Finally, I’ve written a new post, creatively titled “Finally, A New Post.” I won’t trot out my usual excuses for not writing … I’ve got new excuses! I have been exceedingly busy on a whole range of projects which have finally come together. What are they? I’m glad you asked.
I devoted a good deal of time to reading the extraordinary text “Open: How We’ll Work, Live and Learn In The Future” by David Price, OBE. Of the myriad educational texts I’ve read over the last five years, none has influenced me as much as this one. Price gives a wonderful account of how a health scare led to a revelation which led eventually to Open. Within the learning aspect he provides telling insights into why schools need to become both O.P.E.N. and S.O.F.T. For more detail you can read my review of Open on Fractus Learning. This link will take you there: http://www.fractuslearning.com/2016/04/20/social-learning-heutagogues-coming/
Yes, you must “Man The Walls: The Heutagogues Are Coming.” Go on, you have to read the review now just to find out what the hell that title means. Price’s ideas will also take centre stage as a key element of my Education Nation session on June 7. If you haven’t registered for this great new Sydney conference then you absolutely should. Apparently, I’m going to be epic. Or I just have one of the biggest heads.
Yes, I’m officially EPIC!
But that’s not all. I’ve also officially become a “brand” with a small business; a small business cleverly called The Connected Teacher. What do we offer? Small group Professional Learning paired with great food and wine at Lambert Estate in the beautiful Barossa Valley. You can read about my fledgling enterprise in the PD section of the latest Australian Teacher Magazine. (I’ll save you some time by pointing out that it’s on page 46.) Alternatively, you might want to read all about it on the new website www.theconnectedteacher.com.au
Why not spend a day or even a long weekend in the Barossa. Of course, you might also suggest it as a great idea for your colleagues. I can promise it will be unique professional learning, quite unlike anything already in the market and at a low, all inclusive price. Go on, register now.
Lambert Estate For Great PD
Hi Simon,
Thanks for these posts. I have tried to respond many, many times however, for some reason Edublogs constantly rejects my lengthy comment! So I will try to past my comment in pieces so that I don’t overload their fragile system…
Part 1:
Greetings from China! I have been following your site for a number of years now, often intrigued, sometimes amused but, frankly, always a bit concerned about the message that you so enthusiastically endorse and proselytize. Like you, I am a teacher of history but my own focus has been Chinese history. I have lived and worked here in China for nearly twenty years and in that time have had a chance to explore a dizzying amount of new ideas and approaches to learning and understanding.
Please understand that I am quite impressed with your efforts and energy and that I think you often make a number of important points in your blog pages. However, I have been meaning to write to you for some time now because frankly, I have serious reservations about a great many of the ideas that you espouse and that are becoming increasingly common in education.
Consider, for example, the willingness that you, and many like you, have for inserting corporate sponsorship and corporate endorsements into your “educational” worldview. I find it extremely unsettling when I see words like “Haiku Deck Guru” or “iPads” or, in the case of other educators, “Apple Distinguished Educator.” Think for a moment what these corporate logos imply. “Guru” is a spiritual term that has a definite meaning in the Hindu world and is often trivialized by the West as it is inserted into seemingly innocuous names. But a guru would be someone who has worked to achieve or attain a certain level of spiritual awareness or understanding that has not been achieved by most. Would people find it offensive or strange to use the words “Haiku Deck Priest” or “Haiku Deck Rabbi” or how about “Haiku Deck Living Buddha” or “iPad imam”? All of these terms share in interchangeability yet the West seeks routinely to alter meanings for nothing more than corporate identification. Apple Distinguished Educator is another such term and while you have not thrown this concept about in your pages, you come quite close in a number of ways. What makes Apple, a corporate giant, a purveyor of “distinction” that it can bestow upon educators? The answer, of course, is nothing. It is a marketing ploy that, unfortunately, many educators have been pulled into so that they become willing, or unwilling shills for these enterprises in the hopes of making the world a better place. Some schools even have Apple Care facilities on their premises! Can you imagine a school with a McDonald’s in it? Or perhaps a Coca-Cola bottling facility that was part of the “Design Technology” program?