Comments on: Don’t Vote for Me – Edublogger Awards (but vote!)

By: Nancy white

Nancy white — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:13:11 +0000

Hm, interesting observation about “attapersons” and echo chambers. This makes me wonder about how we pass social signals in a medium that records everything. I think appreciation and reciprocity has a place in the mix, but I sure can see your point about it becoming a distraction and rather pointless noise. So maybe we need to pass the signals via ephemeral channels like IM or twitter. Well, maybe not twitter. That has a record too.

By: KerryJ

KerryJ — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 08:36:14 +0000

Graham, the fact that you say you suspect your efforts have made a difference but you have no idea about where or in what way are the reason these awards are such a great idea. They give all of us a chance to dole out pats on the back to the people we feel deserve them.

Ideally we would do more about commenting on each other’s blogs. However, I know some people feel giving out attagirls and attaboys creates an echo chamber rather than a meaningful dialogue.

So enjoy!

Cheers –

KerryJ

By: Graham Wegner

Graham Wegner — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:07:03 +0000

Nancy, I certainly don’t underestimate the power of working with a specific group of students and by trying my hardest to be visible to whoever is interested in reading, I hope others will follow suit and make it ordinary practice for educators. My feelings about being out of place in this list is that everyone else has achieved amazing things using the social media tools that bring edubloggers together. It would be very easy to point to piles of evidence of the achievements of Stephen Downes or Will Richardson and to the changes they have made to how others go about elearning or using Web 2.0 tools to re-think education. I suspect that my efforts have made some difference but I have no idea about where or in what way.

By: Sarah Stewart

Sarah Stewart — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:00:23 +0000

I think you’re trying out a cunning plan of reverse psychology so we do vote for you

By: Nancy White

Nancy White — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:24:16 +0000

Kerry – what can I say. I’m smiling. I’ll be gracious and say thank you. But I hope I get to the rest of my friends before they vote!

Graham, your comment reminds me of something that gobsmacked me 4-5 years back when a bunch of us folks interested in communities of practice gathered for a F2F. At the end, we had a conversation where we all realized that we each felt we were the outsider, that all the others were the core. I wonder why we often feel this way?

This medium that allows us to make our thinking visible to the world is something remarkable. In some ways, it shows us connections we never knew we had. So you, making a difference for the kids in your classroom – are making a difference for so many more of us than you might ever imagine.

That’s pretty cool, no?

On a slightly different angle, Tony Karrer blogs about awards http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2008/12/you-like-awards.html

By: Graham Wegner

Graham Wegner — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:59:58 +0000

Nancy, there’s another name on that list that people shouldn’t waste a vote on – mine! I’m flattered by whoever nominated me but I was gobsmacked to see my name there while your nomination didn’t surprise me in the least. How an introverted, classroom teacher who has never left his own country and only been active in the online world for three years can be even considered is what makes me smile! I’m waiting for someone to email me and say “Gotcha!”

By: KerryJ

KerryJ — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:41:39 +0000

No magic wand – just admiration and respect for you. And too late, I’ve voted. : P