When I initially joined the PLATO community at the University of Illinois–a community that existed only in cyberspace–collectively thought there, worked there, and produced there…together–I felt severely disoriented. That sense of disorientation receded as I became more and more competent at the skills required to produce in that environment, the most critical of which was programming…essentially learning the language of the community that resided in that space and thus being able to become immersed in that culture.

But the disorientation also came from something much bigger and I still recall the moment (not the date, you understand, but the moment) that it hit me:

The four dimensions that constrain us in the real world do not exist there.
Essentially, there were no limits in that place that its residents themselves did not create.

In fact, many of my colleagues who have stayed there (and never returned the way that I pretty much have) earn a lot money by exporting to “here” stuff created “there” that has just enough limits to take us from something we know to something we don’t know without confusing us too badly.

…and, oh, how we marvel! …and, oh, what we’ll pay! 8-\

…those darned Kimonians!!

-B

I’m, as usual, way behind on my reading of your blog. I’ve been meaning to blog/engage with you about your Baobab post for weeks now and now I’m seeing this one just as I am finally getting around to grappling with my own class’s issues around this subject.

I feel, in my role as faculty member, that I am constantly struggling to get that light of creativity or even, at a minimum, curiosity out of my students. At the same time, I feel like I am trying to beat a square peg into a round hole from both sides.

On the one side, issues such as accountability and, most recently, the “completion agenda” emphasize extrinsic variables that have little or nothing to do with learning, much less education. These pressures coming from above want to encourage me to just shuffle my widgets (students) through the system.

On the other side, those widgets, well-trained through 12 or more years on their role within the educational-industrial complex resist the lighting of any spark. In many ways I would rather have a bunch of 5-year olds with 20-year old reading and writing skills over the 20-year olds who have had 12 years of school beating the creativity out of them. (BTW, have you seen Ken Robinson’s talk on this subject – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpwy_bs3Ux0?).

I can certainly empathize with those faculty who simply throw up their arms and give in to the system. I’ve never been willing to do that. It violates my utilitarian nature and, besides, it’s boring. But, man, sometimes it’s hard.

On a related note, I also listened to your talk to George Siemens’s MOOC on Learning Analytics (unfortunately, after the fact) and I agree wholeheartedly with you that there is a danger that Learning Analytics will only shore up the crumbling industrial model of education. However, I am naive enough to believe that we can use Learning Analytics as a mechanism for driving faculty and students toward new ways of thinking about teaching and learning because what we have now clearly isn’t working. Maybe Learning Analytics is a way of showing that the educational-industrial complex has no clothes. That’s my hope at least and I am working hard to realize that vision as well as sell it conceptually to those who have the funds to finance the effort (that’s hard, too).

Stay tuned for my own blog entry or entries on these subject. My apologies for tardiness, I’ve been rather busy being ground up the educational-industrial complex lately. As usual, thank you for for channeling and clarifying my thoughts in unexpected ways.

Tom

PS: As you know, I am a big Licklider fan and I’m not surprised at all by his comments. He was, after all, a psychologist and, as such, was in a unique position to evaluate the cognitive impact of the technology he was advocating.

My eleven year old daughter blogs without instruction, oversight, or grades. I encourage her through comments, but otherwise work hard mostly to stay out of her way. In return, I get to sit back and watch her grow intellectually and academically. Imagine, without any syllabus at all.

Are unschooled children asteroids? I’m not sure, but they fly light, fast, and easy without the burden of those baobabs. The irony of this discussion, listening to professors trying to figure out how to unburden themselves so they can teach in a fundamentally non academic sphere is, well, trippy. Had you all been unschooled, this would be as easy for you as it is for my daughter. Academia is supposed to be a tool in service to intellect, not the other way around. Right?