EdTech Posse Podcast 2.3 – Communities, Open Source in Education

Posted by Dean Shareski on in Conferences, Podcasting

ed tech posseIt had been a while since I had the pleasure of chatting with the posse. As always, we learn from each other. Nice to have Heather join the squad. Alec, where were you? Missed your voice. Rob has put together some nice show notes for our talk last week. You can head over to the posse page if you have a comment on the podcast.

It was make up your own topic night when Dean, Rick, Heather and I got together via Skype on Oct. 25, so the conversation covers a lot of ground.

  • Stephen’s critique of K12Online and responses (I chose Wes’ response because I thought it was a measured, reasonable response that showed an interest in maintaining a dialog. Sadly, other comments seemed more like they would be heard in a junior high class.)
  • Group dynamics of blogrolls, networks and groups
  • Women of Web 2.0
  • Characteristics of communities, Dunbar’s number and grooming
  • SCoPe and November session on Open Source in Education
  • Roadblocks to the ability of teachers to use free/libre open source software in schools
  • Problems moving courses out of proprietary course management software to Moodle or other open source software

A small production note – I used the Levelator to get the vocal levels consistent for all of us. Big thanks to Alan Levine for his blog post about Levelator, and to GigaVox media for making this tool available for free!

Enjoy.

6 thoughts on “EdTech Posse Podcast 2.3 – Communities, Open Source in Education”

  1. Lorne Henkleman

    “….Sadly, other comments seemed more like they would be heard in a junior high class.”

    Dean, I’m not sure you and I were reading the same comments, but if we were, I could not disagree with you more on this one. Just what in any of the comments posted would remind of ones that you would as you put it, “…Sadly…be heard in a junior high class.’ They all looked like ‘measured, reasonable responses’ to me.

    I think you owe some folks an apology…..

  2. Dean Shareski Post author

    Lorne,

    Those were Rob’s words…not mine…I just pasted the notes in.

    If you listen to the podcast I’m sure you’ll find a balanced discussion. In fact, no mention was made regarding the other comments…purely Rob’s commentary which he has a right to post. My point was that I was not in agreement with Stephen’s original posting.

    You can head over to the posse page to post your complaint with Rob.

  3. Lorne Henkleman

    Then my apologies to you Dean – my misunderstanding. And if you wish, you may pass my comments on to Rob. I can’t imagine that I would be visiting his page any time soon.

    And like you, I don’t necessarily agree with Stephen’s viewpoint either, but I think I understand where he is coming from. As for Rob though….not so much.

  4. Rob Wall

    Dean, sorry that this was misconstrued as coming from you, and if it is not representative of the posse I will remove the comments.

    Lorne, my comment refers to some of the comments on Stephen’s original post (at http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=36106) like “Sounding kind of grumpy, need a blue pill today?” or “Stephen, May I recommend taking an hour or so out of your busy schedule of ridiculing the work of others and watch the Disney classic Bambi. Pay close attention to the part where Thumper’s mother says to the young rabbit. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Some of these come from bloggers I respect, so I don’t want to criticize them and I’m sorry if it came across that way. But dismissive comments like this lower the level of discussion.

    If you still don’t want to visit my blog – well, that’s your right, but I’d rather you come by and criticize me when you feel I need it. :^)

  5. Miguel Guhlin

    Rob, I hope the Posse leaves the note as is. It provides your listeners with insights into what you find worthy of mention.

    On the negative side, by singling out Wes’ comment, you lumped the remarks others made–myself among them–as immature. Whether your audiocast is balanced or not, the notes fall clearly on one side. However, there is nothing that says we must all agree with each other. Conflict is not something to run away from, but rather, an opportunity to engage in deeper, personally relevant conversations.

    That said, I have nothing more to add to that conversation than this blog entry, “All is Vanity,”:
    http://www.mguhlin.net/archives/2006/10/entry_2178.htm

    In the meantime, I encourage any who would like to engage in mud-slinging to see if they can live up to Jeff Jarvis’ blogger ethics:

    1. No one can buy my editorial voice or opinion.
    2. No one can buy my editorial space; if it’s an ad it will clearly be an ad.
    3. No one should be confused about the source of anything on my pages.
    4. I will disclose my business relationships whenever it is relevant and possible.

    …this isn’t about ethics pledges and industry policies. It’s about personal integrity, about honesty, about having a direct and open relationship of trust and credibility. You may disagree with my opinions — and, oh, you do — but you should at least be assured that they are mine.

    I know I can.

    Wishing you well,

    Miguel Guhlin
    Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net
    http://www.mguhlin.net

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