I connected with the questions that my colleagues raised. Melanie started a great discussion on the sometimes frustrating task of finding appropriate OERs. Nadine wondered about the lack of allotted time to "research, create and adapt resources". Lisa thought about how the artist, Richard Prince, is making a fortune by 'stealing' other people's works, making me recall my reference to Andy Warhol, after watching Larry Lessig's Ted Talk: Laws that Choke Creativity and making me think again about whether Warhol and Prince were opportunistic thieves, or clever artists. Jane blogged honestly about her struggles with Twittering and included the video "Obvious to you, Amazing to Others", which reminded us that we all have something valid to say. George struggled with the thought of the possibility of 'buried gems' as he metaphorically flipped burgers at a BBQ, missing parts of all the conversations going on around him.
I was thankful for the tools, experiences, and resources shared by others including Bryan's video that reviewed and explained the educational potential of Storify and Karen's great find, E.O. Wilson's Life on Earth series, free, complete with accompanying materials, and downloadable. Chris' and Edward's blogs documented the advantages of disadvantages of Merlot and Openstax CNS, which left us with the reassurance that these OER had materials could be of use to all of us. Carrie's explained her 'aha' moment and shared her Pinterest pins so we could track her thoughts throughout this course, and realize how this tool could be used to full advantage. Fenella had a marvelous inspiration as to how valuable it would be to curate collectively and Kym wrote about BC's Open Textbook project and provided both explanation and insight into this initiative. Robert gifted us with an explanation of how he has implemented Weebly in a class project, and even provided a link to his students' work for a glimpse of how this could work in the 'real' world and Barry, a self-confessed 'hoarder' explained how hashtags have helped him to sort, control, and share his collection of information. Thomas and Carol, explored the concept behind MOOC's and had us contemplating the direction of education and Maria reflected on the 'Magic Cookies', which caused her to ask the great question, " How can I help my students become savvy users of the great materials, resources and products available?"
I was inspired by the stories including Mac's tribute to the generosity of spirit of the Aboriginal people he has connection with, Derek's response to the inspiration of Aaron Swartz, which engaged us with the story of how his grandfather learned to read through the generosity of another, and Kim's post of some great ideas that schools are using right now to "create a culture of collaboration and sharing".
To sum this up, I have a quote from renowned journalist, blogger, and current editor of TechCrunch Europe, Mike Butcher, "Blogging is a conversation, not a code." Thank you all for the discussion. I look forward to chatting some more. |