Comments on: The Honeymoon’s over

By: Lonna

Lonna — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 03:50:29 +0000

Thanks for the great tips.

By: Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech » Blog Archive » The Great Debates

Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech » Blog Archive » The Great Debates — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:37:55 +0000

[...] naturally attracted to blog posts where controversy and heated discussion occurs. That’s why you need to visit the site and not simply rely your reader because [...]

By: Stephanie Sandifer

Stephanie Sandifer — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:43:59 +0000

Effective teams (groups, networks, etc.) should always have members who are willing to debate — and even if everyone agrees on a topic, it always helps to have someone willing to play “Devil’s Advocate” in order to push the conversation and to test the strength of ideas. If this is done in a constructive and healthy way, it does result in a stronger group/team with stronger, highly effective ideas/messages/plans.

Stephanie

By: Darren Draper

Darren Draper — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 22:38:01 +0000

Great post, Dean –

It is nice to get a few dissenting voices out there. Not to be a stick in the mud, but I’ve always thought that critical thought was healthy.

Keep up the good thought,

By: audrey

audrey — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:55:41 +0000

Thank you so much for this post. I began to be involved in the edublogger community a few months back and I found that I disagreed with certain prevailing wisdoms, or at the least, I could see other sides to some dearly held beliefs. I even challenged some heavy hitters (although I had no idea that they were so prominent in their fields when I first opened my mouth). Of course, it’s always stupid to open your mouth early and often, but such is life. But, the sense I had that I was in some fundamental disagreement with “the others” (even as I am a strong proponent for using technology in education), led me to pull down my blog and stop commenting. Everyone else seemed so unabashedly enthusiastic and happyfaced that I often felt like I must be swimming in the wrong pool if I couldn’t agree more. This post, and a few others like it, encourage me because it reframes disagreement as maturity and plurality rather than as sour notes that should be silent.

By: Cindy Barnsley

Cindy Barnsley — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 09:45:19 +0000

Hi Dean, Thanks for the thought-provoking post, I'd missed a number of these debates. I've also written about a couple of other debates, in a post on the importance of dissenting voices

By: Dean Shareski

Dean Shareski — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 06:13:03 +0000

Kelly,

I doubt if we’ll run out of things to debate. I do think there are 2 types of debates.

1. Big issues….things like cellphones, content filtering, privacy, and the like
2. Clarification of ideas…tv thing, definitions, learning theories and more. At times this may seem trivial but it’s important to have others challenge our language and intent in order that we better communicate with those less knowledgeable.

Thanks for continuing the conversation.

By: Kelly Christopherson

Kelly Christopherson — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 05:22:37 +0000

You’ve touched on a very timely and important subject. For many of us, the topics that are being circulated are ones that, for the most part, many of us agree about given the stage of technology use we are at right now. I agree we need to be civil and demonstrate a level of professionalism and we need to be certain that we read through the comments on a subject and not just the original post. As more and more people begin to leave comments, we will see more and more people disagreeing or questioning what is being said – I did the same thing with what Will was saying when I first began and, as you’ve shown, I still will disagree on specific topics (still sorry for the rant I left:( ) We need to question one another and be ready to accept that not everyone will agree with what we are saying – that is what everyday life is really like for many of us – people not necessarily seeing things as we do. The more we are challenged and need to clarify our thoughts and ideas here, the better we will be at doing the same in our own small circles of influence. Great idea – now we need to figure out something to debate…… Pepsi – Coke anyone?

By: Zac Chase

Zac Chase — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 01:03:23 +0000

Dean,
One of my earliest frustrations with the edublogosphere was not the dirth of material to read and or bloggers with whom to engage, but of material and bloggers with which I disagree. Part of the beauty of the online world is its inherent variety and the ability of a person to find other like-minded individuals.
Unfortunately this has also meant a challenge or avoidance of seeking out contrarian opinions.
One piece of this developing community that worries me is the extent to which blogging is frequently about finding and building upon the ideas of others that are similar to our own. While I am all for the free exchange of ideas, for what does all of this agreement prepare us?
At some point the established powers in education will be willing to engage in a serious conversation/debate about the place, purpose, shape and extent of connectivity in education.
Without good (and you’re correct, they must be respectful) debates in this sphere, how strong can we expect our points to be?
When discussing persuasive writing, one of the first things I encourage my students to do is argue the side that is contradictory to what they believe – find the holes first. We must dig deeply to push one another’s thinking on whatever the topic being discussed. We would offer and expect no less from our students.
Thank you for beginning what I hope will be a detailed discussion, if not debate, about the need to offer and accept criticism of ideas within this domain.
Thank you for making me think.