The research isn't about PLNs. It is about communities of practice. They are very different from organically developed social networks. In fact, communities and networks are very different in both make-up and purpose, even though often the names are used interchangeably. <br /><br />You said, "It's because these are individual connections created by the individual, and that is their value: they are personal."<br /><br />You are absolutely right. Networks are about the individual and the nodes to which the individual connects to learn. <br /><br />Communities on the other hand are about groups. They focus on co-creation and collaboration and collective identity.<br /><br />Like you, I also have been studying these ideas for sometime. Knowledge construction in communities of practice is the focus of my dissertation. I also did a 3 year empirical study with Chris Gareis on using communities of practice as an electronic induction model http://1.usa.gov/eqOGAl. <br /><br />The 4 year grant I helped lead in Alabama (funded by Microsoft's Partners in Learning Grant- one of 10 funded that year) was also about communities of practice as a means of supporting passion driven collaboration and collective action tied to 21st Century learners (both adults and kids). <br /><br />I served on the steering board that put the Teacher Leaders Network together (a very successful community of practice supporting teachers whose voices influence policy). As you know I worked with Intel on thinking about what platforms that support community should look like and also worked with School Net on thinking through their community work.<br /><br />Most recently, I was part of a global research team that developed a content analysis methodology that looked at connected knowledge construction for a pilot called PLPNetbooks in Australia. http://bit.ly/gzQDin<br /><br />And then of course I have five years of experience leading over 4000 educators from around the world in communities of practice through Powerful Learning Practice, a company I co-founded with Will Richardson. <br /><br />I say all that to establish credibility around what I am going to say next. In my opinion, the reason we haven't seen more shift is because what is needed is a 3-pronged approach. We need Social networks (like you lead) and personal learning networks (that individuals develop). But we also need PLCs that happen F2F in local contexts and CoPs where deep inquiry and hard conversations can happen with people to whom we have made long term commitments with which to improve and innoivate.<br /><br />If USDOE had called you Steve- you would have had a piece of the pie but we still need others, we need collective wisdom around this topic. We all need to bring what we know and are learning about the professional conversations and collective action that occur in these spaces and we need to share transparently what we know.<br /><br />I had a conversation with Darren Cambridge of the American Institutes for Research who is leading the effort at CoSN and personally I am impressed with the openness, willingness, and interest he had in what others were doing and learning around this issue. <br /><br />Call him- rather than waiting to be called. I think you might be pleasantly surprised.Sheryl Nussbaum-Beachhttp://21stcenturycollaborative.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-11316916289773404432011-03-18T18:32:35.978-04:002011-03-18T18:32:35.978-04:00You sir, are throwing sheep in the board room. For...You sir, are throwing sheep in the board room. For those who aren't familiar with the book. That is a compliment. Well put, and I agree.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10411364195512125603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-48950214439411229752011-03-18T14:06:32.033-04:002011-03-18T14:06:32.033-04:00I share your pain. Over the past 18 years I've...I share your pain. Over the past 18 years I've been aggregating information about volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region, and leading efforts to connect those programs to each other, and to draw volunteers and donor to programs.<br /><br />We created a map based tutor/mentor program locator in 2004 by scratching together help from volunteers and donors. The city got a huge grant from the Wallace Foundation and built their own program locator a couple of years ago. They never asked me once for any advise on what to build, what to do with it once they built it, or God forbid, if they could help me make mine better rather than reinventing the wheel.<br /><br />I keep reminding myself of the fable of the "tortoise and the hare". I'm the "tortoise" and every new group that comes in with their own version of what we've been trying to do, but without the 30 year commitment I've put into it, is the hare.<br /><br />Keep doing what you're doing. You'll still be there when the next president and next Dept. of Ed replaces what they are doing now with something they feel is better a few years from now.Tutor Mentor Connectionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02140800580077672326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-34176917612154645542011-03-18T10:00:38.572-04:002011-03-18T10:00:38.572-04:00a great post i just read yesterday on inefficiency...a great post i just read yesterday on inefficiency: http://thelearningnation.blogspot.com/2011/03/inefficiency-is-key-to-being-efficient.htmlmonika hardyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17903730727359304285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-74178030180602891162011-03-18T00:09:53.578-04:002011-03-18T00:09:53.578-04:00Mahalo Steve-
For those who have been in touch wit...Mahalo Steve-<br />For those who have been in touch with building PLNs understand the incredible value and richness of 2.0 wildness. <br />I can understand that it may seem inefficient to travel the online connectivity like a herd of shooting stars and yet the reality is counter-intuitive. An important piece that is missing with a pre-determined framework like this, is the professional learning that happens in the process of creating our individual and dynamic learning references, and the relationships that are built. <br />I have more educator heroes (like you) than ever before because of the times I have a been led back to certain people in the field over and over through varied journeys, searches, compelling leads, and restarts. Efficiency assumes that we know who we are as professionals and what exactly we need. It is the stumbling and exploring that illuminates that which makes us better educators.<br /><br />Thank you for blogging!ktarnashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00214973058102757903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-10984716304702880342011-03-17T15:05:51.150-04:002011-03-17T15:05:51.150-04:00Steve!!!! Thank you so much for bringing this to e...Steve!!!! Thank you so much for bringing this to everybody's attention. It's easy to leave comments at the draft report and I am leaving LOTS of them - including comments in praise of you (!!!!) - <a href="http://edcocp.org/report/2011/03/11/core-qualities-of-notable-online-communities-of-practice/#40" rel="nofollow">for example</a> - I consider you the catalyst who totally changed my online life with Classroom2.0. I just wish all teachers in this country could have such a great way to get started in social learning as you have provided at Classroom2.0.Laura Gibbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04994025992373244815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-35792278899111861042011-03-17T06:17:47.576-04:002011-03-17T06:17:47.576-04:00Yes, Yes and Yes! Also: bravo!Yes, Yes and Yes! Also: bravo!BookChookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06230711251425187241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-11289690527210780832011-03-16T21:06:39.102-04:002011-03-16T21:06:39.102-04:00Coming completely from the social media side (I...Coming completely from the social media side (I'm not an educator) I applaud your approach. Businesses are learning, albeit slowly, that exchanging control for community can have great rewards. <br /><br />I think the good news is that attempts to tightly control social networks typically fail. The bad news is our tax dollars are being spent on what will likely be folly. But nothing new there. <br /><br />Thanks for telling it like it is!Bev Barnetthttp://bevBarnett.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18676377.post-34685750881546331452011-03-16T18:18:01.886-04:002011-03-16T18:18:01.886-04:00Hi Steve, bravo!
Those of us who understand that...Hi Steve, bravo! <br /><br />Those of us who understand that communities blossom through individuals with similar passions who contribute self-lessly to help one another, have learned this through our own participatory experiences. I think, in the coming months and years, we'll see the "experts" learn this too. <br /><br />I think a lot about community and much of my deepest learning moments have come from my experience as a mother of two young boys. About two years ago, we gave our son (then 8) his first digital video camera for his birthday. About an hour after opening it, he walked up to me, excitedly, and said, "Mom, can you put this on YouTube?" I said, "Why and what is it?" <br /><br />What I found on his camera was a close up recording of the screen his DS, while playing Pokemon. He wanted me to share that video so he could give back to the community that had contributed their own "screencasts" which enabled his own learning. In a community, all members are teachers and students -- you're right, there is no rigid "expert" vs. "beginner" hierarchy. And when one is truly learning in community, contributions are made because members have an intrinsic commitment to support one another, not because it's a mandated goal by a higher order. <br /><br />Not only do I agree that the Dept of Ed missed the boat by not asking for your advice, I am assuming our students haven't been included either (?). If so, this further illuminates how invested our leadership is in the traditional hierarchies that have been displaced by social media. <br /><br />Cheers,<br />MichelleAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00741293307003893760noreply@blogger.com