What was I thinking? Back in January, when asked for a description for a keynote I am giving in a few weeks, I had this crystal clear idea of what I was going to do.
The crystal has fuzzed. I need help.
Well, I am stretching the truth. I have some focus, but want to do what sometimes works to cast a call for examples I can cite/borrow/steal. I hesitate to call it “crowdsourcing” it’s more like “quartetsourcing”.
Let me try to explain it. There are some people hard at work out there aiming to “change education” “reform schools” etc- big huge monumental tasks. Kind of like “Let’s pick up the Himalayas and put them next to Florida”. Other radicals suggest we need a dramatic loud revolution, a burn down the house kind of approach.
Good luck with that.
I am a believer that we can generate a large amount of change through small localized actions. I am looking for–maybe “secret” was not the best word, maybe it is a “quiet” revolution in exploiting technology in education. And the irony is, it is not much a secret at all, that is a JOKE. Get it? I doubt it.
I’m looking for examples of two flavors.
One are the ways educators cleverly exploit technologies that are more or less “forced” on them, or the ones most encouraged/supported. Sure Blackboard may be a giant lead anvil, but I bet there are some really clever things people do in it, maybe things that were not even intended by its creators. Has anyone run some sort of gaming or simulation inside the Bb? Maybe an ARG? Or its always easy to take pot shots at PowerPoint, but I know people have done some things, like non-linear hypertext stories. Or heck, maybe even SharePoint. I dont even know what it is, but tell me of some novel way to use the tools people usually bash.
The second are the ways educators go to outside resources or personal networks, leverage free web tools, or open source to do things not even possible with what their school or organization provides. Not just “I created a blog for my class” or “we tweeted”- something larger, or more unusual. Something that makes you say, “Woah”
Now having what I am looking for as clear as lava, here’s where you can share any responses via a Google Form http://bit.ly/secretrevolution
The revolution is here, it’s just not evenly distributed. I’ll share it all, natch.
Failing to collect anything, I intent to show many photos of dogs being superior to cats.
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