May
28
(2008)
on edupunk
Filed under: fun, general, work. Tags: diy, edtech, edupunk, thoughts. | 13 Comments
Jim’s been talking about edupunk a fair bit lately (starting with the killer post The Glass Bees, then Permapunk and finally tying in the awesome Murder, Madness, Mayhem wikipedia project), and Jen wrote up a piece that dovetails nicely into the concept. There’s something about the edupunk concept that is resonating deeply in me.
It’s a movement away from what has become of the mainstream edtech community - a collection of commercial products produced by large companies. Edupunk is the opposite of that. It’s DIY. It’s hardcore. It’s not monetized. It’s not trademarked. It’s not press-released. It’s not on an upgrade cycle. It’s not enterprise. It’s not shrinkwrapped.
It’s about individuals being able to craft their own tools, to plan their own agendas, and to determine their own destinies. It’s about individuals being able to participate, to collaborate, to contribute, without boundaries or barriers.
And it’s not new. The early days of the “edublogosphere” had a definite edupunk vibe to it. Long before that, we had seen edupunk, and it was awesome. I remember when Hypercard was commonplace. When teachers and students would regularly build and adapt their own interactive applications, games, and databases to support classroom activities. Without fanfare or infrastructure or strategic planning or budgets. When Hypercard was killed, it was an end of a renaissance era of DIY edtech.
But, the key to edupunk is that it is not about technology.
It’s about a culture, a way of thinking, a philosophy. It’s about DIY. Lego is edupunk. Chalk is edupunk. A bunch of kids exploring a junkyard is edupunk. A kid dismantling a CD player to see what makes it tick is edupunk.
I’m not about to suggest that technology isn’t important or relevant to edupunk - of course it is. But only as an enabling piece of infrastructure. Technology can empower individuals, amplify actions, and connect communities. But without the edupunk philosophy underlying it all, it’s just a bunch of technology. Uninteresting and irrelevant.
One of the coolest classrooms I’ve ever been in is the Engineering Design Lab at the University of Calgary. It’s a classroom from the outside, but is really nothing but rows of workbenches, armed with any tools and materials imaginable. Drawers full of Lego for building prototypes. Cabinets full of Mechano for piecing together simple machines. A full machine shop for building more complex ones. It’s a place where the students are not only allowed, but encouraged to explore and create. Working in groups to create and solve problems. Critical thinking. Inquiry. Experiential. And it is the most hardcore edupunk class I’ve seen.
Nov
7
(2005)
EdTechTalk Podcasts
Filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: edtech, podcasting. | 4 Comments
I’m very late to this game, not discovering this gem until episode 23, but the EdTechTalk Podcast is great!
I listened to Episode 23 on the way home on Friday, and finished it this morning. An extremely interesting discussion with Jay Cross and George Siemens, covering Connectivism, “shallow thinking”, the nature of learning, trust networks, etc… It was a very lively discussion, and they apparently had a live audio stream of the event with a supporting chat channel, because Stephen Downes was relayed into the conversation via the chat room.
The podcast even has a transcript of the chat room activity, and notes from the discussion available online. Very nicely done.
It sparked a lot of connections in my head - I even took some notes on the bus this morning so I didn’t lose the newly linked synapses. I’ll try to make them a bit more coherent (or at least lest shaky) and post them.
I’ve got a lot of episodes to catch up on now…
I’ve been doing some digging, and still haven’t found out who is behind/running EdTechTalk.com - perhaps another Lighips Enterprises Production?