If I was Alec Couros, Will Richardson, Vicki Davis, Steve Hargadon, or any of the thousands of K-12 educators that have been pushing for networked/connected learning for years (in Will’s case, more than a decade), I’d be fairly irritated to have been written out of the vision of connected learning that is now emerging from DML.
I don’t see any mention of the folks that have been pushing for open, social, networked, and collaborative pedagogical models on the site’s connected learning principles.
This might be a simple oversight on the part of the organizers – i.e. get the message of a new initiative out quickly. However, the site indicates that a new research group has been formed to explore connected learning. The starting point of almost all research is consideration of what has come before. Alec Couros, as an example, did his dissertation on the topic. (OT: If I was you Alec, I would totally go with Valentino as my first name. just sayin’). Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis have just published a book on the topic.
Basically, a new initiative seems to arise out of nowhere with this brilliant vision of connected learning. Those popularizing this vision get labelled as innovators while those doing the actual work are not given credit. I’ve seen this happen numerous times (and have been on the receiving end of a similar “writing out of existence”). It’s wrong.
Thank you for the kind words. I do know of Howard Rheingold and probably should know of the others in connected learning. This looks like an intiative out of a university. Will and the others have businesses or another university and of course, I'm in the classroom. It would be good to cite each other, of course, as I've learned from everyone you've mentioned, but then again, it is OK - no one "owns" this space. It would be nice for people to read each other's work but right now the universities are trying to "catch up" in thought leadership. By not blogging, they've been left out and let average every day people like me interject our thoughts. I think there is a place for us all. Thank you for pointing out what they're doing. As for me, as long as I keep working with students and working hard to innovate, there is a place for me in this world and I think more voices are better as long as they focus on what actually works in the classroom.
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