It is ridiculous… it seems like all people focus on these days is on coming up with the next stupid “buzzword”… even if all it means is to dress up old concepts in to new clothes… seriously… I feel sorry for those who are still trying to come up with Web 3.0 and such… or should I call them WebPunks?
The definition of edupunk, as see in Lisa Neal Guatieri’s article on eLearn Magazine from July 2008: “an educational approach that combines creative drive with a maverick attitude…in which the educator—or possibly the student—designs the tools for teaching and learning.” While a valid definition for innovative and creative educators/learners, this creation and re-creation of technology for learning situations, as also stated in the same article, has been happening for quite sometime (if not throughout all of mankind). It is called Instructional Technology, being the people involved innovative or not, being the technology being flawed or not… I, particularly, see no need for such buzzword… But that is just my humble opinion…
From Steven Downes’ blog.
From Wired Campus.
by Sheryl A. McCoy
24 Jun 2008 at 21:58
Came here from Education2.0 email I received. Thanks!
I must agree that WebPunks sounds much, much better than EduPunks, so you can infer I agree with the entire post. You are on point with this one.
My grandparents’ and their peers had 2 appropriately great sayings that still applies today: “Don’t the baby out with the bath water!” AND “All that glitters is not gold!”
Thanks, your post was brief and to the point.
by enzofsilva
25 Jun 2008 at 01:09
Thank you for commenting here.
It just irritates me, this whole “chase for the holy grail”, the next buzzword… it gets in the way… some people already talking about Web 3.0… when is it going to end? Web 10.0? “Web n”?
by Sheryl A. McCoy
25 Jun 2008 at 14:45
It will never end because there will always be people reaching for the gold ring on the carousel. This trend in fads is a fad itself in the World of Electrons because life moves so fast that the first adopters can’t stand still or they will lose their first adopter status.
When we are young, it is OK to be gripped by fads because we don’t really know what fads are. As we mature, past high school, many figure out that fads are ways for someone to make a living off the vanity of others.
To sell fads, various types of propaganda(bandwagon, testimonial, transfer, repitition, emotional words) are used, an this propaganda even has a friendly label: advertising. My take on this is that it’s very difficult to steer away from advertisement, and sometimes we want what is advertised. We want to be convinced (sold).
In the world of electrons, it seems to me that we need first adopters. They give life and depth to the online, program-driven, social interactions we all use in our work as teachers. We just don’t have to jump on every bandwagon they are driving;D
I like to think of fads in the World of Electrons as a comparable milieu with the World of Couture Fashion. I would rather wear Coco Chanel’s classic little black dress than whatever the latest fad is today.
Sometimes fads becomes classics. A case in point is the fad of the women’s pantsuit introduced in the late 20th century by Yves St. Laurent. Today it is a classic look in women’s attire.
Sometimes fads die or merge with other fads. The case in point is that we don’t see all women in America wearing mini-skirts anymore. What we do see is a variety of dress/skirt lengths. The fads broke the classic need to raise and lower skirt length, and I believe that variance in skirt length is accepted, classic.
Classic trumps fads, but fads move the classics into the modern era….WHENEVER modern is;D
by enzofsilva
26 Jun 2008 at 13:13
Fads, fads, fads… Fads 2.0…