Gardner Campbell - Yearning, A Sense of Wonder & How to Invent the Future

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“Ecologies of Yearning and the Future of Open Education”




My initial reaction after watching this keynote posted on the #edcmooc google+ stream:

"Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love; close enough on the surface but, to the nonsucker, not exactly the same thing."
Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Don't miss listening to Gardner Campbell! As described on the #edcmooc resource page:

"(This lecture)...serves as a warning that what we really want - our utopia - is not necessarily to be found in the structures we are putting in place (or finding ourselves within)."

Love it.

"At what point do we become like the global open access brothel of non learning?"

Also love the part where he talks about how teachers now specify how students have to interact with their blogs and how many comments to write to get through class. It's just crazy how these "old ways" creep up everywhere. Really don't miss this lecture!


So do I need to repeat it? Don't miss this lecture! :)
After watching, I wanted to read more so I googled and found his twitter @GardnerCampbell and his website (subscribe why don't you!). There I found a seven part series named:
The Road to Digital Citizenship, which I highly recommend reading.
I put the links of all the parts here, so it's easier to find them all:


Gardner Campbell - The Road to Digital Citizenship


The Road to Digital Citizenship I: Invent the Future

The Road to Digital Citizenship II: The Case for Change

The Road to Digital Citizenship III: Awakening the Digital Imagination

The Road to Digital Citizenship IV: Fluency, Curriculum, Development

The Road to Digital Citizenship V: The Case for Digital Citizenship

The Road to Digital Citizenship VI: Organization: Small Pieces Loosely Joined

The Road to Digital Citizenship VII: Patterns and Understanding


Quotes from The Road to Digital Citizenship:

"What used to be supplemental devices are becoming as fluid and essential as language itself. Indeed, it is not too fanciful to say that we are witnessing the emergence of a new language, metaphorically speaking, a new meta-mode of representation as important as the emergence of the phonetic alphabet."

"The promise is that we can build a future together. We are not simply the victims of technological determinism. The warning is that the future we get is only as good as the future we invent. The warning is that the future we get is only as good as the future we invent. In other words, we must nurture our powers of invention, powers that depend on the depth and strength of our imaginations."

I never heard this quote before, but Gardner mentions it a couple times, and it's incredibly beautiful:

“A Computer is an Instrument Whose Music is Ideas.” Alan Kay

"We should learn from the Internet itself what a learning community can be like. When a small dialogue box inviting 140 characters of commentary, an affordance introduced in 2006 called “Twitter,” can play an integral role in global events ranging from a U.S. President’s State of the Union Address (Twitter hashtag #sotu) to ongoing revolutions in the Middle East beginning with Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, we are witnessing a symbiosis of creation and learning that far outstrips any vision of academic transformation based on quadrupling class sizes and outsourcing grading and instruction to poorly-compensated adjuncts and paraprofessionals."

"To quote Clay Shirky, it’s as if every book came with a free printing press. Just as in the days of the printing press, there are many worries about authority, authenticity, intellectual property, and sheer volume of information. These complaints emerged within a few decades of Gutenberg’s invention. Yet we do not rely on a National Committee To Screen And Filter Books for our self-directed learning within this abundance of conversation. We educate our youth and ourselves to read and write with facility and discernment. Likewise, we must empower our students as digital citizens to make their contributions to the global conversations, and to establish the corner of the global network that will be their “Speaker’s Corner,” just like the corner in London’s Hyde Park where by tradition anyone can have their turn to speak—and thus to lead the next phase of the conversation."

" The best, most prescient, most effective inventions will likely not be completely understood or even understandable when they are begun. The true innovators among our digital citizens who invent the future will need the patronage and courage of leaders who are not afraid to confront their own lack of understanding and who can live with the paradoxical certainty that the “unknown unknown” is where the richest innovations will come from."

"As a thought experiment, imagine explaining to a medieval king who prides himself on not needing to know how to read that a day will come when mass literacy empowers citizens worldwide. Imagine explaining to an alpha-male executive in the early 1960s that a day will come when not knowing at least the rudiments of typing will likely disqualify an applicant from obtaining an executive position. Imagine explaining Twitter, or YouTube, or blogging, to the world of 1995, a time when many people loudly insisted that no one would ever do something as foolish as enter a credit card number in a form on a Web page."

"As for my confidence that higher education can rise with these challenges–well, it depends on the day you ask me."

"MIT’s Seymour Papert devoted his career to the idea that interactive computing offered a new mode of experiential learning. In 1993, he published a book titled The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School In The Age Of The Computer. In this magisterial and also deeply personal work, Papert distinguishes “Schoolers” from “Yearners.” “Schoolers” are surprised and even indignant about the need for “megachange.” By contrast, Papert writes, Yearners “do not say, ‘I can’t imagine what you could possibly be looking for,’ because they have themselves felt the yearning for something different.”


In II: The Case for Change he mentions Norman Doidge “The Brain That Changes Itself”
You can watch a lecture by Norman Doidge over here:
https://vimeo.com/14551296

and the whole documentary “The Brain That Changes Itself” is up for watching too:
https://vimeo.com/37154819

I saw the documentary a couple weeks ago and it's great!
Plus here are some more of Gardner Campbell's videos he recommends on his page:


“No Digital Facelifts: Thinking the Unthinkable about Open Educational Experiences”



 
A serious topic but a very funny talk!
The name of the lecture is a reference to the movie Brazil.

"We are living in the middle of the largest increase in expressive capability 

in the history of the human race."

Clay Shirky

Higher education is the place where we train people to be able to take advantage of this to the fullest and surprise us with the things we haven't discovered, about what this can mean. But whatever it means and we may disagree over what it means look at that. I believe that that is true. It makes me do what I do and yet everyday I say, I have a bag of gold would you like to have a bag of gold?

And people say: "Where do you find time for bags of gold? Oh no another currency to master! Gold? Is that sustainable?" No, you spend it. "What would you spend it on?" What would you like to spend it on?

"I don't have time for your philosophical questions Gardner."

“Teaching, Learning, and the Digital Imagination”



In this one Campbell finds some more analogies in how we falsely think about the internet and the movie Brazil. He also shows some great examples of internet collaboration.

"The internet…is not tubes, it's not a document delivery system. This is actually one of the most exciting and intriguing global learning systems that I have seen."

Seems this virtual choir mentioned by Campbell now has 3746 members singing, but the #!x#!! GEMA wants me to put my VPN on for listening and I am just too tired right now. So just go to youtube and find it yourself.



The Symphony of Science is a musical project created by John D Boswell, designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form.
http://www.symphonyofscience.com/


http://www.gardnercampbell.net/


#edcmooc, #medialabcourse, #documentary, #GardnerCampbell, #openedu, #SeymourPapert, #talks


Work by Céline Keller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, Files, Pictures and Videos might not be.

Digital Artifact No.02: Digital Viking! #edcmooc #digitalviking #scratch

Another Digital Viking inspired by +Amy Burvall's blog post: Why We Need Digital Vikings
I am trying to get ready for the Learning Creative Learning course that starts tomorrow.
So here is my first ever project programmed in Scratch ! It's a little animation with sound.
Hope you like it.

Click here TO SEE MY PROJECT IN ACTION !!!
(you have to click the little green flag)

"Scratch is a graphical programming environment that makes it easier for kids (ages 8 and up) to create their own interactive stories, games, animations, and simulations -- and share their creations with one another online. To create programs in Scratch, kids snap together graphical programming blocks, much like LEGO bricks or puzzle pieces. As kids create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational concepts, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. Since its launch in 2007, the Scratch website has become a vibrant online community, with thousands of people sharing, discussing, and remixing projects. Each day, about 1500 new projects are shared on the site -- roughly one new project every minute."
Lifelong Kindergarten

Credit for the two photos used goes to:
brownhorse and wikicommons

#edcmooc #digitalviking #meme #scratch #medialabcourse


This Digital Viking by Céline Keller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Looking Back to the Future! Seymour Papert - Learning vs. Teaching

Education with an Emphasis on LEARNING not Teaching!
Seymour Papert the Teacher Activist. :)

"Nothing enrages me more than when people criticize my criticism of school by telling me that schools are not just places to learn math and spelling, they are places where children learn a vaguely defined thing called socialization. I know. I think schools generally do an effective and terribly damaging job of teaching children to be infantile, dependent, intellectually dishonest, passive and disrespectful to their own developmental capacities."

“The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge.”

"I am convinced that the best learning takes place when the learner takes charge..."

"What would happen if children who can't do math grew up in Mathland, a place that is to math what France is to French? "

“Our interest is really in Third World development. I believe that it's essential to solving the problems of poverty, violence, and environment, to have better education.” 

"[the children] become producers instead of consumers of educational software."


Have you listened to the wonderful Keynote by @Gardner Campbell 'Ecologies of Yearning' we were supposed to watch for #edcmooc? I highly recommend it! And I was pleased to hear him mention  Seymour Papert who is also my hero. Some years ago by accident I stumbled one night on the documentary below and instantly was mesmerized. Here was somebody who understood why I had hated school. If this is the first time for you are hearing Papert, I hope you will enjoy it and be as touched by it as I was. If you already know him, I hope you will havce fun revisiting his powerful ideas. I still can't believe that suddenly I will be able to participate in the #medialabcourse "Learning Creative Learning" that starts tomorrow. ( #medialabcourse is open even if you missed the sign up deadline. visit the Google+ community) The Lifelong Kindergarden Group and Mitchell Resnick took Papert's ideas and created Scratch, but I will make a post about that soon too. So for now: Enjoy Seymour Papert!

Seymour Papert 1983 - Talking Turtles Documentary:



Go visit http://www.papert.org/ for more!

Seymour Papert on Online Learning and Universities
During the summer of 2000, Dr. Seymour Papert prepared a short keynote address on the future of higher education for a conference in Italy.


Seymour Papert on Online Learning and Universities from Gary Stager on Vimeo.


Seymour Papert at Bates College - 2000


Seymour Papert at Bates College - 2000 from Gary Stager on Vimeo.


Seymour Papert in Sydney, Australia 2004


Seymour Papert in Sydney, Australia 2004 from Gary Stager on Vimeo.

Freire and Papert
The following discussion between Seymour Papert and the Brazilian philosopher and educator Paolo Freire took place in Brazil during the late 1980s. It was sponsored by Pontifícia Universidade Católica, the Catholic University of São Paulo; and the Afternoon Journal TV show. It was broadcast in Brazil by TV PUC São Paulo and KTV Solucoes.


Freire and Papert from Gary Stager on Vimeo.


Seymour Papert's CUE Conference Keynote Address (2000)
This one I couldn't embed so here is what Gary Stager the uploader write about it:
"In May 2000, Seymour Papert delivered a barn-burner of a keynote address at the California Computer Using Educators Conference in Palm Springs, CA. The venue was a tent with large fans blowing and planes flying overhead. The organization made no attempt to record the speech professionally, so what you have here is an amateur attempt to capture history with the gear I had with me. The audio quality is often hard to deal with. I hope to improve it in the future. Fortunately, a transcript of this important address is now online at dailypapert.com/?page_id=1124"
https://vimeo.com/41967316


I will repost two comments of mine that I made talking to +Sandra Sinfield on a post, where she asks the great question if "lurkers" could be just learners doing it their way.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/115686965562050065530/posts/YaWgRWxD2bR
I don't have much time right now, but I would love to share with you my learning experience and why I am so in love by Papert's approach to learning. In these comments I try to explain:

"When I want to learn something I do what most teachers (especially in music) despise: I listen to and watch a lot of different teachers/people explain what I want to learn and usually I am lucky and pretty soon it klicks. I do spend time with the ones whose "language" doesn't speak to me, but I never despair and move on if it doesn't fit.

I don't think it's always the case that some people are better at explaining, it's more like my brain is focused on something in particular and theirs on something else. Sometimes I am lucky and I find somebody who explains it the way I need it in that moment, but more often I find some who explain one part of the problem perfectly and somebody else in a different context/tutorial who suddenly (or is it me?) can explain what was missing in a single sentence.

I think it might be that for me looking at things from different perspectives really helps me understanding things. I think personally I would be bored to death or despairing if I had to read a lot about other students approaches in learning, the moment when I try to understand a certain problem/topic. But (like here in this mooc) I love to "surf their streams", read about their approaches and find new tools and advice when I don't have to = time to fool around. That really helps and I have to say that sometimes I hear better explanations from students who are not perfect than from accomplished teachers.

So yes I believe learning from each other is great and makes it easier. Sharing knowledge always is. I also found that you learn best trying to explain something to somebody. I think you have that totally right, the 'lurker' should be seen as a learner doing it their way and there are so many ways! Some people really need a framework, I need a lot of info and freedom to follow my thoughts. There are also people who like to start with baby steps and the easy parts, I always want the big picture first and get confused when I have to start with little bits and pieces.

                                                       ----------------------------------------

"Learning ended up to be the topic most dear to my heart, because school was so horrible for me and the realization that I love learning came so late (I was 25...). I so wish I could change this experience for other people, especially children. I hate that so many people come out of school, knowing only one thing for sure: what they supposedly can't ever learn and don't have a talent for. Makes me so angry. I think school is made for very linear people and so mostly only these people succeed. Others I guess don't have a chance or the endurance to live with that linearity to become teachers....

Did you see the Learning Creative Learning course?http://learn.media.mit.edu/index.html It's the last day to sign up today, but you could also just follow the lectures and readings - a really open course! When I saw the "Talking Turtels " documentary on youtube a couple years ago and read about the Life Long Kindergaden Group, that was the first time I ever felt somebody understands how I need to learn. Falling passionately in love with something and creating things being able to choose how freely. I think Papert got it so right and I can't believe 30 years later this still hasn't taken over classrooms. So sad... And through my experience I know that this works for grown ups too. If you don't know about this and If you have some time I highly recommend to check it out.

I am so excited that I can be part of this! Reading about his approach gave me a lot of back up, when after my first success in free learning (My friend encouraged me to switch from drawing comics to make an animation movie, so I learned a computer program while doing just that) I decided to also give it a try and learn something I thought I would never be able to do: making music with an instrument! Learning and creating for sure is the what makes me happiest in life , and I almost missed it.

I am sure you maybe already know about Papert and Resnick but just in case you don't and feel curious :) here is one chapter of Paperts book: "Mindstorms" online: http://llk.media.mit.edu/courses/readings/mindstorms-chap1.pdf "

#edcmooc,  #medialabcourse , #utopia, #autodidacticism, #peer2peer, #documentary, #talks



Work by Céline Keller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Files, Pictures and Videos might not be.