In light of the conversations that have been happening lately here and here about how the blogosphere seems to be distinctly American in flavour, I am going to add a bit of antipodean flavour to this post.
In my research into Podcasting this year I have been thinking about what it is that makes the biggest difference to student learning. Obviously giving students the ability to hear their own voice is empowering. Also having an expectation that it will be the student’s voice and not the teacher’s is empowering. But the most empowering factor of all has to be the global audience.
This is where my strange title comes in. Those people from my part of the world will be cognisant of Darryl Kerrigan and the ‘Castle’ (an iconic Australian movie). For Darryl the highest place of honour for anything is for it to be put in his ‘pool room’. You know you have pleased Darryl and produced something worthy if he puts it in his pool room. Wes Fryer has been talking lately about his ‘Fridge’. The highest place of honour for a piece of work produced at school and brought home is to be placed proudly on the fridge. This is indeed a place of honour in a house of three children like mine. The fridge has limited space! 
Students can now publish their work to the world, not just to the teacher, or the classroom, or the ravenous hordes stampeding the fridge at the 3:30pm “I’m starving mum” ritual. I understood this, or thought I did, until I heard a podcast by Dr Tim Tyson. He was talking about what he asked his students when they first ventured into publishing on the web:What do you have to say that the world needs to hear?
What a powerful question! It even made me tremble when I started on this blog post. What do I have to say that the world needs to hear? So I’m sending that question out to all of you…
What do you have to say that the world needs to hear?
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4 comments:
Thanks for asking the question. I wouldn't have learned what I did or thought what I thought without your post.
To wit, http://TheInternetDarkAges.blogspot.com
Thought on self-educating so you can perform that which you, and only you, were born to do.
As an American teaching in Asia for the last seven years, and team-teaching with a large number of antipodeans, I think (and blog about) the Australians and New Zealanders have much to offer their edublogger counterparts in the USA.
Much more constructivist and multiple-intelligence oriented than my Yanks.
Is there any sort of effort underway to give your voices and viewpoints more volume globally?
I hope so.
What I want the world to know - that I am an educator with similar interests and passions as some other people in cyberspace and I have a passion for communal knowledge creation. I want you to know this so that we can find each other and work together.
Daniel, I enjoyed writing this post because it was a wake up call for me. Until I asked myself that question I feel my class was just talking for talking sake, with no direction. There always has to be a 'so what', just because we can present to the world, why should we? We all have a purpose, as you have indicated in your blog post so well.
Clay, it i interesting, when I started blogging, the only voices I could find were those from the US, and because blogging is more powerful as a conversation, the US bloggers were the ones holding the conversation, but I am finding more and more bloggers around the world now that are engaging my thoughts and expanding my views. My latest find is Tryangulation, a teacher in Turkey, who puts things into perspective - what does this (technology) mean to those people who are not in the affluent west?
Suzie, interesting point, why are we blogging? Why are we putting our voices out there? and who is really listening? The answer I think you have provided for us... to connect with other like minded people. On my own my thoughts can only travel slowly in one direction, with many other thoughts in the mix I can see many different perspectives. I enjoy reading your perspective! Hope to catch up at ULearn.
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