P2PU Lounge - Mar 2010

I think as a minimum, it means that all the material generated by a course, such as submissions, discussion forum messages, maybe recordings of synchronous meetings etc, are viewable for all. Whether we should still allow people to post and edit etc, is something we haven't really thought through. We definitively want to keep the debates going, but whether that is best accomplished in the course itself, or by moving it out to a bigger sphere (maybe a "cyberpunk" lounge, where people from all the cyberpunk courses can discuss, maintain resources etc).

Now, this is a generalization based upon my own expriences and the references I will leave at a later date, however, there is much reliability and validity to the claims I will soon make. Students who come from indigent backgrounds of considerable intelligence, IQ, ability to articulate, and motivation are not subject to be shaped and primed by the current societal group thinks and tribal mentality based upon evolutionary principles well understood in various branches of the sciences, both social and biological. Elitism is a very real mentality, an ideology of the very few. This relates to my posts here and to the greater structure of this site's purpose. "To learn freely." To share in a community and to grow as both individuals and as a whole. Educational theory and social learning based upon legitimate and empirically grounded practice, can lead to empowered groups made of great individuals bringing about positive social change for those less fortunate. This is far more difficult to really do than people tell themselves. Actions have consequences both positive and negative,but the former and the latter to whom? Some people benefit while others do not from any series of actions. It is naive to apply purely utilitarian philosophy or deontological for that matter either, however, we must start with some agreed upon convention, assuming we have similar goals in the first place. I would love to teach illiterate people how to read and write and help those who cannot understand Algebra do so and if given that opportunity here or elsewhere related to teach or tutor I would take it. In my own life I help poor people learn as I know what it means to be poor in my past as well. For who do I teach, for who do you teach, and finally, for what do I, or teach? We have here a connectivist perspective and a constructivist underpinning, so what motivates us? For what do we live for?

Recently, I had the opportunity to go to Palo Alto and visit the Stanford University campus. I walked into one of their libraries, so awestruck the name of this one out of 25 libs on campus eludes me at the moment in my early morning posting; however, suffice to say the library was so impressive. Anything I wanted to research, anything at all I could look up and come to know with just motivation, sufficient procedural methods and a little intelligence. Facts must be faced, it is money that brings about these ivory tower typologies... When I first walked in and I saw that I needed an ID to get into this castle of a library, I walked out with a mild panic attack. Why should I be so anxious? I believed without asking that I would not be allowed in as I had been taught, this place was too good for me; off limits. I thought these people were better than me. I walked out and told a lie to my friend a taxi cab driver who had taken me out there, a homeless independent owner and operator of a cab. I told him I had asked if I could go inside, and was denied. My friend walked into the Library, and a minute later came back out and yelled at me: "you liar!" They will let you sign in your information in a computer and get a free pass. I will digress for now, but I want us all to ponder a little more our motivations and those pesky self fulfilling prophecies.

Kind Regards,

Jacob Mack

References

Buckley C.,Pitt E., Norton B., & Owens T.(2010). Stuents' approaches to study, conceptions of learning

and judgements about the value of networked technologies.Active Learning in Education.

Also:

http://cider.athabascau.ca/CIDERSessions/groulet/On%20Being%20Too%20Nice...

I believe Alison means that if you are a course participant and miss a live seminar, you should be able to access a recording to catch up.

Cool.

Comments in-line:

* Course members are encouraged to learn together, review each other's work and provide feedback instead of formal assessment.

--This might change with the accreditation models and partnerships we are exploring, no?

* Course groups are kept small to create a stronger sense of community, which provides additional support mechanisms, and motivates members to keep going.

- I thought the Portuguese courses were 100+? How do they fit in?

* All course content must be freely available, and preferably open licenced.

- might want to revise to "must" to "is".