Comments on: This Is CRAP!!!

By: Sue Waters, of Edublogs fame (http://aqu… « Digital Learning 2.0

Sue Waters, of Edublogs fame (http://aqu… « Digital Learning 2.0 — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:48:02 +0000

[...] it” when it comes to web 2.0 in the classroom. Check out her articles on the subject “This is CRAP” and “Reasons why IT may be crap“. She wrote these post in 2007 and they are still on [...]

By: Kevin Gamble

Kevin Gamble — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 14:42:57 +0000

Good post Sue. One problem with the Rogers’s work that I rarely see mentioned is the homogeneity of the population he was studying. He basically studied rural farmers in Iowa in the late 50s. Not a very diverse group. That this research is still cited as gospel today is quite amazing. We have many ways to slice and dice independent variables (multivariate) that a blanket iv called “people” is rarely useful.

For example, if we just had “people” then we wouldn’t see differences in adoption/diffusion based on age. Now had culture, rural/urban, education, gender… You get the idea.

I so agree with the comment about people defending the status quo: I wrote about this once: http://blog.k1v1n.com/2006/11/empty-quarter.html

Kevin

By: dswaters

dswaters — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:51:57 +0000

Hi Kate

Thanks for your feedback on how much you are enjoying these posts. The very vocal can be really upsetting because you have spent hours getting organised only to feel that they don’t appreciate or value the effort.

Sue

By: dswaters

dswaters — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:49:08 +0000

Hi Val

You have given me a lot to consider with readiness and how we can work out whether an individual is ready to engage with technology. I have disappointed quite a few people because I have been avoiding Second Life — for me it is time.

Sue

By: Kate Foy

Kate Foy — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:01:17 +0000

Hi Sue
I’m enjoying your posts on this topic.

As we are all aware, it’s usually not the silent majority but the late-adopters and laggards are the most vocal! At least this has been my experience. It’s almost as though it’s part of the defence mechanism!

I agree also that being ready to embrace the new technology is vital. As Hamlet says, “The readiness is all.” Our job as educators is to facilitate the environment in which as many as possible, even the most resistant, can see the point of being ready.

By: Val Evans

Val Evans — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:23:57 +0000

Readiness has a lot to do with it as well Sue. I would classify myself as an early adopter these days. Perhaps I was once an innovator, but different interests and responsibilities have changed that and I am comfortable with watching the ‘new wave’ of innovators tread unknown paths.

BUT there is so much happening that you need to be ready to take more in, even as an early adopter. That hit home with me this week. I have gradually taken notice of blogs, wikis, flickr, iGoogle (love it), slideshare, YouTube etc, but Second Life just wasn’t really interesting me. Last week I invited Jo Kay to give an intro to my NSW and QLD Managers in e-Learning LearnScope teams.(Check out http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/) And all of a sudden I woke up! Yes, I was ready to soak up something new. I had seen it before but I wasn’t interested enough to pursue it, but now I was READY. Perhaps it was my mindset on the day, but more likely I was feeling comfortable with all the other ’stuff’ and ready to move on to my next challenge.