StigmergicWeb

This is the last blog post I’ll write here. If you want to skip my droning on about why, you can just head over to the new blog, Open Monologue, at robwall.ca. If you want to stay subscribed to this blog, I’ll be auto-posting the ed-tech links that I bookmark at del.icio.us so and I’ll probably announce when EdTech Posse podcasts are online here as well, so if you want to keep track or our podcasts stay tuned here.

So why close up now? First reason, and I have only myself to blame, is the domain name. Stigmergy is a very cool idea and a key concept for understanding emergent systems. It is also, however, not the easiest domain name to tell people out loud without having to spell it for them.

The second reason is restlessness. Way back in 2003 (that feels like such a long time ago) Alan Levine noted that many edu-blogs seem to be abandoned after about a year. If that is the case, I’ve put in more than my time here. This incarnation of my blogging started in June of 2004 after trying other formats for a couple of years, and I just have a feeling that it is time to move on. When I’ve moved before, I have changed the focus, and I think it’s time for me to do just that.

I think that the desire to change the focus of my writing is probably the biggest reason. Go check out the new blog - Open Monologue - to see a summary of what I want to write about. I am not, as I mentioned before, going to give up writing about education, learning and technology. Those are still subjects I try to think deeply about, but other things will be there as well. Besides, I think the edu-blogging thing is starting to get a little tedious. No offense meant to anyone who is in the edu-blogging camp but I have to agree with some of the points made by Tim Holt in a recent post on his blog.

You know, you have to stop preaching to the choir. I am sorry, but frankly, the people that are listening to you leaders are the ones using the technology already. Have you seen the attendees at the conventions that no one can afford? It is a nerdfest. It should be filled with teachers that have no frikkin’ idea what a blog is or what podcasts are. But that isn’t the case. Seems to me that the message has been, for MANY YEARS, that we need to use technology. Okaaaay…So, you have saturated the ed-techie teachers with that message and most of them have done their darndest to get ed tech in their classrooms. But have you ever stopped to think that maybe after all of these years, the message needs to be changed to appeal to the non-techie educator?

In general I have to agree with that. I think that the conversations are becoming rather circular. (By the way, I disagree vehmently with pretty much every other point on dissent that he raises.) Certainly there are new technologies since this blog started, but I think we are still having the same discussions as we did then. And, generally speaking, we are preaching to the choir. There certainly are many more voices in the choir than their used to be, are we articulating a vision that is coherent in a way that is comprehensible to the teachers I work with who still don’t know how to use their e-mail? Can we show them something that will make them change their teaching practice? We seem to present technology based solutions - blogging, digital story telling, wikis, etc. - as the one true way to reform education. I certainly don’t believe that is true, at least not at this stage in my life. I know teachers who are brilliant speakers and lecturers that can enthrall and educate a class of students just by standing in front of a group of students and talking. My organic chemistry prof in my first year of university did just that (although he did use some very commonly used technology in his classes - an overhead projector and a chalkboard). I learned a lot from him. It was his way of teaching and it worked for him and for his students.

I should stop. I don’t want this to turn into a criticism of what we (speaking with my edu-blogger hat on) are trying to do or of the importance of some of the models of learning that we develop. we have some valuable contributions to make to pedagogy. I just want us to think critically about what we collectively want to achieve. Are our goals for the common good, or is it hubris for us to think that we hold the one true solution?

OK - if I haven’t totally alienated everybody with that, y’all can follow me over to the new blog which is pithily entitled Open Monologue. You’re invited to drop by anytime you’d like. No cat diaries - I promise.

I was thinking of leaving this post until tomorrow (which can be taken to mean after I go to bed then wake up a few hours later) but I’m still up marking and I desperately need a break from that. It is now a little over an hour and a half since the birthday (41st, if you’re interested in the details of my life) officially ended, so I can now give a complete rundown of the days events:


To start the day off just right, I got the chance to sleep in. Since I have two small children, sleeping in means sometime around 8:30 in the morning. The girl came into the room to let me know it was time to get on and the coffee was on. She knows that I’m a much happier man if the coffee is already made when I shamble out of bed.

After breakfast, the rest of the family left the house to give me two hours of peace and quiet. I had a quick nap then went off to the school to pick up the marking which is currently looming. Back at home I did a bit of paper shuffling to make me think I was getting something done, then noodled around on the computer. Since I couldn’t do the Leopard upgrade like everyone else seems to be doing, I contented myself to installing Sapiens, an uber-cool app launcher for the Mac (and a big shout-out to D’Arcy for twittering about that). I also found out via Dean Shareski on Twitter that Chris Sessums and I have the same birthday. I hope you had a good one, Chris.

The family returned, we had lunch, the boy went for a nap and I went into the office to get some marking done. Well, that was my intention as I went into the office. Proximity to the computer was too much for me to resist, so I ended up writing up my previous blog post about convocation. It needed done anyway, so I feel that it was a worthwhile use of my time.

After the boy awoke, we went to play in the back yard. Since it was my birthday, I was given the choice of supper. My daughter pointed out that I really like pizza. Unable to come up with a better alternative, the pizza was ordered then consumed upon delivery. Birthday greetings were sung and I found out that we are getting a digital video recorder installed as a gift to me.

After that, it settled back to a regularish sort of evening. Once the household duties were done, I started marking math tests which I am still doing (writing this post notwithstanding). I suppose it is time to get back to those math tests so I can sneak in a few hours of sleep before morning.

Next time - the last-ish post.

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