Posted on 23rd February 2010 by Judy Breck in Findability | Mobiles | Next
knowledge, Mobiles, netwok
Handschooling is stunningly exciting and hopeful because every youngster on earth will soon have individual access to knowledge. Grumpy posts here about Obamaschool are not the real spirit of this website — but knocking us off of the socialist track is necessary before the new individualized learning can emerge.
The image above — half of which is now in the sidebar — illustrates the conjunction of the two main factors of handschooling:
- what is know by humankind and needs to be learned by each new generation has moved online where it is mirroring its cognitive network structure, and
- individual mobile devices are now available by which each student can individually connect to the global knowledge commons the network has created.
The most deeply interesting subject is the networking of what is known online. There is so much chaos and conflict in education that it is very hard to get focus on this core phenomenon. Yet the fact that knowledge itself is a network and that almost suddenly it has found a new medium — the internet — in which to nestle itself conforming to its own cognitive structure is astounding. This event ranks with the invention of language, writing, and printing. This migration of what is known by the human species into a spontaneous virtual medium is most spectacular because no one thought it up. It just happened. Until we reconfigure schooling around the networking of knowledge in the open internet, we are spinning our pedagogical wheels. Finding and connecting ideas in this medium is the core around which we will invent the future of education.
Posted on 20th February 2010 by Judy Breck in Next
crowd_source, education, mob, OER
When I saw the Mob4Hire website this morning I realized my 5 topics for Handschooling.com (the main ones across the top) needed one more change. I have been uncomfortable with separating Findability and Commons into 2 sections. Both are aspects of networks, and the ideas are intertwingled.
But what then should the 5th section be? We should have, I now see, what is Next. The Next section will give peeks at cool new education. Next will showcase exciting learnodes from the global commons. My recent post on crows, for example, is a demonstration of what resources will be like as the new education matures. The Next section will also review ideas from other sectors that can be used to innovate education as it lets go of outdated habits.
Mob4Hire is a powerful example of something education should be doing, but is not doing. Mobs could be hired that would included teachers, subject experts, pedagogues, parents, and students.
Mobile industry expert Russell Buckley described Mob4Hire this week at Mobhappy.
Mob4Hire is the inspiration of Paul Poutanen, who set out to solve a perennial mobile industry problem of testing not only on the huge variety of 26,000 handsets, but also over the local idiosyncrasies of over 350+ networks in 130+ different countries. Just because you’ve tested your JME* app on one handset in the US, don’t assume that it’s going to work on exactly the same handset in the UK.
Mob4Hire’s solution to the problem is crowd-sourcing and today they have a network of 40,000 highly mobile literate users throughout the world to do not only do usability and functionality testing for developers’ projects, but they do so at up to 90% of the cost of traditional testing. A very strong proposition and one which meets the main criteria for any new start-up – solving a need or real pain in the sector.
Like the mobile industry, education is sectored and splintered. Enlisting (hiring or otherwise) mobs would apply the wisdom of the crowd to the testing of open education resources OER — everything from digital textbooks, to curricula, to assessment tests, to individual teaching websites and pages. It seems likely that next educators will devise ways to use crowd-sourcing to leave behind biased, politically correct, profit motive, and other unpleasant aspects of testing educational resources. Now would be a good time to start.
Posted on 18th February 2010 by Judy Breck in Learnode | Next
crows, Learnode
Crows.net is a nifty learnode in the commons that engenders cooperative research on the language and culture of the American crow. It is the first of an ongoing Handschooling.com stream of excellent learnodes from the global knowledge commons that will be appearing regularly on this blog. The plan is to have these periodic delights from commons learning stuff give readers a break from the travails of educational transition.
Crows.net coordinator Michael Westerfield explains how his online the project aims to capture the wisdom of the crow crowd to increase human understanding of this remarkable species:
The working hypothesis for the Crows.net Project is that the American crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos, is a highly intelligent species, with fully developed language and culture.
While there are few ornithologists actively studying the American crow and the existing scientific literature is not extensive, there are thousands of “crow fanciers” who are continually observing the language and behavior of various populations of these birds in a wide variety of habitats throughout their entire range.
This being the case, it is postulated that by organizing the existing knowledge about crows from all sources, and coordinating the efforts of “crow fanciers” and professional scientists, that sufficient information can be obtained to gain some understanding of, and initiate real – if limited – communication with a non-human, intelligent species, the American crow.
Crows.net contains a rich variety of insights and information. It also links out to key crow authorities and enthusiasts. This little crow network intertwingles to the benefit of one of the bird world’s most fascinating characters and feathered friends. You can even take a listen to their variety of caws.
