you blog: tweets dec 13

Thursday, December 13, 2012

tweets dec 13

Bud Hunt (@budtheteacher)
12/12/12 7:36 AM
"'What would be the greatest thing we could do for our kids, as far as personalized education?' Renaldi supposed."
timescall.com/news/longmont-…

The Department awarded $400 million dollars to the 16 winners, which represented 55 school districts.The goal of the Race to the Top -- District program is to support classroom-level changes that personalize education for all students

John Poynton (@SVVSD)
12/11/12 3:08 PM
Congrats to SVVSD, IBM and our supportive community for award-winning collaboration on Race to the Top grant:bit.ly/TSJtfu

St. Vrain Valley Schools has won $16.59 million in the latest round of the federal competition for education dollars known as Race to the Top.

huge congrats. i love longmont.
can't wait to see what they do with this. sounds like awesome things in place already.
but 20 mill to support classroom level changes.
what if we need to be out of the classroom, out of the compulsory curriculum? out of the assumed day. out of the spotlight of proof.
imagine setting the brilliant people of longmont co free.. to do their thing during the day. as the day. let's spend 20 mill on giving that a go. no?

Harold Jarche (@hjarche)
12/13/12 6:13 AM
supporting edtech journalists, by @gsiemens elearnspace.org/blog/2012/12/1… interesting comments

The generation of value in networks is at odds with how people function. A quick illustration, reaching way back to my youth. I grew up on a farm in Mexico. My dad was a “do everything” person which was the norm of the region in which we lived. We literally did not have specialized labour – no hotels, no restaurants, no garages, etc. If you needed help fixing your tractor or mixing concrete to build a structure for housing young calves, you would lean on your networks of friends/family. In some instances cash was exchanged for the help, in others it was barter (or obligation based – “I’ll call you when I need help

All of this to say, as long as we live in a specialized labour marketplace where efficiency of either product or knowledge is the key, we will not realize the network model and egalitarianism that you allude to. To reword your statement, we need to come to grips with the reality that we cannot function in a market economy without constant urgings toward specialization and efficiency. As long as market economies are the dominant mindset, and I can’t see anything else on the horizon that is primed to challenge or replace this in the near future, networks will be subject to calls for efficiency and specialization. Even now, Wikipedia is moving toward more management and structure, not less. Financial concerns arise annually as they initiate fundraising campaigns to stay viable. As such, networks are not the alternative or replacement that folks like Castells have suggested. Networks compete against hierarchy, not the market model of work/knowledge. Networks are also subject to the dominant principles of efficiency. The market economy is god. Eventually, even the revolutionaries conserve.

via George in comments: as long as market economies are the dominant mindset, and I can’t see anything else on the horizon that is primed to challenge or replace this in the near future

near future.. up to us. no?

we have all we need.. without the need to beg for what we need.. (ie:fundraising, grant writing..)...without paying more into the over the top resources of public Ed funding.

perhaps.. now we can finally see that.. with placebo-like tech. getting us back to us.. back to the best parts of George's farm community, to Shirky's 7/10 day care centers, to Bunker Roy's barefoot movement.

perhaps it's just.. prior to now.