[Yr7-10it] re : "education revolution" and other buzz words

[Costello, Rob R]

You guys are too serious 

Whats wrong with a good buzz-word fest 

I'm web 2.0fying my post industrial students for the knowledge economy,
as a guide on the side, in a world of rapid change, with higher order
thinking - (HOTS actually -I'm HOTTING in an ICT enabled environment,
when I'm not mo-blogging on facebook- now that's a cool one - moblog),
taking in large doses of historical amnesia (HAMS), (not sure about the
last one but it I heard someone say it and it sounds impressive?)  

Rob 
 
 

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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. "education revolution" and other buzz words (Bill Kerr)
>    2. Re: "education revolution" and other buzz words (Russell
Edwards)
>    3. Re: "education revolution" and other buzz words (Tony Forster)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:10:32 +1100
> From: "Bill Kerr" <billkerr at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Yr7-10it] "education revolution" and other buzz words
> To: "Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List"
> 	<yr7-10it at edulists.com.au>
> Message-ID:
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> 
> Rudd's "education revolution" was mentioned a few times at VITTA and
VITTA
> itself promoted its conference on the theme of
> revolution<http://www.vitta.org.au/conference/2007/>
> 
> This represents an artificial use of language, which has become all
too
> common - words like revolution, literacy and web2.0 are used in ways
that
> obscure meaning and understanding.
> 
> The way language is used at educational ICT conferences, especially at
> keynotes, makes me want to throw up, the list of buzz words is
enormous,
> eg.
> "21st Century skills" are most definitely limited since they seem to
> involve
> forgetting about critical or historical analysis of the past 40 years
of
> computing not to mention 300 years or more if we go back to
Enlightenment
> thinking and the Greeks
> 
> After some VITTA conversations I became more curious and searched for
some
> of the fine print of the Labour Party education policy. I found these
> documents (pdfs):
> 
> The Australian Economy needs and education
>
revolution<http://www.alp.org.au/download/now/education_revolution.pdf>(
Ja
> n
> 2007)
> 
> Do a search for "comput" -->> zero hits. Computer promises were not
part
> of
> the original "vision"
> 
> The vision is/was human capital investment, based on quite fuzzy
analysis:
> 19th C industrial revolution
> 20th C technological revolution
> 21st C human capital revolution
> 
> The sections demonstrating how australia has fallen behind are quite
good.
> It's easy to critique Howard, more difficult to develop a new vision
of
> substance. Instead of a real vision we get "revolution" rhetoric. Why
> can't
> the Labour Party use language honestly and call it "evolution" or
> "incremental reform" rather than use grandiouse rhetoric?
> 
> Come election time and the populist digital / broadband / increased
access
> message emerges:
> A School Computer for Every Student Years 9-12
> <http://www.alp.org.au/media/1107/msloo140.php>
> Labor's Digital Education
>
Revolution<http://www.alp.org.au/download/labors_digital_education_revol
ut
> ion_campaign_launch.pdf>
> 
> Noticeable that there is no mention of programming in this revolution.
> There
> is some talk about new things that will become possible through
broadband
> 
> I still think better things were being done at 1990 at Methodist
Ladies
> College (logo on laptops) and that the OLPC which now offers a real
take
> home computer with 3 programming environments (squeak, logo, python)
and
> lots more represents a superior vision
> 
> At any rate, these papers do flesh out the ALP policy substantially.
> 
> Yes, I enjoyed VITTA a lot and add my thanks to the organisers and a
very
> helpful tech named Paul,
> 
> ... but not the buzz words
> --
> Bill Kerr
> http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/
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