1. What makes anyone think that the video games push (mostly by the iOS platform devices, but Xbox, Playstation and Wii) has anything to do with formal education? 

Well, I don't know if gamification gained any traction, but things like achievements in video games have lent themselves to things like badges. I suspect that my original assertion that it will be marginalized, will remain until someone can quantify and measure the whole process, much like they've tried to do with standardized testing.

2. Why haven't educational institutions really pushed for a mobile learning environment? 

I think there's been some motion here - certainly the open courses are structured so that they are mobile friendly, and the big two LMS vendors (Desire2Learn and Blackboard) are both becoming more mobile friendly, I suspect the resistance comes from the institution's inability to control and verify that a potentially mobile student may not be that student, and the only way to assess a person is still in-person. I don't think it matters anymore, in work most people will use the Internet to research a possible solution to whatever problem they face, so knowing something isn't as crucial as it once was. Knowing something however does allow you to find a solution sooner - making you a more efficient worker - which is what capitalism wants.

3. Will the consolidation of the web conferencing tools that education typically use (Wimba and Elluminate) mean that new companies with new models will arise? 

Well, they haven't arisen yet, but there's a plethora of tools out there to replace Blackboard Collaborate or whatever it's called this week. However, no one has put together the killer app - which I hope is the form the web conferencing takes - mobile native, low bandwidth friendly, and most of all, accessible.

4. Wither edupunk? 

Yup. edu-post-punk should be interesting.

5. What will Pearson as a publishing giant and accredited University mean? 

Turns out, not much. Unless you consider an extremely walled off garden of textbooks in a proprietary LMS with Google Doc integration something.

So I finally come around to taking a look at The Edupunk's Guide, well a PDF of it anyways, which seems to miss the whole point of edupunk, which at least one other critic seems to get. Sure, it's like what Green Day or Blink 182 is to punk; palatable, accessible and easy for the mainstream to swallow, but with a hint of rebellion. We wouldn't want to upset the status quo too much, would we? While the Edupunk Guide talks a lot about taking responsibility for one's own education. In fact, taking responsibility for one's education is something millions of people do on a daily basis. Whether it's how to fix an excel spreadsheet at work, how to do a calculus equation at Khan Academy or  connecting with a foreign language speaker over Skype, people do that already on their own. That's not edupunk, that's daily life. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time someone made a career out of stating the obvious. Where the edupunk moniker really holds weight (with me) is that it accepts an idea that a course (but could extend to a program of study or less than that too) can be done differently than what has already been done. It's a good primer, missing a lot of the "so what" moments and crucially missing that the majority of the world is already past it. And that's where Edupunk (with a capital E) Guide sort of falls down. Really, it's too late. Missed the boat. Jumped the shark? Maybe.

It's already 1978 in edupunk. The Sex Pistols have broken up, Jim Groom's now in PIL. Sid's dead.

Don't worry, 1978's not all bad. Ramones put out Road To Ruin. Two of my most influential records were released Crass - Feeding of the 5000 LP and Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown 7" EP.

1. What makes anyone think that the video games push (mostly by the iOS platform devices, but Xbox, Playstation and Wii) has anything to do with formal education? Trying to harness gaming to teach formal concept is like riding a chicken. Useless (for both you and the chicken). People play games to escape what they don't like about their own life - much like why people watch TV, use the Internet or whatever other hobby one might have. They don't necessarily want to have learning forced on them in their own homes. That isn't to say that educational games can't be good (although they mostly are dreck), or shouldn't be attempted. They shouldn't be expected to fill more than a niche.

2. Why haven't educational institutions really pushed for a mobile learning environment? It seems like logical growth from the LMS, and there's a lot of affordances that can enhance learning. Situated, just-in-time learning has a greater impact for learning than plain old quizzes in the LMS. Why haven't the engineering departments demand more Geo-location devices? Why haven't literacy skills groups put forth the same sort of effort that the BBC World Service has in Bangladesh? That sort of ingenuity could help the impoverished and undereducated in Canada (and in Hamilton). One of the biggest hurdles the urban poor have is literacy skills. Why is no one doing this locally? Moreover, why are our LMS's so pisspoor as a mobile website.

3. Will the consolidation of the web conferencing tools that education typically use (Wimba and Elluminate) mean that new companies with new models will arise? We've locally seen a couple of contenders - BigBlueButton is easy to use and has most of the features one would want, as well as SabaCentra for Northern Ontario - but will most institutions just cave in and use Blackboard Connect? It seems like that may be the case.

4. Wither edupunk? Much like punk rock did after the halcyon days of 1977, the widespread punk phenomenon died out and either got co-opted into new wave or went further underground, got harder and faster, became hardcore and rather dogmatic by 1984. Since then, there hasn't been a lot of innovation in the genre, except that the music has gotten uglier and more punishing (and less like music). Edupunk seems to have hit that moment where people either pass the moment or become more underground. I have hope that much like punk music in 2010 (which has been a weak year for new releases - on vinyl no less - in the genre), edupunk will be a vibrant, thriving option in 2043.

5. What will Pearson as a publishing giant and accredited University mean? Well, it'll give the hucksters at University of Phoenix and Full Sail a run for their money. I'm not saying those institutions are bad per se, I'm sure a quality education can be had there. I'm not sure that an educational institution should have profit as it's motivation.

Malcolm McLaren is dead. Or maybe not, it could be a hoax. Everyone seems to blame/celebrate him for creating punk, which is hogwash. Punk was a movement that McLaren capitalized on, like all good businessmen. He didn't create it, but saw it as his opportunity to push some buttons and push some boundaries. That's the inspiration I take from him, and many others, in my teaching and work.

Certainly it is easy to see "primitive" cultures being overwritten, there is very little Kalahari bushmen websites, or anything other than minutia about what the "cultured" world has done to them (for diamonds, for the land they live on...) from a documentary perspective. While this is progress, and some will argue inevitable, is it right? Do those of us in a privileged position have a moral (oral?) obligation to bring these issues up?

My Teaching Perspective Is Based on Who I Am from Jon Kruithof on Vimeo.

1. I hate that whatever edublogs did borked my ability to track information in Google Stats. It was a good way to discover what was going on, and make new contacts, read new insightful things... yeah. Bummer.

2. I've been slaving away at creating, compiling and documenting "stuff" on D2L, or Desire2Learn (for those who don't follow LMS's).

3. I did a presentation of "research" (and I use research in quotes only because there's no real research going on, it's pseudo-research where we plan our research but don't execute it) using some Presentation Zen techniques and people were really blown away with it. Thank you Garr Reynolds. I tried to be conversational, or as conversational as the subject matter (student perceptions of multimedia instruction in an e-learning) would allow. I tried to get people involved with their experiences with my subject topic, which is a good engagement strategy regardless.

3a. On the same note, um and so are my enemy in public speaking. You'd think I'd have learned that after many years presenting and practicing presentations, I'd be able to consciously stop saying ummmm. Guess not. Maybe I'll video capture myself and see how many times I do speak of mine enemies.

4. An interesting old concept popped up again. I was watching a newish documentary called "Punk's Not Dead" which actually does a pretty convincing job of saying it's underground (well, shocking). I'm waiting for the documentary that treats punk like Ken Burns did with jazz... there's a depth there that can be mined for sure. Anyways, one of the arguments of the new school of punk, bands like Sum 41, My Chemical Romance and The Used is that they are quick to embrace corporate sponsorship which they feel can be co-opted and used to promote their message. This argument has been going since Bad Brains and Husker Du (and before them, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Sham 69) signed to major labels.

A nice parrallel to edupunk, some of whom reject the Blackboard LMS model and distribute the learning across several free, open resources (Moodle, Pageflakes, RSS feeds, blogs).With that said, I think there's a value to having a centralized point of entry. Is there an answer to the criticism? Well, sometime you have to work in a system; education is certainly a system. The end result of the system is what's important, not necessarily the means.

5. When Mohawk decided to go with Desire2Learn, the other competitors were Blackboard and Angel. Funny how in hindsight, there really was only two competitors.

6. Even though I've been thinking about transferring this blog, resurrecting my other blog and adding a third blog about Hamilton punk and putting them all under one umbrella/domain, I still haven't been overwhelmingly motivated to do so. Maybe in the Fall.

At the college I assist professors using several different e-learning platforms, including First Class (known locally as FRED), Blackboard and Can8. I also dig up nuggets of information that might be useful to teachers using technology. As a student at Brock University in their Bachelor of Education (Adult Education) course, I've used Sakai and WebCT so far, and I'm sure I'll use many more as we move forward.

On a personal level, I think I've situated myself well for this e-learning thing - I graduated from Sheridan College with a diploma in Media Arts and continued my education at Mohawk College for computer programming. Both taught me skills that I use today and most days, so I guess that is the definition of a useful education. I also chuckle at the notion of edupunk, as I've been involved in punk rock for most of my adolescent (and adult - whatever that is!) life.

I'm interested in the Connectivism course as I'm interested in the ways people learn. Aside from that, I'm very intrigued by the decentralized notion of learning - Paolo Freire's beliefs certainly come into play here - and the relationship between connectivism, common knowledge and authorities in subject matter.

My requirements for a successful course is a difficult question to answer - certainly gaining knowledge and a greater understanding of connectivism is the ultimate goal. Some lively discussion will have to take place; I'll certainly be interested to see how the course plays out as the sheer numbers seem staggering to me.