Comments on: ACEC95: Just another conference?

By: Admin

Admin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:14:21 +0000

Thanks for the comment Roland and congratulations on the awards. Very well deserved. Does my memory serve me well – didn’t you get an award at ACEC 95 in Perth also.

I know you were there and for some reason your name stayed with me.

By: Roland Gesthuizen

Roland Gesthuizen — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:13:11 +0000

A fascinating reflection standing on the edge of a storm that is still sweeping our planet. Do not underestimate the part that these conferences played in this discourse or the value of your thoughts. WHilst history will remember the nuts and bolts of the technology revolution, it is important that we also record impressions such as yours to better understand the dreams and aspirations that fired them on.

By: Roland Gesthuizen

Roland Gesthuizen — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:16:01 +0000

Well done Bryn, this is a great bit of history to share.

By: Paul Reid

Paul Reid — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:11:25 +0000

Cheers Bryn – this is a poignant 13 year old piece of history to share.
It is plain to see in 2008 that while consumer technology has empowered end users at home, it hasn’t necessarily empowered students and teachers in their learning and teaching environments. Plainly because in the most general sense the industrial aged institutions of our schools have failed in some ways to be remain relevant to the world they are supposed to inform us of.

In my visits to schools I occasionally see some lighthouse examples of learning that appears to be relevant to students in this regard. More often the examples are in primary schools, where the legacy of an aged and crippled curriculum has not put as many restrictions on the teacher as it does in high school with a essay based exam focus.

In education we can still be a lot more flexible in how we use technology. The top down approach of network management is failing the learning opportunities possible by giving ubiquitous access – it is a big business model applied to the wrong environment.

But at the same time we need to raise our expectations of both teachers and students to search for their own personal learning networks beyond the school walls. Those Australian students with the critical literacy to effectively access, synthesise and be creative with the “entire sum of human knowledge”, will be most in demand in a knowledge economy. Giving them adhoc access via a one-to-one programme is a great place to start, but actually fostering the development of critical literacy is still the most important part. It is an exciting path to travel with an inquiring mind but only if there aren’t roadblocks at every turn.

Time to visit that “learning without limits” catch-cry I say.

By: Paul Newhouse

Paul Newhouse — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:58:38 +0000

Thanks Bryn. We seem to be at the same point in time now with, at least on the national stage, proposals and plans for moving into the ‘knowledge age’. While the technology has developed at breath-taking speed we have only made incrementally small steps in exploiting the possibilities but at least we can point to some with Internet access in classrooms, wireless networks, trolleys of laptops, digital cameras and a gradually increasing range of software being used. See you at ACEC08. Paul

By: mark weber

mark weber — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:52:39 +0000

mein hetz brent

By: Pru Mitchell

Pru Mitchell — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:09:26 +0000

1995 was certainly a big year. Thanks for the reminder Bryn, and for all you’ve done in those 13 years for ICT in education. Hope to catch up at ACEC2008.

By: Admin

Admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:22:19 +0000

Thanks for the comments Tomaz

It’s the 2008 ACEC Conference in a couple of weeks so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Julia Gillard speaking and the DER Taskforce in attendance.

Bryn

By: Tomaz Lasic

Tomaz Lasic — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:59:18 +0000

13 Years ! OMIGOD

Visionary indeed and it is perhaps our political leaders who confuse ‘vision’ (of the possibilities) with ’seeing’ (the politically expedient).

You have been at the forefront of what Ian Jukes would call a school of Committed Sardines for a long time. Thanks to your efforts, you have inspired and led a fast growing number of us in what we believe is a wonderful and very worthy direction (no end in sight, good!)

I am personally acutely aware of the possible righteousness of views of ICT enthusiasts and the danger of thumbing our collective noses at people who ‘don’t get it’ when it comes particularly to ICT and its transformative possibilities in/for education.

However, I always play an imaginary interview with a parent of a school child deciding on ‘what is best for their child’: “Would you prefer your child to be schooled in the way that has not changed since the agrarian then industrial revolution for the world we definitely know it WAS LIKE (well, historians would disagree) OR would you rather see your child prepared for the world they ARE LIKELY to live in for the rest of their lives?”

It’s a part of the larger conversation, would love to continue it one day over a beer (no, we have not met yet but we probably live a block away).

Good onya Bryn, keep swimming in this direction, there is plenty of us flippin’ that way.

Tomaz Lasic
http://human.edublogs.org