Where I’ve gone…
Kobus van Wyk – Blog
Talks about problems with getting schools to clean and care for their computer labs. I point out that this is a common problem, which is to say, the problem of the commons. With “shared” resources, no one feels responsible to do maintenance, because “someone else” will do it. It’s worked wonders on the Atlantic fisheries (insert irony here).
Around the Corner v2 – MGuhlin.net – Creative Networking
What is an effective network? Are social networks truly collaborative? I don’t know, but I don’t think blogs are in a better position to qualify for that.
Dangerously Irrelevant
Expediency vs. effectiveness in teaching. I posit this may be a false dichotomy, but certainly worthy of analysis and comment.
Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages Through Our Student’s Eyes » Blog Archive » Cable in the Classroom Magazine…
Congratulations on Tom Turner making it into Cable in the Classroom. You go!
mrmoses.org » Citebite for the Classroom
has a tool I may need to check out…
TLt IT Summit2007 : Educational Discourse
Dale’s cone of knowledge lives on (whether it should, or not)
I just read a comment from my blog about the cone. I guess I need to do some more reading about this cone.
I truly appreciate the comments that you are making on my blog. Your insights and experience are very valuable. The developed world (your world) is at least two decades ahead of the developing world (my world) and you have learned many lessons with regard to provisioning, technical issues, logistics, etc. We do not have time to reinvent the wheel and to make expensive mistakes of our own. It is in this way that you are making a great contrubution by means of your succint comments. Thanks for that, and please do not stop. Maybe there are some of your other colleagues that could also contribute some of their wisdom. I started the blog for various reasons, but mainly to share information with our own people, and to gather some wisdom from other sources. One of the most valuable contributions that the rich world can make to the poor is to teach us how to fish.
Kelly: That was me commenting on your blog. I only recently found out about the problems with Dale’s Cone of Knowledge myself, and since I don’t train others, I was only at the stage where I was hearing this cited, and not using it myself. The ubiquity of cone makes it easy to get “caught” using this faulty reference source, and because the problem originates back in the dim reaches of the 1940s/50s. I like this particular “error” because it points out how the problem of “faulty” information being disseminated, reproduced, and finally gaining use as common reference originates well before Wikipdeia.
All I can ask is that you read the article, and get educated, because that’s what this is all about, no? That’s why I read your blog 🙂
Kobus,
The whole thing about developed, and developing is often overdone. For instance, your analysis is definitely current on ICT education technology. I am but a humble classroom teacher (okay, not so humble all the time), whereas you are an administrator, who is doing some pretty amazing things that affect many classrooms and many schools. Also, when I see countries like South Africa, and Brazil (for example) there are many things that are “developed” about your economies and countries. I teach in a poor neighborhood, there are many things that are “undeveloped” there. I hope that my advice of getting student monitors to keep up th equipment is helpful. While your posts are going out about keeping up the equipment, I’m getting emails at work reminding me of the same thing, so maybe we’re not that far away?
Alice, I start to believe you about this developed/developing thing; it is such a relative concept. I like to believe (you see, sometimes I am not so humble either) that in some respects we are not so un(der)developed at all. It is just that we have such a lot of leapfrogging to do, and having to do it very fast! It is in this context that I read your (and some others’) blog and find it so very useful. Thanks for sharing your experience in even an unintended way.
I think if we focus on the real differences, not just the assumed ones, it’s going to keep things real. When you post about problems, and I say, “oh, I deal with that too,” it keeps it all in context for both of us. You see it’s not just a development problem, and I think about it some more and try a new solution. Sometimes we get to talk about the big picture (one laptop per child), sometimes we have to talk about the mundane (hey, anyone else have problems with gum in the mouseball?) The mundane shows that we are actually dealing with practice. The big picture shows we’re thinking about what we’re doing more broadly.