I was seriously shocked this evening when I read that Stephen Downes had decided to dim the lights on his blog for an indefinite time. It was pretty clear that he has been struggling with his own reinvention for some time now. Needless to say, he has been one of my most respected teachers over the last few years, and I will definitely miss his daily contribution to the conversation.
If you aren’t familiar with Stephen’s work, one of his last posts today will give you a sense of what we’ll all be missing:
So here we have another case of ‘simply not getting it’. In a nutshell, it’s this: “In effect, John Clare has set our members a challenge which, expressed crudely, is: put up or shut up! Show us evidence of transformed teaching and learning — not anecdotal stuff, but measurable gains and, I would add, examples which are both scaleable and replicable, and which stand the test of time (ie short-term gains are sustained in the long-term).” Sheesh. Why should we respond to a challenge on these terms? Why should we let someone like John Clare set the agenda, set the terms of success? If he wants “measurable gain” he should go out there and produce them himself, not sit there and carp at us for not doing it. While he’s at it, why doesn’t he calculate the “measurable gain” from friendship, loyalty and trust? What blogging brings for us – and for our readers and students – is all of this, and more, and measuring it is as ridiculous as counting the number of friends you have. Having a personal, self-defined identity and being able to express one’s thoughts and feelings might not alter a math test score one iota, but honestly, who cares? Education isn’t about improving test results, education is about helping people enjoy richer and happier lives (not ‘more productive’ lives – that’s a measure of value we should discard as empty and worthless). Here’s my answer to John Clare (and, incidentally, what I would and do say to students and teachers): if blogging works for you, then do it. If it doesn’t, then don’t do it, and leave the rest of us alone.
Stephen’s frustration is palpable, as is his passion. I hope he finds the answers he’s needing in his time offline.
You know, I was going to comment below on your “Future of Blogs” post, but as I clicked through, I saw your note about Stephen. Stephen’s was one of the first edtech blogs I found, maybe 2 years ago. Maybe later. I’m actually quite saddened by his loss in the blog community and your quitting your job. And there have been others who’ve grown frustrated, who feel like they’re fighting a losing battle. Your voice in the K-12 community will be missed and I’m sure your district will suffer your loss in some way. Stephen’s work was an inspiration to many of us. He was so full of ideas–tips, tricks, thoughts, musings. I fear we have all moved to the new economy, to the way things work in the new world–interconnected, collaborative, open–while the rest of the country (the educational system in particular) still lives in an isolated, closed, routinized world.
My institution often talks about creating lifelong learners, but instead of tapping into people’s passions, connecting them to other people, other ideas, encouraging them to explore new ideas and try them out, they keep focusing on “objectives” and “measurable outcomes” and testing and pretesting. They’re going about this whole thing ass backwards.
I’m gonna keep on pushing. And by George (or Stephen or whoever), I’m gonna get that research out there and I’m gonna keep talking and writing and blogging and connecting. I hope Stephen returns, renewed and refreshed, perhaps with new inspiration.
Just for the record, I’m hoping I’ll still be a voice in the K-12 community. In my next life, I’m looking forward to working with many different districts, teachers and students to think seriously about these and other technologies, and I hope to continue to post whatever hopefully relevant reflection and ideas come out of it. Having said that, it does get frustrating sometimes, doesn’t it?
Oh, good! I’m always directing people to your work. I know you’ll have influence no matter what you do.