LukeWalker.org

A bit of departure from my normal blog posts… I spent a lot of today reading/listening to the news, or my version of ‘the news’ (not all of it new, not all of it newsy). I do this most days, but today, for some reason, a lot of what I read really struck me. Mostly in a bad way. Mostly because there’s been so much coverage of the war on terror lately, and that never makes me a very happy camper.

The terror stuff
Three links for you. First, Omar Khadr. The Current (CBC Radio One) played tapes of his CSIS interrogations at Guantanamo today (Video on The Star’s site. Not easy to watch/listen to). I won’t lie… Canada’s (and by that, I mean that government of Canada’s) treatment of the Omar Khadr file absolutely disgusts me. The fact that it’s often referred to as ‘a file’ disgusts me. He’s a human being. A very young one, who was even younger when he was arrested on allegations of being an enemy combatant. Our governments’ (both Liberal and Conservative, though the Liberals have now changed their stance) inability to do what’s right an bring this child soldier home to Canada is completely infuriating and embarrassing. I’m not particularly proud to be Canadian at the moment.

While PM Harper argues that he’s being treated humanely, Christopher Hitchens’ article “Believe Me, It’s Torture” (in the August issue of Vanity Fair, and recently interviewed on CBC Radio One’s As It Happens) makes me doubt that my definition of humane is quite the same as that of the government of the United States. A ‘favourite’ quote, after Mr. Hitchens first-hand experience with water-boarding: “You are being drowned, but very slowly and under controlled conditions. It’s not simulating the effects of drowning…”

And last but not least, the US’s terrorism watch list has grown to include a million names (courtesy BoingBoing). Not a million people, but a million names. Because if your name is on there, regardless of whether or not you’re the one to have done anything wrong, good luck with the whole hassle-free travel thing. Oh wait, no, it’s not about ACTUAL wrongdoing. The list is all about the suspected potential for wrongdoing, proof (or even public knowledge of the criteria that gets you on the list) be damned.

Back to the internet…
In good news… the Top Friends app on Facebook looks like it’s a goner! But not because people are mature enough to recognize that the kind of friendship gymnastics required by Top Friends are best left back in 2nd grade… it’s because Facebook has launched a simplified version of the app’s features (link: valleywag). That said, I understand the rationale–kind of. If I were spending as much time on Facebook as I used to (my use is largely limited to Scrabulous these days), I might spend a second or two caring about which friends show up on my profile when people view it, and that is something quite a bit different than labelling people my Top Friends… but that said, if I’ve added someone to my Facebook, why should I be worried about him/her showing up on my profile? Hmmm… could be grounds for a friends list cull.

i really appreciate the point made at the NECC leadership session on Sunday that you don’t share computers in the workplace, but… does that really mean that every kid needs their own laptop in kindergarten? if so… why? i’m not sold. more thoughts on the NECC closing keynote later… need to process and not just jerk my knee.

My first blog post from NECC! I’m checking out a much more intimate session with Jim & Mali (friends & this morning’s keynotes), as well as Julie Lindsay and a few others, on transforming education with global perspective.

Julie Lindsay/Qatar Academy: Co-founder of the Flat Classroom project, totally worth checking out. Giving some great background on IB and the education system in Qatar, a country that has always fascinated with me. Love getting a chance to get a glimpse of a country that knows its traditional resource base/source of wealth won’t last forever and is actually trying to do something about it. And the massive wealth makes the process quite an interesting exercise–not every day you get the chance to reinvent yourself and have the resources to actually make it happen. (Wifi in the park… love it).

Education City is interesting… the connection between Julie’s comments about moving from colonialism to a knowledge society while building a city that seems to be filled with American universities and a focus on getting “an American education” is… well, I need to find out more. The point about giving girls the option of an American education (since going abroad is not an option in most cases) is a good one. No time for a whole lot of depth, but there should be some good info posted at her pbwiki

Next speaker, didn’t catch name: works in Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, and UAE, for Michigan State… this should be interesting. First American U to open a full campus in Dubai… he runs a great program in Ed Tech (oh, maybe I should check that out :P). Interesting that his initial outreach internationally wasn’t met with happy smiles. Despite that, it seems to have grown into a pretty big program pretty quickly… who knows how this will transition to Jim & Mali’s work.

Sounds a lot like the challenges he’s presenting as challenges of ed tech in the ‘developing’ world are actually universal. Especially if you’re somehow lumping UAE into the ‘developing’ category. And… he’s out of time.

Trudy Sweeney: emerging technology in Australia. New PM is ramping up computers in students’ hands. Ooooh, flash-based learning objects. Not loving any of this so far… Oh but now she’s moving on to talking about blogs, and making some good points about teacher understanding. She’s talking about points very similar, if somewhat less eloquent, to those of Peter Levine in Civic Life Online (PDF of his chapter, and [shameless plug] check out mine[/shameless plug] in the same book :P) about ‘the audience problem’ for user-generated content in the classroom setting, giving the long-tail, etc etc etc.

Talk about ethics (which usually refers to IP/copyright) around here is always interesting/troubling because it’s so often set in the ‘this is the law (or my understanding of it), and this is what we have to follow to be ethical’, rather than questioning whether the various laws around IP around the world actually reflect our shared sense of ethics when it comes to using/sharing/remixing our own and other peoples’ work. Random sidebar in my head, not really the focus of this session, but I would like to see a more active discussion in fora like this about copyright in the 21st century, especially since countries (like Canada) are in the middle of setting the tone for the topic for at least the next couple of decades… oh, she just compared Ning to Moodle. Seems like apples and oranges to me, but I guess I’m biased/way-too-focused/way-too-involved in this space

Jim & Mali, iEARN Canada, SCSDB: Really good points that the technology is a mean, not an end. I’d like to say it’s nothing revolutionary, but so many people just don’t get it. Interesting point (that even fewer people get) is that standards are more of a mean than an end as well… I’d love to see some kind of research from their point this morning about whether or not the projects they do drive student interest in current issues, and whether that’s limited to the topics they’re covering, or whether they’re developing really well-rounded global citizens. Great to see that they have been able to offer the kind of data administrators like to see (test scores (no comment about the merits of that), engagement).

Questions from the audience: Great TIG plug Mali ‘Go talk to the guy in the red shirt, booth 4053!’… I love it. Next question is a bit more interesting, about the network lockdown issue, about the balance between security and collaboration. Julie makes the excellent point that digital citizenship/media literacy is the key, not solely filtering. “Web 2.0″ access is vital for creating engaging learning experiences online today–back to Jim’s point this morning about “Lord of the e-Flies”… if we block and don’t educate, where are kids getting the info/learning about some of the issues surrounding ip/safety/etc/etc of the social web? (plus: kids know how to beat filters)

Battery dying–time to post!

I just this great comic on Boing Boing. It does an amazing job of explaining the controversy surrounding the Conservatives’ on-again-off-again copyright amendment legislation, and provides a ton of links to great opinion pieces (including this great blog post from Howard Knopf, mentioning that if anyone is beholden to the US, it’s Israel, and they’ve managed to move away from DCMA-style legislation, why can’t we?), new sources, and ways that you can take action. Lots and lots and lots of really good information/background.

Two great sources for actions you can take:

• Fair Copyright for Canada (Join the Facebook group)
• Michael Geist has a list of 37 things you can do RIGHT NOW

I’ve sent emails to most of the people on Michael Geist’s lists, but need to follow up with some real paper letters. Been a LONG time since I bothered sending one of those.

TIGed, in partnership with ABEL and TEACH Magazine, are finally launching the Orange Revolution game and a free virtual classroom focused on human rights, democracy and good governance. And we need some feedback from you!

More about the resource:

The game
The game leads players through the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine, which saw the pro-West and pro-Russia factions in the country pitted against each other in a bitter battle including corruption, scandals, and a poisoning. Players make decisions for both main candidates, with the goal of achieving democratic reform while avoiding violence. Play the game here. (note: the game is still a bit of a work in progress)

The virtual classroom
The classroom/lesson plans focus on democracy, human rights and governance, and are designed with high school students in mind. There is focus on the relationship between Canada and Ukraine, and on Canadian involvement (government and NGOs) in the Orange Revolution, but this can easily be adapted for use in other countries. Check out the homepage for the project to set up a classroom or the TIGed Activity Database for lesson plans.

How can you help?
We need teachers to evaluate the lesson plans and game! Set up a virtual classroom (here), play the game or implement any portion of the lesson plans, and respond to this short survey by June 12. We will randomly select 3 teachers who set up the virtual classroom by June 12 to receive a special TIG prize pack.