I have shared a fair few of my crazy thoughts with all and sundry on Human. Here is one that has been bugging me for some time now and burst out this week.

This morning I had a meeting with Dr Jan Herrington, Professor of Education at Murdoch University here in Perth, Western Australia. It was a very friendly, honest, open, productive and, as tweeted straight afterwards, a “frightfully successful” meeting about the potential of me starting to work towards a PhD degree, supervised by Dr Herrington. Her research interests read much like an awesomely researched, thoughtful academic version of my passionate scribbles here (on my blog). In conversation, we have traversed so much of edu(tech) territory with an amazing ease and understanding of two people ‘in the field’. Within an hour, we have mapped out a rough outline of the project, theoretical framework and possible methodology (freakish! – more on that another time). Dr Herrington’s methodical approach to completing a thesis project and her philosophy on writing were music to my ears after the six years (or seven, forgot it myself) part-time effort of an arduous Masters research thesis. Over Twitter, I even got high recommendations about Dr Herrington by one of her former PhD students. Not to mention I would probably be working closely with my best friend Dr Greg Thompson, who actually introduced me to Dr Herrington. And more. It all looks so seductively ready to go…

My modus operandi has long been “why not?” in many things. But this one is a big chunk, big enough to ask: “Why do it?” (My wife asked me the same question, rightly so.). Here are my top reasons, all with their positive spin and endless question marks not stated but assumed:

• I am curious and love learning, thinking and doing what I believe in.
• I love pushing the boundaries.
• I am passionate about technology being the catalyst for not just how we learn but what we (never cease to) become as a result of using it.
• I am uncomfortable with the prevalent mainstream, myopic schooling system mired in technicalities that change nothing that really matters.
• I like creative yet disciplined, logical, thoughtful effort that makes sense to people and ends up being significant.
• I am slightly mad (a necessary pre-condition many PhD/EdD candidates tell me…   )
• I know I can do it.
• I would have an excellent supervisor and mentor.

Yes, the title and job prospects and all that are nothing to be sneezed at and I don’t pretend I would not like them but I recognise the foolishness of it. Because there will always be more …

And while I ask myself ‘can I endure the endless hours of research, painstaking editing, drafting, re-shaping and processing things, can our bank balance cope with such a project, can I sacrifice hundreds of hours I would otherwise spend with my family, are there alternatives etc etc …’, please feel free to either advise me with a reasonable encouragement or a sobering kick in the butt, or generally share your views on the question: To PhD or Not To PhD?

Thank you. Sincerely.

PS. Our “Why is everyone an expert in education?” series will continue very soon. Last two weeks have been crazy for the three of us writing. Coming up!

Why do I blog? To organise my crazy mind, articulate what I may use in conversations and, if fortunate, offer an insight to (mostly) complete strangers. It is actually quite humbling to open up to the world.

Here is very briefly what Seth Godin and Tom Peters think about blogging. And it rings true…

PS. If you are an educator and haven’t started a blog – have a go. You may want to start with Edublogs. The name says it all (no, I don’t get paid by Edublogs).

Enough said.

Before going back to school tomorrow, here are a few of my professional aims for the year.

• Continue to try, question, reflect on how digital technology (DT) can enhance and/or threaten the purpose of education (not schooling!) as it see it: to extend the understanding of the world beyond our immediate experiences while respecting those experiences, and through that learn how to function as individuals together in ever-changing societies.

• Continue my “deliberate practice” and get as many colleagues, students, friends as possible to enjoy DT for the humanity it can enable and enhance.

• Write a book on Moodle (yep, working on it!) and continue to teach and learn (with) this phenomenal resource.

• Work on EVICTS becoming a useful point for collaboration between teachers.

• Run a Philosophy & Ethics course for which I have worked hard to get into our school.

• Attend and/or present at a MoodleMoot somewhere.

• (Continue to) love serendipity afforded by social media but say ‘no’ when sleep and rest are needed.

May another Antipodean school year begin!

A couple of fellow bloggers tagged me into this meme-game of “7 Things You Don’t Know About Me’. Memetics is actually quite a fascinating, if controversial and bickering, field of human interest you may wish to be ‘infected with’. I have read Susan Blackmore’s The Meme Machine not long after it came out in 1999 and have held a loose interest to many of her ideas since. Well, let me spread some pretty innocuous memes.

In no particular order, seven things about me (most of) you probably did not know: Read the rest of this entry »

This morning I found out that ‘Human’ came second in the “Best New Blog” category at the 2008 Edublogs Awards. The quick, competitive part of me went “oh bugger, a handful of votes and I’d have won it” but then the wiser part of me thanked again, firstly the thousands (!) of people who have taken their time to read and engage with my blog since May this year, secondly a number of people around the world who nominated ‘Human’ for 2008 Eddie and thirdly, the people who clicked next to my blog’s name on the voting card. It really is an honour.

Is this starting to sound like “show-me-a-good-loser-and-I’ll-show-you-a-loser” script right now? Someone bitter to have come second going all phoney philosophical? Not quite I’d say…

Read the rest of this entry »

‘Human’ on a lighter and shorter note today

Over the last 24 hours, I connected a person from Ireland and a company in Pittsburgh to help each other out. This morning, I shared a pile of resources with a person in Bendigo like we were sitting a foot apart. This afternoon, my son showed his new fire engine to his excited, doting grandmother in Slovenia over a webcam. Tonight, I had chat with a person from Birmingham (with our regular third person from Sydney missing but whose excuse I could see on Flickr – happy birth day little Caitlyn). As I write this I am getting teased from Adelaide over Twitter. And that’s definitely a list of all the (inter)national connections I have been directly a part of today and just about every day recently.

WOW :-O !!!

As the pace and width of tools and gadgetry grows, we often don’t have time to stop and ponder the fact that all these things are now possible (and quite cheaply and easily too). We are too busy chasing the next flashy ‘must have’ and getting all worked up about the now ‘old and cranky’ present we loved so much around last Christmas. But let’s not get negative here

Here is a short and funny take by the comedian CK Lewis on attitude and gratitude for all our tech stuff. Enjoy the 4 minutes and remember the clip next time you complain about (lack of) some technical gear.

With the end of another school year and the flurry of reports, exams and other (unnecessary) minutiae of school life bearing down fast, I thought I’d better get in fast and nominate a few fellow bloggers for the 2008 Edublogs Awards.

Here are my ‘picks of the year’.

Best individual blog – Darcy Moore’s ‘Darcy’s Blog’ is at times wonderfully eclectic work of a school administrator with vision and passion that makes him jump the 40ft chasm not in two 20ft steps (like many others in his position) but with one leap and lots of room to spare. I have often said to Darcy “your staff are lucky to have you”.

Best new blog – Rob Abbey’s ‘Journeys on the Road’ (recently changed to ‘Life and Learning’, the link here is live). And I only started to read this a couple of weeks ago! This is a thinker’s blog that starts to go beyond the obvious and the often superficial hype. It is a thoughtful mesh of critical thinking and experience I would recommend to anyone with a bend for educational philosophy.

Most influential blog post -Chris Betcher’s ‘The Truth is Out There’ The stirrer from Sydney. This post generated much excellent discussion among my colleagues and my senior students and I am grateful to Chris for elaborating many of my own views.

Best Ed-Tech support – Julian Ridden’s ‘Moodleman Blog’ The Moodle wizard I have not yet met in person yet but I feel we have known each other for years through some wonderful collaboration. While Moodle is in his bloodstream, there is much more to Julian’s writing than just that. Thank you for all the tips and eye-openers.

Best teacher blog – Tony Searl’s ‘Sliced bread’ Now here is another bloke I could have a beer with tomorrow and it would be like we have known each other for years. His reply to one of my own posts (My f*%$#ing goosebump story) is a classic to treasure. Cheers!

(Hmmm, just noticed – all my nominees are male, please don’t read into this much )

The special mention list is long…

Sue Waters, the wonderful, choc-loving and ever helpful Twitter fiend

Bryn Jones, the tireless (and priceless) local “wise guy” from Fremantle

Kathry Greenhill, a fellow Murdoch University alumni and Emerging Tech guru

Mary Cooch, the thoughtful Moodle hot potato from the UK

Rhys Moult, the Adelaide ‘jack of all trades’, social networker par excellence and the best practical joker in this group

Mark Callagher, the right-on Kiwi targeting secondary schools

Jenny Millea, a dynamo of thought and action

… and more (this is a bit unfair to a stack of other people but I am sure they’ll live ) !

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and efforts throughout the year.

To a newbie to the world of blogging like me, this has been truly a memorable (first) year and in no small part thanks to your writing, comments, reactions and arguments.

Best wishes to all.

Tomaz