I wanted to share an interesting blog post by Joe Bower about the Edublog Awards.
Some key quotations:
“I realize this isn’t going to win me many fans, and I’m likely to lose followers on Twitter and subscribers to my blog, but I guess that would be my point. How many people have jumped on the Edublog Award bandwagon and think it’s a good idea? Is anyone out there giving pause long enough to think about whether educational leaders should be ‘recognizing excellence’ in a way that pits us against each other as we vie for artificially scarce awards?”
“There is an award for ‘The Best Student Blog’. This year, five children who attend K-12 schools somewhere in the world named Jaden, Miriam, Jake, Jarrod and Gemma were pit against each other so adults could vote for their favorite. Would this be an appropriate way to ‘recognize excellence’ in your classroom? If not, then why is this okay?”
“The issue isn’t over who was nominated or who won, rather, the real issue is that anyone is nominated or that anyone wins or loses. I don’t disparage the winners anymore than the losers (full disclosure: I was nominated) — but I do wish that this kind of recognition was not artificially scarce and dispersed to only a select, popular few.”
Full post can be found here.
I wanted to also share my comment to this blog:
Thanks for writing this post, Joe. I’ve been thinking a lot about the entire Twitter, blogging, and #edtech “PLN” and promotion, and I feel like the critical perspective is the minority and marginalized group.
Tyson asks about your disclaimer at the beginning. I can see why you’d want to write them. You mention “groupthink” and this is a key implication here. I found it also with #pencilchat. There are K-12 edtech trends, values, practices, and even particular practitioners that gain popularity. I sit in front of my laptop, asking “WHY, WHY WHY!?” Are people thinking about who/what they are promoting? What is the purpose & what are the implications of such things like Edublog Awards? Sure, one may claim we are recognizing key educators and classrooms sharing and collaborating. What about the blogs that are only read by a select few? What about those teachers who don’t blog at all but do collaborative and transparent learning themselves and/or with their students? What about those who don’t even know about all of this…?
I see a large number of educators celebrating each other here on Twitter and through these Edublog awards, but I think it takes away from the heart of the matter. Why is blogging – or more specifically, the sharing, reflection, and collaboration of learning – important? Are we working to help other recognize these affordances or are we too busy voting away? The work often needs to be done off-line…
I followed this conversation on twitter the other day, and not having read all of Joe’s post, but I have been thinking about this subject a but lately.
Knowing a few of the teachers nominated (well face to face I only actually know one) I do think they deserve recognition of excellent work, but why does that have to take away from other people’s work? Do I blog, yes, did I get a nomination? No. Do I care? Not really…. Does my blog serve the purpose that it was designed to serve? Yes and has morphed into so many other opportunities for me that wouldn’t have been available to me as a teacher in a small, rural teacher otherwise.
This collaborative work is not always able to be done off-line, it is dependent on so many factors – for a while I was the only Gr1 teacher in my school and there were 4 others in my community. I have connected with so many other teachers, other ideas (not all that I agree with, but have given me reason to question my practice) and for that I am thankful I have this community of online educators sharing with me. Is this taking the place of offline sharing, I don’t think it does, in fact in my experience it has brought a richer conversation to those offline collaborations. Why is it poised as an either or or question? Can’t both exist? I have explored these blogs that were nominated and it has stretched my thinking and made me consider other possibilities, this is what this was designed to do – be a resource to me as an educator.
Thanks for the post, these ideas have been rolling around in my head for awhile, hope they made sense.
Thanks for the reply, Sarah.
Here are my two cents. The practice of an on-line poll for recognizing “best blogs” is flawed from the get-go. Who is aware that these blogs exist? Who reads them? By and large, the “tech-savvy” teachers on Twitter and other social media sites are the ones who are tapping into these resources, reading and/or commenting on these blogs, and voting. When you put a numerical value on this learning and sharing – then voting for recognition in the name of “excellence” – I think it does more harm than good. It can dissuade those who are seeking to develop and improve their own blogging practices. It translates to Twitter and technology integration in general. It can scare off those who are still getting their feet wet.
How effective is it to promote a few examples of best practices? How can we level that playing field and make it an inviting environment for those who aren’t blogging stars? I for one am still developing my own practice with blogging. Trying to enter a circle of popular educational bloggers is difficult. The popular ones get huge readership and comments, while others (including mine) get seldom responses. We want to be part of authentic and meaningful collaboration and dialogue, but how do we enter this circle? Dialogue comes both ways. It’s intimidating. Is their sharing and learning more valuable than my own?
I am all for blended learning for our own personal and professional development, truly I am. I see an implication if much attention focuses on a small, selected and elected circle. I see this happening both off-line and on-online. The goals of these blogs are often to share and collaborate. I think it’s important to validate and incorporate the range. I don’t always want to learn from the experts. Where is there space to celebrate and acknowledge those who aren’t “there” yet?
I see your points and can’t say I disagree with any of them. Building a group of educators that support each other is hard, in fact I think it is even hard face to face than online. I also liked Vicki Davis’s response to the conversation http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2011/12/your-reward-is-great-reflections-on.html
When I first started blogging I really had to ask myself, “why?” and every time I start to worry about how many hits or comments or nominations I get ,I start to get discouraged. My blog gets 20-30 hits a day… peanuts compared to some– I ask myself “why am going to all this effort?”. Then I remind myself what my blog is for, it was designed as a portal for my students to access the internet, it was designed to let parents have a glimpse into my classroom. So I guess as compared to my criteria I am successful. Just need to keep that in mind.
Your post made me think enough to want to comment. That’s success. Where is that place to recognize new writers to the circle – hopefully in a group of thoughtful, accepting educators, after all aren’t we suppose to be doing this as educators for students. Keep posting and I can keep reading.
Sarah
I appreciate the extended dialogue, Sarah.
You and I differ in blogging purpose and I acknowledge there is definitely a range out there. I use mine to express thoughts and questions on practical, pedagogical and philosophical levels. So it’s not so much for sharing resources or displaying my daily practice. I need it for myself, to work through the ideas in my head, & I’m also seeking that critical and thoughtful dialogue with other educators. It attracts a few, not all. But the few comments I do receive provide ample food for thought, yours including.
Looking forward to continued dialogue,
M
While I see your point here, as the one who started #pencilchat, I would just like to point out that the goal was never groupthink. I set out to write a few satirical tweets about tech integration. As I read the Twitter stream, there was an element of groupthink, but there was also a great deal of room for outliers.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on what, in particular, you were referring to, in comparing the Edublog Awards to the very short-lived #pencilchat tweets.
Thanks for the message, John.
Interesting to see how original/intended purposes can morph into something totally different once it gains popularity.
I don’t want to paint broad strokes with #pencilchat because you cannot get into the rationale and thinking behind the 140 characters. You’d be surprised at the private DMs and tweets I received about my tweets about #pencilchat. It was more along the lines, “It’s funny, lighten up.”
My take on #pencilchat? It turned into something rather ugly. If a teacher suddenly created a Twitter account to learn more about technology integration, I think he/she would scoff at many of the #pencilchat tweets. Because it’s on a pubilc site, the extended critique of those who oppose/don’t understand/dismiss edtech comes off rather snooty. It’s poking fun at those who “don’t get it.” Is this the best way to get others on board? Sure, we all have our ups and down as edtech advocates. At times, we all need vent. The opposing viewpoints are often absurd and I can get why you’d want to make some satirical statements. But to extend them, to propagate them within closed circles without any dialogue from those we are referencing… it’s groupthink.
Hmm, still thinking about this…
I also relate it back to students. Do we want students to poke fun at those who don’t “get it”? I’m sure many of us would cry in outrage. Seems strange if edtech educators are doing the same thing about peers who aren’t there yet. Classroom management and inclusive environment 101 – virtual classroom (Twitter) included.