Anarchy for the Classroom: Edupunk?
Cross Posted at The Carrot Revolution.
Just a few days ago the term “Edupunk” appeared on the edublog scene here, quickly got a mention in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and I found mention of it first in this post by David Warlick.
This idea resonates with me, and perhaps it has as well (or will) with the education 2.0 community because it directly addresses some of the best things we strive for, as well as the criticisms surrounding ‘all things 2.0′. To preface this, there’s something that drives me a little nutty about people who are dismissive of the potential of web/learning/education/school/whatever 2.0 . It often gets derided as just being a new name for an old convention (“back in the day, we had bulletin boards, and we used phone lines to connect to the internet, and it took 7 days to upload a text document, and we liked it!”*) or a sign of complicity in corporate influence in schools. It has been passed off as all hype and no substance – in fact, some people have even used their own blogs as a platform to discuss the meaninglessness of “web 2.0″. I’m sorry. What? Isn’t that a bit like making a documentary about how un-influential film is as a medium?
Sorry.
Web 2.0 is simply a frame- a phrase that shapes our conception about a kind of online interaction. I’m stealing borrowing that phrase from George Lakoff’s fantastic book, Don’t Think of An Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate–The Essential Guide for Progressives. The name we give something shapes the way we think about it, but it also codifies meaning. When we say “web 2.0″ we’re describing an amorphous form of online communication and interaction. Web 2.0 isn’t the learning itself, its an agreed upon understanding of a system that allows the learning to happen.
In this way, the edupunk idea is important because it re-frames the idea of integrating ‘web 2.0 technologies’ into the curriculum as a distinctly anti-consumerist, pro DIY pedagogy. As such, it removes it from the tired criticism that has tied “web2.0pians” to corporate interests.
The other reason that I like the term is because the ‘-punk’ suffix suggests the same kind of challenge to centralized authority that critical pedagogy makes to the top-down educational model. This is something that is something that has been endemic to my experience with web 2.0 both in and outside of the classroom. We are giving students the In having students create online content, we’re asking them to construct and present their own knowledge. They are not presenting and publishing this information as experts, they are presenting and publishing this information as learners.
That is exactly what makes the interactivity and immediacy of web 2.0 so exciting – it allows people to share in the raw beauty of the first attempt – something that is often lost in the refining process. Looking through my art teacher glasses- it encompasses the same kind of energy that is captured in a quick investigative sketch, which can be infinitely more powerful than the carefully refined and determined final project.
*this is only funny if you are hearing Dana Carvey’s Old Man routine in your head.
I’m not an edupunk. I’m an edufolkie.
I never did resonate with the punk scene – I LIKE Boston, Styx, Queen, Yes, Pink Floyd and all that “overproduced” 70’s music that punk rebelled against (though I draw the line at ABBA).
Punk was about revolution and anarchy. No rules. Overthrow the system. Down with everything.
Folk, OTOH, celebrates and embraces the old stuff that’s still good and relevant, giving it a modern twist if necessary. Protest the failures of the status quo where necessary, but work for peaceful change.
Besides, those of us over 40 are far more likely to be able to pull off a ponytail than a mohawk. ;-p
I hear the word “punk” and the first person I think about is a young man named Johnny B. who played 2nd base for me at BDHS. Johnny was just that the punk type kid who was as mannerly as they come but radical in that edgey sense because he walked to a different beat. I guess I missed someone’s post somewhere that first presented this concept and will go back and look but Jeff this helps me to understand the phrase “edupunk” so much. I can most definitely hear Dana Carvey as well as see him on the porch in his rocker spewing his venom. I love the visuals and I appreciate what you continue to teach me. I look forward to NECC and meeting you in person. Glad you got your flights squared away. Keep your head above water and slow, deep breaths Utes.
I am edu-antilabel.
I don’t want to be tied to any old metaphors; its all new. I am not driving forward looking through the rear view mirror.
Great post David! Rock on!
Corrie- excellent points. Musical tastes aside (i prefer folk as well and the message of folk music), i think the allegory is that schools have traditionally been places where we teach kids *not* to think for themselves, and the counter-culture teachers are the ones who are fighting that standard. I’d look terrible with a mohawk as well, and my wife won’t let me grow my hair long so….
Paul- Thanks, but I’m not Jeff. He’s smarter, handsomer, and a better cook. But I look better in a bowler and can recite the entire first chapter of The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy from memory. Glad you liked the visuals though.
Alan- I think that, in part, is the point I’m trying to make. “-2.0″, “-punk”, or whatever are just labels (i used the term ‘frames’). The terms help us codify meaning so that we can easily describe a certain idea. This is why my final point was:
It should remind us of the necessity of these kinds of discussions -not to define us, but to allow us to continually reflect on the nature of this constantly changing relationship..
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree.
Jeff- (punk) rock on!
nice post!keep it up
New blog post: Anarchy for the Classroom: Edupunk? http://www.utechtips.com/?p=753Quote
Anarchy for the Classroom: Edupunk? /U Tech Tips/ – Cross Posted at The Carrot Revolution. Every once in … http://tinyurl.com/4fenokQuote
[...] the Edupunk meme is definitely proving useful in itself. I agreed, for instance, with David Gran when he wrote [...]
[...] it has sparked some interesting discussion, but will it change anything? David Gran thinks all this debate is furthering our understanding of eduators’ relationships to the [...]
[...] it has sparked some interesting discussion, but will it change anything? David Gran thinks all this debate is furthering our understanding of eduators’ relationships to the [...]