Positive deviance

One of the statements I have made in recent speeches has gained quite a reaction. It contains the phrase 'positive deviance.' I've had a few questions about it so let me try to explain a little more:

In any community there are a few people who are not satisfied with the way things are done, and go against the grain. They often try out new and possibly unacceptable ideas that in the end, prove correct, or promote some positive change. So from the undesirable comes the desirable. People who are positive deviants are usually unpopular, or are considered to be lunatics, subversives or anarchists. Consider the little boy in the crowd who was the only one bold enough to should out 'The King has no clothes on!'. Nobody else dared to say it. But he saw it like it is and spoke out. This was an example of positive deviance. It brought about a change in people's perceptions. 'Some things will never change' sang Bruce Hornsby, and then he added 'Ah but don't you believe it.' Changes can be achieved even in the most conservative organisations if they are approached properly. But positive deviance can go farther than individual action.

Positive deviance can also come from collective action - or in the words of James Surowiecki - 'the wisdom of the crowd'. The current radical changes in the Middle East are being caused by collective positive deviance, in this case in the form of mass civil disobedience. Tyrants are being overthrown by the collective positive deviance of those who simply will not put up with being oppressed any more. Sadly, there has been bloodshed, and even loss of life, yet people still seem willing to make the sacrifice so they can secure a better future for themselves and their children. Positive deviance is therefore based on direct action as well as thought. “It is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting”. Or in other words, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Teachers can be deviant in a positive way. All it takes is for one teacher to notice that something is not being done particularly well and can be done better. All they need to do is speak out, blow the whistle. It may not be acceptable to change the way 'something has always been done', but sometimes it still has to be done, regardless of the cost, if a positive change is to be made. Positive deviants get into trouble sometimes, because they disrupt the status quo - they challenge and subvert 'the way things have always been done', and they can be uncomfortable to have around. But ultimately, if we want far reaching change in our school systems, then we need positive deviancy. So do you see things that need changing? Are you disatisfied with the way things are done? And are you prepared to take the risk to make some changes, to try out new things? Are you a positive deviant?

Image source by Nigel Mykura

Positive deviance by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Learning futures festival

I'm a guest speaker at the University of Leicester Learning Futures Festival which kicks off on 11th November. I will be sharing a session with Steven Warburton (Kings College London) and Ricardo Torres Kompen, (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain) where together we will be addressing the topic of the 'Social Web for Formal and Informal Learning'. I am still debating whether to wear formal or informal attire for the presentation, but in the final analysis it probably won't matter to anyone but me. Y'see the sessions will be delivered synchronously online through Elluminate, so I can dress how I want on this occasion.

Here's the blurb on the session: The Social web, also known as Web 2.0 technologies and services that enables the lay-person to be actively and collaboratively participate on the Internet has received much attention in the recent years. Educators, researchers, practitioners and technologists are keen to harness the potential of social web for learning. This two hour seminar and discussion forum will explore the potential of social web for both formal and informal learning.

The session is on 19th November 2008 between 14:00 - 16:00 (GMT) and will be live on Elluminate. Here's hoping you can join us!

Hard drive home

Well, it's all over for another year, including the shouting. My hard drive is full and now I'm heading off on another hard drive ... home, along with all the other weary but contented delegates. We have just heard the final ALT-C 2007 keynote speech, from Google Head of Research Peter Norvig. It was I think, a fitting end to a very good conference. Peter is a thoroughly nice guy, and totally unassuming, considering his collossal achievements. Yesterday I spent time talking to him as we walked down the hill from the Law and Science building between sessions. He was interested in hearing from me about the state of play of learning technology in the UK. I told him that it wasn't so much a discipline as a field of disparate activities that is still in the process of evolving into a discipline. I suggested to him that events like ALT-C can act as rallying points for technologists, software developer, managers, academics and corporate bods. Without the organisation of ALT we would have no hope of creating a discrete discipline known as 'Learning Technology'. He nodded sagely.

Peter's talk I thought was a little tentative at first, given that he admitted to being less than au fait with the state of British learning technology. Resplendent in his colourful robot motif Hawaiin shirt, Peter used a number of historical illustrations such as the apprentice model of learning, and Gutenburg's printing press as he crafted his story. There was extensive use of the work of that wonderful old fossil Benjamin Bloom which he used as a frequent scratching post. If he had referred to Orlando Bloom he might have got more response. Peter began to warm to his theme though when he reached the point where he could talk about something that was as familiar to him as Silicon Valley. The Google innovations he showed were familiar already to most of the delegates, but he warned us that we could 'outsmart' ourselves if we used the wrong tools.

There is no doubt about it. Although Peter Norvig refers to the dark ages a lot, he is a luminary in the world of computer software engineering. He negotiated a gaggle of tricky questions from a knowledgeable audience with consumate ease, and a liberal dose of dry wit. And we warmed to him too. Was Wikipedia threatening Google's pre-eminence? he was asked. Not at all, he replied - Google sends about one third of all its traffic to Wikipedia, he said. Touche! Peter Norvig's keynote can be viewed in full and on demand, courtesy of Elluminate.