I chose to explore the definitions covered today through Pixton.ca and will talk more about Pixton in my Ten Minutes of Fame on Thursday. Connect to the link below and hopefully smile…
We need to continue meaningful connections, conversation and collaboration to manifest a change of mindset and practice. To consider the inquiry model with a shift of power to the students then we can influence the Institutional Isomorphism.
During discussions on our inquiry projects I was reminded that in my use of the BCTLA’s Points Of Inquiry that they specifically chose to use a star to highlight the interconnectedness of the five aspects allowing one to move back and forth however the process evolves. I now have the information provided by my district and I begin to reflect on how to represent this collection of SWOT’s- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats with ICT in each of the different school settings in a cohesive way. At the same time I want to add perspective that I have learned through this course. Thoughts floating include a Venn to illustrate commonalities between the different groupings, an add on from my personal input, interview others at UBC and lots of links to other inquiry projects that will help add to the project.
Okay, all uses of powerpoint aren’t necessarily examples of conservative dynamicism. Yes, when we change the learning relationships in schools, we are changing the role of power in forming and sustaining those relationships. We might understand student lethargy, or lack of motivation, in relation to the ways power is managed in schools. There are those students who want to be given the autonomy to demonstrate their abilities to learn, students who find highly proscribed and constrained learning activities dull and stultifying. There are other students who don’t want any autonomous power in their learning in school. They demand to be ‘fed’ the information, and have clear methods for demonstrating their ingestion – through worksheets, tests, etc. However, in the burgeoning knowledge era of digital society, there is a profound shift in power taking place. Those citizens who are literate in the many facets of these shifts, and how delicately balanced our human society is going to be in the coming decades, are going to be well positioned to provide leadership in society toward a vision for humanity for the common good, rather than the privileged few. Inquiry-based learning is not only bringing a more life-like learning method into schools, it is giving students real power, to learn to exercise, to be judicial, to be critical, and to be social.
I realise that not all uses of powerpoint fit the definition of conservative dynamicism. I loved your description of “powerpoint karaoke” and wanted to use Pixton as a fun forum to try to bring the definitions into an accessible format that generates discussion. I was hoping that the character in the comic was moving from his stuck mindset that maintained institutional isomorphism to look deeper at his practice to consider a shift towards meaningful learning.This is something that I am reflecting on for my own practice.