Saturday, February 12, 2011
The #writing Daily, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
ANT links
- LaaN vs Actor Network Theory
- Space and Culture book review (actor network theory and urban studies)
- Presentation on Actor Network Theory (UCB, sociology and CS)
- Actor Network Theory (ANT), from "Thoughts, writing & snippets" blog
- Actor Network Theory in Plain English [video]
- Network theories for technology-enabled learning and social change: Connectivism and actor network theory (pdf)
- When all that is theory melts into (hot) air (pdf)
- actor-network theory and a composition program
- Why did actor network theory run out of steam?
Book Review: Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age
Although not immediately relevant to specific topics, assignments, etc on any MOOC, massive or modest, that I am currently following (albeit in a distracted, scattered fashion), this review and its subject is relevant ~ highly "connectible" ~ to data, multiliteracies, connectivism, networks (virtual and IRL).
Popular culture is another rich source of data about cognition, learning, social behavior, crowdsourcing and networking. Connectivism on the hoof.
More on social media theorist Clay Shirky in his own write:
- writings about the internet
- here comes everybody (2008 blog about book of same title)
- blog
- TED profile
- "Does the Internet make you smarter?" ~ WSJ review of Cognitive Surplus
reviewed by Nabeel Ahmad — January 05, 2011Title: Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age
Author(s): Clay Shirky
Publisher: Penguin,
ISBN: 1594202532, Pages: 256, Year: 2010
Search for book at Amazon.com
Citizens across the world watch an average of 20 hours of television per week, adding up to trillions of hours each year. The interest in this fact is not that we have this free time – or Cognitive Surplus, as author Clay Shirky describes – but how we choose to expend our most valuable resource. Shirky argues that our creativity and willingness to share in this connected world – the book’s subtitle, even on a miniscule level and especially through the Internet, can have great impact. Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age succeeds in getting us to think about how we can better understand this phenomenon by dissecting numerous examples and threading them together into a smoothly read piece.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Review: Educating Emergent Bilinguals
reviewed by Lynn Zimmerman — January 04, 2011
Title: Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Language Learners
Author(s): Ofelia Garcia and Jo Anne Kleifgen
Publisher: Teachers College Press, New York
ISBN: 0807751138, Pages: 192, Year: 2010
Search for book at Amazon.com
For Garcia and Kleifgen the question: What’s in a name? is more than an existential question. In their book, Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Language Learners, they assert that how the question is answered not only gives a different meaning to the experience of people who are labeled in various ways as learners of English, but also has profound implications for educational policies and practices that impact them. Rather than using the “deficit model” of naming which has been the norm in the education of non-English speaking learners, Garcia and Kleifgen suggest calling them “emergent bilinguals.” This critical act of “re-naming” shifts the focus to the knowledge that they have and to the possibilities of bilingualism instead of focusing on their lack of English and the narrow goal of learning English.