Socratic Monologue
Within the little educational technology corner of the interweb where I hang out, this has to be the fastest spreading meme/idea I have yet seen. I think that, like the mycelium of a fungus, edupunk has been growing below the surface of the conversation for a while. The conditions have recently become right for it to become visible. D’Arcy came really close to bringing it out in the open when he wrote about leadership in the edublogosphere:
… one of the beautiful things about the “edublogosphere” is that there aren’t any leaders. There doesn’t need to be a leader. It’s a community of peers, and every individual’s perception of the community is different, according to their connections, needs, and contributions.
Lack of, or downright disdain for, oligarchies of any sort feels like a one of the foundations of edupunk. Throw in a desire by many educational technologists for open learning environments and resources instead of instructional silos and an emphasis on the value of sharing – that gives you a sense of the edupunk mycelium. Use the creative commons licensed resources. Mix and mash them to create the resources you need. Share them with the world. Rip, mix, share.
Shortly after that, Jim Bloom Groom articulated some ideas about what he dubbed as edupunk, and a movement seems to have been born. If you haven’t already, read The Glass Bees and Murder, Madness, Mayhem is so EDUPUNK for his thoughts on edupunk. His basis for advocating edupunk is distinctly supportive of a DIY ethic that was found in the punk movement of the late 70s and 80s. It’s not about the technology – it’s about what the technology allows us to create. We have the power and right to create our own learning resources and our own learning without it being co-opted by corporate interests.
I don’t believe in technology, I believe in people. And that’s why I don’t think our struggle is over the future of technology, it is over the struggle for the future of our culture that is assailed from all corners by the vultures of capital. Corporations are selling us back our ideas, innovations, and visions for an exorbitant price. I want them all back, and I want them now! Enter stage left: EDUPUNK
I’m not sure what to make of edupunk. It might be the meme of the week. It might be a cultural movement within the edtech community. It might be a manifestation of our collective mid-life crisis (a lot of us seem to be in the neighbourhood of 40). It might be, and I suspect it is, a combination of all these things. I’m not sure all my thoughts about edupunk have been completely exorcised from my mind, but it is 2 a.m. and sleep beckons. I’m sure I will have more to say when my neurons have had the chance to rest.
Oops – It was discretely pointed out to me that I changed Jim’s last name to Bloom. My bad. The error has been fixed. Sorry Jim.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
edupunks don’t have obligations, they have unquenchable desires
rock on.
edupunks don’t have obligations, they have unquenchable desires
rock on.
Oh that’s a much better way to phrase it. I think that’s why I blog at 2 in the morning – the unquenchable desire to write out my thoughts, such as they are, before they disappear.
Oh that’s a much better way to phrase it. I think that’s why I blog at 2 in the morning – the unquenchable desire to write out my thoughts, such as they are, before they disappear.
[...] Rob Wall – The obligatory edupunk post [...]
[...] Rob Wall – The obligatory edupunk post [...]
So there you have it:
Corporations are selling us back our ideas, innovations, and visions for an exorbitant price. I want them all back, and I want them now!
And yet he put the whole thing in a neat package, which will allow these “corporations” to marginalise the whole issue. “Interesting” they will say “but unmanageable. We have taken some of the good stuff form that and included it as extra functionality in our VLE”.
As soon as we manage to turn this meme into a sideshow the better. Then we can all go back to what we were really doing, quietly, surreptitiously.
So there you have it:
Corporations are selling us back our ideas, innovations, and visions for an exorbitant price. I want them all back, and I want them now!
And yet he put the whole thing in a neat package, which will allow these “corporations” to marginalise the whole issue. “Interesting” they will say “but unmanageable. We have taken some of the good stuff form that and included it as extra functionality in our VLE”.
As soon as we manage to turn this meme into a sideshow the better. Then we can all go back to what we were really doing, quietly, surreptitiously.
[...] wanted to pick up briefly on something that Rob Wall wrote today: I’m not sure what to make of edupunk. It might be the meme of the week. It might be a cultural [...]
[...] wanted to pick up briefly on something that Rob Wall wrote today: I’m not sure what to make of edupunk. It might be the meme of the week. It might be a cultural [...]
I thought I was just a teacher too poor to pay for tools, now I realize I am an underground movement sticking it to the corporate man! I like the sound of that better!
I thought I was just a teacher too poor to pay for tools, now I realize I am an underground movement sticking it to the corporate man! I like the sound of that better!
[...] has been a lot of chatter on the internet these days about edupunk – lots of it, written by people much smarter than me (there’s plenty more where that came from). It’s something I’m [...]
[...] has been a lot of chatter on the internet these days about edupunk – lots of it, written by people much smarter than me (there’s plenty more where that came from). It’s something I’m [...]
[...] “Murder, Madness, Mayhem is so EDUPUNK”. Weblog bavatuesdays. * Rob Wall. 2008/05/30. The Obligatory EduPunk Post. Open Monologue blog. * Tony Hirst. Changing Expectations Video. * EduPunk Battle Royale Jim Groom [...]