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12.20.2006

Changing is The Work

Brent added a comment to yesterday's post (thanks Brent!):

I had a similar feeling recently when I read about Toyota in FastCompany. Change isn't an 'event' at Toyota, its THE WORK! It makes so much sense today as the rate of change is increasing so rapidly.

Tony's further thoughts about how the change to full use of Web 2.0 tools will come about (man the jib Stephen!) came to the conclusion:

Even after reading what Mark, Karl and Tom had to say about the possible role of academia, I still feel like we shouldn't expect academia to lead the charge until we (a) experiment with different models, and (b) begin to identify patterns that work.

What if blogging the way we are blogging is that pattern that works. What if we experimented with different models (listservs, forums, IM, chat rooms, etc) and have found how blogging works best. Are we not changing as we blog, read, quote and comment? Are we not providing living examples and change models by our use of Web 2.0 tools?Gandhi is often quoted for saying "Be the change you want to see in the world". We bloggers about eLearning are the change we want to see. Our blogging is not idle chatter. It seems to me we are creating "actionable blogs" by the criteria offered this morning by Dave Pollard:
  1. Offers ‘how do I’ solutions, rather than theory
  2. Offers ‘who knows about x’ referrals to experts
  3. Offers ‘have you thought about’ problem reformulations
  4. Offers ‘we agree that’ validation of perceptions and intentions, or
  5. Offers legitimization of intentions by adding approval and hence the weight of authority
Keep up the good work everyone!

3 comments:

  1. Yes. Good comments.

    I once asked people to send me email documenting the impact of my work, and found that my blog doing everything from was informing a student's PhD thesis to forming the foundation for a an entire province's distance education policy (and everything in between).

    I tell people, I am doing now with my current work what I think teaching professionals will do in the future - not courses and classes, but living the discipline, documenting the work, participating in community.

    I reap almost daily evidence that it's working.

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  2. I think what we are talking about is exactly the same thing that David Shaffer is putting forth in his book, How Computer Games Help Children Learn. Don't let the title fool you. This book is ALL about the things we are all currently blogging about...The Epistemic frame of any given profession, or professional endeaver is what needs to be learned for anyone to be successful. Learning that frame by engaging with those who practice it daily and "becoming" a peer, if even for a short time, has incredible learning value. I'm excited for others to read the book so we can start formulating our discussions around it in the concept in the new year.

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  3. Interesting sequence of posts, tom. i haven't had a chance to surf everyone else's posts in the extended conversation, if been wrapped up in a blanket away from my computer with a wicked cold, but I'd like to add the following to the mix.

    I've long been a fan of the Diffusion of Innovation model first put forth by Rogers and the popularized by Moore. But I think Chris Anderson may well have it right, at least as Web 2.0 technologies my evolve, with his long-tail theory.

    Long-tail thinking would jive with the software developers' thoughts you mentioned in one of your first posts. My interpretation would be that some Web 2.0 apps are indeed just betas for Web 3.0 apps, but others will endure on. Not as marketplace blockbusters, but as niche products which serve their customers extremely well for a long time. This was the nexus of my prediction that more and more Web 2.0 applications will abandon big business plans for mom and pop schemes.

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