Comments on: Weekly Special: Open Engagement http://edubacon.com/2009/06/23/weekly-special-open-engagement/ Large Helpings, Hearty Food, Extra Flavor Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:15:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: edubacon http://edubacon.com/2009/06/23/weekly-special-open-engagement/comment-page-1/#comment-47 edubacon Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:15:13 +0000 http://edubacon.com/?p=40#comment-47 Another interesting thing on open engagement, but this time it's a project and tool: http://scratch.mit.edu/ Another interesting thing on open engagement, but this time it’s a project and tool: http://scratch.mit.edu/

]]> By: edubacon http://edubacon.com/2009/06/23/weekly-special-open-engagement/comment-page-1/#comment-36 edubacon Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:29:15 +0000 http://edubacon.com/?p=40#comment-36 Something I came across today that I no longer remember how it came to be in my path, another talk, but not a TED talk, though it is fitting to be one. http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0D91DA11499ADCD9 Something I came across today that I no longer remember how it came to be in my path, another talk, but not a TED talk, though it is fitting to be one.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0D91DA11499ADCD9

]]> By: edubacon http://edubacon.com/2009/06/23/weekly-special-open-engagement/comment-page-1/#comment-35 edubacon Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:28:08 +0000 http://edubacon.com/?p=40#comment-35 Personally, I think schooling is a form of education and that education is a part of what schools do. "the education a person receives at school" - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/schooling I truly mean education, inside and outside of school. Schools just happen to be the obvious target. From what I've seen there have been plenty of education efforts that fall into the same pitfalls most schools do. As always though, there are plenty of pockets of good to great teaching. Personally, I think schooling is a form of education and that education is a part of what schools do.

“the education a person receives at school” – http://www.thefreedictionary.com/schooling

I truly mean education, inside and outside of school. Schools just happen to be the obvious target. From what I’ve seen there have been plenty of education efforts that fall into the same pitfalls most schools do. As always though, there are plenty of pockets of good to great teaching.

]]> By: Alana James http://edubacon.com/2009/06/23/weekly-special-open-engagement/comment-page-1/#comment-34 Alana James Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:18:08 +0000 http://edubacon.com/?p=40#comment-34 are you mixing up education with schooling? Do you see them as the same thing? are you mixing up education with schooling?
Do you see them as the same thing?

]]> By: edubacon http://edubacon.com/2009/06/23/weekly-special-open-engagement/comment-page-1/#comment-33 edubacon Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:01:04 +0000 http://edubacon.com/?p=40#comment-33 I agree with you Nate. There is a lot of potential in those directions. The one thing I think should be included in teacher efforts in open engagement in that direction is keeping the private channels of communication open. I've noticed that some people go too far when they try this direction. It's not a matter of open vs closed, but rather including open engagement like you described. Though I have seen teachers try to encourage this kind of effort only to have the students not participate. Stephen Downes linked to this post and the blog in his newsletter OLDaily ( http://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm , http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=49431 ). Also, there was an interesting article ( http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/article1014663.ece ) mentioned in the same issue of the newsletter by Stephen Downes. It talks about how engagement was used to improve the quality of a school's education and results. I agree with you Nate. There is a lot of potential in those directions. The one thing I think should be included in teacher efforts in open engagement in that direction is keeping the private channels of communication open. I’ve noticed that some people go too far when they try this direction. It’s not a matter of open vs closed, but rather including open engagement like you described. Though I have seen teachers try to encourage this kind of effort only to have the students not participate.

Stephen Downes linked to this post and the blog in his newsletter OLDaily ( http://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm , http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=49431 ).

Also, there was an interesting article ( http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/article1014663.ece ) mentioned in the same issue of the newsletter by Stephen Downes. It talks about how engagement was used to improve the quality of a school’s education and results.

]]> By: Nate O http://edubacon.com/2009/06/23/weekly-special-open-engagement/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Nate O Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:08:49 +0000 http://edubacon.com/?p=40#comment-26 I think an important part of "open" is that teachers and students should share what they are doing with people outside their classroom. An open lesson is one that outsiders can follow along with or review in the archives (and the "inside" students can go back to later as well). Most classrooms don't consider how the lessons could be opened. Teachers focus on the students in front of them to the exclusion of those who are not. I like a model of a class where the teacher and students collaboratively build up a record of what has been learned. I tried this from a student's perspective when I was in college, building collaborative study guides on Google Docs with my classmates. It worked well to study for a test, and when the classes were over, everybody who participated has a record of the completed study guides if they want to go back and reexamine some of the same questions later on. The number of people who participated in actually creating the content in these docs was about 10% of the people who viewed them, so there is a bit of a free-riding problem, but I think participation could be improved if it were the teacher who instigated the process and integrated it with the class. I have not encountered any teachers who facilitated this approach from the get-go, but I think it could be a good way to encourage openness in education. (Can't wait for the Google Wave to make this even nicer. Embedding Google Docs in a blog is alright, but could be improved.) I think an important part of “open” is that teachers and students should share what they are doing with people outside their classroom. An open lesson is one that outsiders can follow along with or review in the archives (and the “inside” students can go back to later as well). Most classrooms don’t consider how the lessons could be opened. Teachers focus on the students in front of them to the exclusion of those who are not.

I like a model of a class where the teacher and students collaboratively build up a record of what has been learned. I tried this from a student’s perspective when I was in college, building collaborative study guides on Google Docs with my classmates. It worked well to study for a test, and when the classes were over, everybody who participated has a record of the completed study guides if they want to go back and reexamine some of the same questions later on. The number of people who participated in actually creating the content in these docs was about 10% of the people who viewed them, so there is a bit of a free-riding problem, but I think participation could be improved if it were the teacher who instigated the process and integrated it with the class.

I have not encountered any teachers who facilitated this approach from the get-go, but I think it could be a good way to encourage openness in education. (Can’t wait for the Google Wave to make this even nicer. Embedding Google Docs in a blog is alright, but could be improved.)

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