Senin, 18 Juli 2011
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TGIF!!
Jumat, 15 Juli 2011
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my in-laws took taylor to the mountains yesterday and so we just have little walker solo this weekend. yesterday, while walker was napping i had to chance to actually sit at the computer and read blogs!! it was fabulous....
i spotted this bathroom on simply seleta....hello perfection!! (and if you haven't seen it, check out what seleta's husband did for her b'day...so cute!!)
next, i spotted this stacked glass lamp that i am dying to add to my house.....but i better start saving, b/c she's not cheap. but fabulous, right?!!
then i decided that i wanted to have friends over for dinner friday night....i am dying to get this cookbook....this meal would be perfection, as well as this table setting:
and this is always a fun motto for fridays :)
which i found on the cutest blog....who happens to be an adorable girl i met when i was in costa rica 2 yrs ago!! randomly, lindsey found me and remembered me from a boat cruise we were on. she and her husband were on their last night and we were in the middle of our trip but we had a blast together on the 6+ hr boat/ snorkel excursion...could have been the cocktails that they were serving too :) but i am so happy to see that they are expecting a baby girl....i mean how cute is she?! you have to watch this adorable video that she posted on how they found out what they are having...and her house is fabulous as well- that would be a framed hermes scarf and those sconces are killer (i need them in my life)!
next, i visited ruby press, and this stopped me in my tracks and made me realize i want to make ice cream.....first, i need an ice cream maker....and i need to have better handwriting and cute storage containers!
after that, my little man woke up. but the 2+ hrs i had surfing the internet was pure bliss. i hope y'all have an amazing weekend!!! see y'all next week! XO
i spotted this bathroom on simply seleta....hello perfection!! (and if you haven't seen it, check out what seleta's husband did for her b'day...so cute!!)
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Kamis, 14 Juli 2011
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*images courtesy of unknown, cottage living, gerrie bremerrman, suzanne kasler, southern living, amelia hadegan, country living, urban grace, unknown
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Senin, 11 Juli 2011
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*images courtesy of sunday in bed, lulu dk, windsor smith, style for living
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Hirst's "Forms of Knowledge"
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The great educational philosopher Paul Hirst wrote a paper in 1973 entitled "Liberal Education and the Nature of Knowledge" (reprinted in Hirst, P (1974) "Knowledge and the Curriculum"). In this he writes that:
For more recent thoughts on this topic, see http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/teleodynamics-and-forms-of-knowledge.html
"to acquire knowledge is to become aware of experience as structured, organised and made meaningful in some quite specific way, and the varieties of human knowledge constitute the highly developed forms in which man has found this possible. To acquire knowledge is to learn to see, to experience the world in a way otherwise unknown, and thereby to come to have a mind in a fuller sense"In rejecting various forms of mentalism and behaviourism, he asserts that
"to have a mind basically involves coming to have experience articulated by means of various conceptual schemata. It is only because man has over millenia objectified and progressively developed these that he has achieved the forms of human knowledge, and the possibility of the development of mind as we know it is open to us today"In attempting to identify the 'forms of knowledge', Hirst sets about identifying 'distinguising features:
- They each involve certain central concepts that are peculiar in character to the form. For example, those of gravity, acceleration, hydrogen and photo-synthesis characteristic of the sciences; number, integral and matrix in mathematics; God, sin and predestination in religion; ought, good and wrong in moral knowledge.
- In a given form of knowledge these and other concepts that denote, if perhaps in a very complex way, certain aspects of experience, form a network of possible relationships in which experience can be understood. As a result the form has a distinctive logical structure. For example, the terms and statements of mechanics can be meaningfully related in certain strictly limited ways only, and the same is true of historical explanation.
- The form, by virtue of its particular terms and logic, has expressions or statements (possibly answering a distinctive type of question) that in some way or other, however indirect it may be, are testable against experience. This is the case in scientific knowledge, moral knowledge, and in the arts, though in the arts no questions are explicit and the criteria for the tests are only partially expressible in words. Each form, then, has distinctive expressions that are testable against experience in accordance with particular criteria that are peculiar to the form
- The forms have developed particular techniques and skills for exploring experience and testing their distinctive expressions, for instance the techniques of the sciences and those of the various literary arts. The result has been the amassing of all the symbolically expressed knowledge that we now have in the art and the sciences.
However Hirst also points out that "All knowledge involves the use of symbols and the making of judgements in ways that cannot be expressed in words and can only be learnt in a tradition. Thus Polanyi's tacit knowledge is seen in the same light as knowledge of concepts: knowing-how is the same as knowing-that.
A further classification is introduced to deal with the fact that not all knowledge falls within the remit of 'disciplines'. So he argues that a further classification between 'forms' of knowledge and 'fields' of knowledge:
- Distinct disciplines or forms of knowledge (subdivisible): mathematics, physical sciences, human sciences, history, religion, literature and the fine arts, philosophy.
- Fields of knowledge: theoretical, practical (these may or may not include elements of moral knowledge)
The quality of Hirst's analysis and thinking puts most thinking in e-learning (particularly noticeable in the recent MOOC debate) to shame. I was struck by the use of his term of 'form' of knowledge, since this was a term I've recently been thinking about too.
However, I don't necessarily agree with Hirst. For his analysis stops short of looking at the ontology of knowledge. And looking at the ontology of knowing, we have to consider the causal efficacy of knowledge and its relationship to being. Hirst seems a bit Cartesian in his emphasis that "coming to know" concerns the "development of mind". Equally, "coming to know" concerns the development of society.
Critical Realism can help here. In exploring the causal efficacy of knowledge, the disciplinary distinctions he draws attention to break down further in a way which (I think) can help us understand the relationship between knowledge and teaching. Hirst is right to point out the differences between knowledge of mathematics and moral knowledge, but he stops short of saying how they are distinct in their causal mechanisms. Mathematical knowledge does something to mathematicians which is distinct from what theological knowledge does to theologians. What we perceive on encoutering a mathematician or a theologian are the effects of what their knowledge does. And the realm of causal effects and the scope of their mechanisms is distinct in each case. Thus, looking at Hirst's categories, we might discern:
- biological mechanisms
- psychological mechanisms
- social mechanisms
In fact, to be more precise, we will determine the differences between our own biological, psychological and social mechanisms through the effects of the social mechanisms displayed by the knower.
I think (and have argued: see http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.com/2011/01/analysing-knowledge-performances-in-oer.html) that these differences are detected in four principal areas when encountering a teacher:
I think (and have argued: see http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.com/2011/01/analysing-knowledge-performances-in-oer.html) that these differences are detected in four principal areas when encountering a teacher:
- In the causal effects of knowledge on the way of being of the knower (personal form of knowledge)
- In the causal effects of the esteem and moral judgement of the knower (purpose form of knowledge)
- In the causal effects of the presentation of what is known on others (content form of knowledge)
- In the causal effects of practices with tools and techniques (tool form of knowledge)
Understanding the nature of education is precisely about understanding the conditions under which knowledge can occur. At the end of his paper, Hirst quotes Michael Oakeshott:
"As civilised human beings, we are inheritors, neither of an inquiry about ourselves and the world, nor of an accumulating body of information, but of a conversation, begun in the primeval forests and extended and made more articulate in the course of centuries. It is a conversation which goes on both in public and within each of ourselves.Of course there is argument and inquiry and information, but wherever these are profitable they are to be recognised as passages in this conversation, and perhaps they are not the most captivating of the passages... Conversation is not an enterprise designed to yield an extrinsic profit, a contest where a winner gets a prize, nor is it an activity of exegesis; it is an unrehearsed intellectual adventure... Education, properly speaking, is an initiation into the skills and partnership of this conversation in which we learn to recognise the voices, to distinguish the proper occasions of utterance, and in which we acquire the intellectual and moral habits appropriate to conversation. And it is this conversation which, in the end, gives place and character to every human activity and utterance." (Oakeshott: Rationalism in Politics and other essays, 1962, pp 198-9)
For more recent thoughts on this topic, see http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/teleodynamics-and-forms-of-knowledge.html
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iTEC, Widgets and Ideal Worlds
Minggu, 10 Juli 2011
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I'm currently writing the documentation for our first 'deliverable' in the EU-funded iTEC (http://itec.eun.org) project. Our contribution in Bolton to this large project is to leverage the Wookie Widget server (http://getwookie.org) into pedagogical practice in schools. In being so pedagogically-focused, iTEC stands out from all the other Wookie-inspired developments (like those funded through the JISC DVLE programme). iTEC identifies that what looks like a very technological issue around interoperability has profound implications on the organisation of education, and particularly the organisation of teaching.
I've commented before on the fact that the ready-to-handness of tools means new ways of conceiving of the organisation of education (see http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.com/2011/04/towards-scenario-driven-education.html). But more deeply than this I think iTEC is an indication of where the TEL (Technologically-Enhanced Learning) endeavour is moving.
In a way, TEL as we've come to understand it, seems dead. It's no longer the domain of a few enthusiastic user groups within institutions. TEL is everywhere, and ubiquity usually indicates imminent death. Our schools, universities and colleges are technologied-up to the eye-balls. Typically, the complaint of the TEL community is now "Ah.. but you're not using it properly!" where 'properly' means "in the way we'd envisaged as a means to transforming the education system". But 10 years ago, most people in TEL would have settled for 'improper use' as a mark of success!
So TEL has changed from the "campaign to use technology in education" to "the campaign to use technology properly in education". But it doesn't know what 'properly' is.
That's where I think iTEC is important.
iTEC combines and connects a number of interventions at different levels in the education system. First, a process of scenario-creation is taking place involving 'pedagogy experts' (that may sound slightly worrying, but it's worth trying...) Then the tooling requirements of scenarios are to be constructed and made available in a form which can be instantiated across many different learning environments. The means by which this is achieved is through the 'interoperability intervention' of Wookie Widgets.
Like a good wedding, there's something a bit 'old hat' about this, and something tantalisingly innovative. The 'old hat' bit is saying to teachers "we've got this wonderful new technology that's going to change your lives"... for which teachers will probably hear "we've got a project and we want you to use this stuff which we've made in addition to the 1001 other things that you're already having to worry about!". We've been there before, so it won't be much of a surprise to see what happens.
But what is 'tantalisingly innovative' is that iTEC is genuinely wanting to get a grip on 'real practice'. What do teachers really do? What tools do they really use? What are the real particular problems they face as they try and do it? If you can provide solutions to those particular problems, what new things might teachers then want to do?
It is this focus on the 'particulars of practice' which I think ultimately will be the real innovation in the project. And I think it's where TEL is going too. For 10 years or more, technologists have idealised teaching practice, prescribing roles for teachers and learners hard-coded in technologies which in reality, people have struggled to engage with. Technologies like Wookie provide interoperability solutions at a micro level which can help learning technologists engage with the real particulars of practice in a way where tiny interoperability solutions that are non-invasive on the practice of teachers can have a transformative effect.
The technical standards that sit behind these initiatives are the key foci of the technical innovation; not the creation of new systems for 'learning' (as in learning design), or 'curriculum design', or 'learner analytics'. These are all behemoths which are founded on idealisations of practice, and which ultimately will meet the needs of few real people (apart from those who thought of them!).
iTEC seems to me to be at the pivot point between a focus on "technical interoperability, human organsation and real practice" and the old-style focus on "large systems based on idealisations about the educational world".
I've commented before on the fact that the ready-to-handness of tools means new ways of conceiving of the organisation of education (see http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.com/2011/04/towards-scenario-driven-education.html). But more deeply than this I think iTEC is an indication of where the TEL (Technologically-Enhanced Learning) endeavour is moving.
In a way, TEL as we've come to understand it, seems dead. It's no longer the domain of a few enthusiastic user groups within institutions. TEL is everywhere, and ubiquity usually indicates imminent death. Our schools, universities and colleges are technologied-up to the eye-balls. Typically, the complaint of the TEL community is now "Ah.. but you're not using it properly!" where 'properly' means "in the way we'd envisaged as a means to transforming the education system". But 10 years ago, most people in TEL would have settled for 'improper use' as a mark of success!
So TEL has changed from the "campaign to use technology in education" to "the campaign to use technology properly in education". But it doesn't know what 'properly' is.
That's where I think iTEC is important.
iTEC combines and connects a number of interventions at different levels in the education system. First, a process of scenario-creation is taking place involving 'pedagogy experts' (that may sound slightly worrying, but it's worth trying...) Then the tooling requirements of scenarios are to be constructed and made available in a form which can be instantiated across many different learning environments. The means by which this is achieved is through the 'interoperability intervention' of Wookie Widgets.
Like a good wedding, there's something a bit 'old hat' about this, and something tantalisingly innovative. The 'old hat' bit is saying to teachers "we've got this wonderful new technology that's going to change your lives"... for which teachers will probably hear "we've got a project and we want you to use this stuff which we've made in addition to the 1001 other things that you're already having to worry about!". We've been there before, so it won't be much of a surprise to see what happens.
But what is 'tantalisingly innovative' is that iTEC is genuinely wanting to get a grip on 'real practice'. What do teachers really do? What tools do they really use? What are the real particular problems they face as they try and do it? If you can provide solutions to those particular problems, what new things might teachers then want to do?
It is this focus on the 'particulars of practice' which I think ultimately will be the real innovation in the project. And I think it's where TEL is going too. For 10 years or more, technologists have idealised teaching practice, prescribing roles for teachers and learners hard-coded in technologies which in reality, people have struggled to engage with. Technologies like Wookie provide interoperability solutions at a micro level which can help learning technologists engage with the real particulars of practice in a way where tiny interoperability solutions that are non-invasive on the practice of teachers can have a transformative effect.
The technical standards that sit behind these initiatives are the key foci of the technical innovation; not the creation of new systems for 'learning' (as in learning design), or 'curriculum design', or 'learner analytics'. These are all behemoths which are founded on idealisations of practice, and which ultimately will meet the needs of few real people (apart from those who thought of them!).
iTEC seems to me to be at the pivot point between a focus on "technical interoperability, human organsation and real practice" and the old-style focus on "large systems based on idealisations about the educational world".
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Kamis, 07 Juli 2011
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all colors are Ben Moore:
silver mink 1586
wedgewood gray HC-146
gray wisp 1570
vale mist 1495
waynesboro taupe 1544
misted fern 482
buckingham gardens 545
bunker hill green 566
hawthorne yellow HC-4
*images courtesy of sr gambrel, miles redd, unknown, pinterest, blueprint, think camera
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