A couple of weeks ago, I attended the PodcasterCon in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It was a unique conference, that was totally connected in that all of the attendees where full participants (as bloggers) in the global conversation. Even though one of the presentation rooms had very poor wireless connectivity, the conference seemed to gain in value after it was over, as the conversations continued.
I facilitated a session on podcasting in education. As an opener, I played a clip from Room 208, a podcast from 3rd and 4th graders in Wells, Maine. Their program was about the Wikipedia, and how important it is for people who contribute to the vast open source document, to do so responsibly.
After playing the clip, I asked the audience of k12, higher ed, and non-educators to comment on what they heard. One person said that they thought it was important that the students had a voice to what they were learning. The next person asked, “but is it their voice? It sounds more like an adult wrote it and the students are reading.” We continued on with the conversation, and the entire conference session is available on my podcast at:
Bob Sprankle, the teacher of room 208, subscribes to my podcast and heard the comment. He then clipped that part of the podcast out, and played it the next day for his students. The class exploded with indignation. Sprankle grabbed his iRiver, and recorded the following discussion in his class, as students began to be flattered that their writing sounded so adult, but assuring that their words were their voice. Sprankle published the discussion on his Bit by Bit podcast, “Podcasts as Continued Conversation†or “David Warlick has our backâ€Â
Is this a flat world? Is learning becoming a conversation? Does it mater any more where you are?
I want to thank you, Dave for the improvements you’ve made in my classroom. I thanked you publicly on my blog today. Your book is excellent, your principles work.
It just goes to show you that you never know how many people you are impacting with your knowledge. I was at the GAETC conference opening program and you took the time to talk to me even as all the “important” folks came up to talk to you. I have taken your teachings and am going from there. Thank you! I hope you’ll see the compliment I paid you on my blog today!
Thanks!
Hi Dave. I experienced the Room 208 feeling when I was a pupil in secondary school, aged 12, when I took part in a national competition. We had to make up a newsletter to explain why milk was important. The prize was a trip to Amsterdam. I came second place, though, because the judges reckoned I had had help with the DeskTopPublished result. We found this out when the judge said it at the photo call. I was disgusted with the whole thing. Some things just don’t change when it comes to one person’s ignorance of technology and a child’s use of it.
Anyway, you asked another question: is the world flat? I don’t think it is at all. I still feel the world is very spiky when it comes to blogging in education amongst other things. I wrote a post some time ago about my feelings on this one: http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2005/12/the_world_is_no.html
Why do Europeans feel obliged to look to the US for SOLE inspiration in blogging when there’s so much on our own doorstep? This isn’t a feeling – it’s a sad fact when one looks at the participants in our very few blogging conferences.
Ewan, I was inspired by the media files from Les Blog — especially your contributions. You’re right about the spikiness of the world. Personally, I’m looking to Europe and Asia for the inspiration. I continue to be inspired by the educators I met at the SETT Glasgow conference in 2004.
WRITTEN BY CHRIS FROM ROOM 208:
Dear mr.warlick,
I would like to say thank you for listening to our podcast also for giving us lots of comments.I would like to say thank you for sticking up for us and mr.s thank you very much
sincerely
pod caster
Chris