Blogging with Freire

Well .... not exactly. Paulo Freire - that great Brazilian educational thinker - died in 1997, just as the World Wide Web was emerging in the Western world. So Freire didn't actually live to see the power and potential of social media, or the impact blogging would have on education. But what would he have said about blogs if he had been witness to the participatory web in all its present glory? Here is my interpretation of some of his ideas, drawn from his most celebrated book 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed', and presented in six key points as they might apply to the art of educational blogging.

1) Respond to reader comments with humility. Freire wrote: "...dialogue cannot exist without humility. Dialogue, as the encounter of those addressed to the common task of learning... is broken if the parties (or one of them) lack humility. How can I dialogue if I always project ignorance onto others and never perceive my own?" (p. 71). This is not just a message for educational bloggers. It is a message for teachers everywhere. How can we stand there in a self proclaimed position of enlightenment, and view our students (or audience) as being in a state of ignorance? This is hubris of the first order. And yet that is what happens in many classrooms across the world every day, because that is often how teachers are trained. It is also acknowledged that many teachers teach in the same way they themselves were taught. In a blogging context, it is easy to be offended when an adverse comment is received on your blog. You may be tempted to respond aggressively, to 'put the other person right'. Often though, good learning occurs when we consider the views of others. Even if we don't agree with the views of other people, it is good to consider them, to evaluate their meaning and contemplate alternative perspectives. Dialogue is what blogging is really about.

2) Don't be afraid to speak out. Freire counsels: "Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." It's clear that there is a lot of inequality in the world, and some of this exists within the world of education. Schools are not perfect, and there is no education system in the world that has it completely correct. There is no better place for speaking out against injustice, or exposing inequalities than a popular blog site. It's better than owning a newspaper. People will read what you have to say if you have something interesting to speak about. So use your blog to speak out on behalf of those who can't speak out for themselves.

3) Use blogs to circumvent regulated learning. Students who blog quickly realise that they can explore knowledge for themselves. They can become independent learners. Freire was critical of the banking approach to education, where teachers regulate learning: "The teacher's task is to organise a process which already occurs spontaneously, to 'fill' the students by making deposits of information which he or she considers constitutes true knowledge" (p. 57). When a learner starts to blog, they start to think for themselves. They have to consider an audience of more than one (teacher and essay writing) and they are required to be masters of their own journey. In another sense, blogging can subvert traditional education in another way. The dialogue that can ensue from blogging is often more valuable than the act of writing on the blog. Quadblogging and the 100 Word Challenge are just two of the school based blogging projects that are making a real difference for learners by providing them with a guaranteed audience every time they blog.

4) Read other people's blogs and make comments. The act of seeking out alternative perspectives and views in itself will sharpen the reader's thinking and cause them to question received knowledge. Freire says: "... it is indispensable to analyse the contents of newspaper editorials following any given event. 'Why do different newspapers have such different interpretations of the same fact?' This practice helps develop a sense of criticism, so that people will react to newspapers or new broadcasts not as passive objects of the 'communiques' directed at them, but rather as consciousnesses seeking to be free" (p. 103). Alongside newspapers and news broadcasts we can add blog commentaries. Blogs are places where people can express their opinions and offer their interpretations, and these are the new street corners where individuals have their conversations. Engaging with knowledge in this way will liberate the mind and help develop critical thought.

5) Use blogging to support thinking. Often, abstract thoughts remain abstract unless they are externalised in some concrete form. Traditionally, writing has been used as a means to crystallise thinking, because as Daniel Chandler says "In the act of writing, we are written." Freire writes that "In all the stages of decoding, people exteriorise their view of the world" (p 87) which implies that in order to understand our personal reality, we need to first bring our thoughts out into the open. Blogs are public facing tools that enable their owners to externalise their thinking in a way that is open for scrutiny. In the act of public writing, we expose our ideas and begin to understand our own thoughts more clearly.

6) Use blogging as reflection. Reflection is an important part of learning, and is a skill that must be developed if it is to lead to successful outcomes. Reflection is also the key to personal liberation. Friere argues that: "Attempting to liberate the oppressed without their reflective participation in the act of liberation is to treat them as objects which must be saved from a burning building" (p 47). Reflection means active participation in learning, and blogging is a very powerful tool to support this process.

Reference
Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin.

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Blogging with Freire by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.

Always asking questions

Always asking questions. That's how children learn. They wonder about something and ask a question. Why is the sky blue? Where did I come from? (Are we there yet?) Parents of small children will tell you that sometimes, the incessant 'why?' questions their kids ask drive them mad. When children arrive at the school gates, do teachers encourage them to keep asking questions? Hopefully, in most cases, the entire experience is about asking questions. But the curriculum often militates against good question times. It is so stuffed full of unnecessary content, there is far too little time left for teachers to help children to frame their questions. They must make time, because the bloated curriculum shows no signs of going away just yet. Questioning is far too important to gloss over or push into a corner. Give the kids time to ask questions.

We should be wary about giving too many easy answers though. If you have to give answers, give ones that prompt more questions. As the author Nancy Willard once said: 'Sometimes questions are more important than answers.' Teachers also need to listen closely to children's questions. A misunderstood question can lead to answers that are damaging. Take a read of this account on Pay Attention at the Front.

What about when we grow older? Do we still continue to ask questions? Often, we have learnt that asking questions can sometimes be socially unacceptable. We may have learnt from bad experiences that asking questions can make us look stupid. 'I know this is a stupid question, but...' we start, apologetically ... when we can actually summon up the courage to externalise our doubts about something. Lack of knowledge isn't stupidity. Not asking the question when you have the chance - that's stupidity. The old Chinese proverb says: He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question is a fool forever. I usually give plenty of time for questions and dialogue during my lectures, presentations and workshops, whoever the audience is. It gives time for everyone to assimilate new things and to consolidate their understanding. Who cares if there are arguments or disagreements? That is all part of the (dialectical) process of learning.

I decided many years after bad experiences in school, where some teachers ignored or ridiculed my questions, that I would redress the balance. I took a conscious decision to force myself to ask questions, because I was tired of listening to presentations and then going away without clarification on the finer points. I didn't want to stay ignorant one moment longer. Now, when I sit in a public presentation, and I don't understand something the speaker has said, I ask them to elaborate. It's not a sign of weakness to say you don't understand. The sign of weakness is not asking the question you should have asked. As I have gained confidence, I have discovered that arguing with others, can open up and challenge ideas and help everyone to form their own deeper knowledge of the field. I have even been known to conspire with speakers beforehand to publicly challenge them and ask controversial questions during plenary sessions. It can certainly liven up a discussion.

'Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning' - Albert Einstein.

Image source by Mark Klotz


Always asking questions by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The ripple effect

Anyone who is interested in the social media phenomenon would be very interested to read this from Abday Adhikari, writing in the Guardian:


Every time we publish information on the internet, we are effectively starting a conversation, because people can respond or react to it. However, we are also speaking to a vast, unknown audience and it is easy to get lost in the crowd.


Adhikari is right of course. Anything that is posted on the social web can be seen and read by others, but can also spread more widely than it could by the sole efforts of the author. Those involved in this dissemination can be producers as well as consumers of the content, but as James Slevin (2002) suggests, the basis is almost always dialogical in nature. That is why social networking tools are so powerful and if used appropriately, can have such a positive impact on learning. Much of what we learn, we learn within a social context, through dialogue. We synthesise our beliefs, knowledge and understanding of the world through constant exposure to the ideas of others. Our own views can be modified if others are convincing enough, but we in turn also have the power to persuade others. This process of negotiation often changes individuals, but can sometimes change an entire community, as new collective meaning emerges from the dialogue. A 'wisdom of the crowd' emerges, as each individual member of the network applies his or her own personal expertise and tacit, specific knowledge to solve a generic problem (Surowiecki, 2009)

The power of the network resides not only in the sheer strength of its numbers, but also in its public reach. Howard Rheingold makes an important point when he declares that everyone who wants to be, is on the stage, all are in the audience, and everyone can be a critic (Rheingold, 1993). Most importantly though, the potency of the network is often experienced most visibly in its ability to adapt or change its focus. This process occurs through large numbers of sustained discussions between individual members within a network, and then spreads outward in a gradually activating wave like ripples from a stone cast into a pond. Shirky (2008) says that we now have communication tools that are flexible enough to match our social capabilities. We are susceptible to force of the ripple effect, but direction changes can be made if the network requires them. We can take any number of pathways, but essentially, as those pathways become well trodden, they strengthen and provide more value to the network (see Clark, 2003).

When we post content to the social web we are performing our ideas to a vast and unseen audience. We create the opportunity for dialogue. We increase the likelihood for conversation. I don't know who will read this. But what I do know, is that anyone who reads this and has further ideas or alternative perspectives is free to post their comments to this blog for all to see. Who responds next is up for grabs. It might be me, but sometimes, someone else may get in first to offer their support, rebuttal or alternative comments. That is what makes the social web such a fertile place for the creation of good ideas, and re-negotiation of meaning, but also for conjecture, speculation, rumour trading, and a whole host of other distributed thinking. Some of it is to be avoided, but there is also a treasure trove of great ideas and content out there just waiting to be found, discussed and repurposed. Social media amplify and spread ideas, much further than the reach of any single producer, and I know this: The power of this ripple effect will inevitably increase as networks strengthen, and extend their reach.

References
Clark, A. (2003) Natural Born Cyborgs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rheingold, H. (1993) The Virtual Community. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Shirky, C. (2008) Here Comes Everybody. London: Penguin.
Slevin, J. (2002) The Internet and Society. London: Polity Press.
Surowiecki, J. (2009) The Wisdom of Crowds. London: Abacus.

Image by Seriu Bacioiu



The ripple effect by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Blogging about

The academic world doesn't tend to value blogging as much as it does formally peer-reviewed publications. In the past, this has been justifiable. However, as a growing number of academics, many highly respected by their peers, migrate away from the closed journal system and refuse to dance any longer to the old tune, greater numbers will be publishing not only in open access journals, but also on blogs. I have written about this previously, but need to re-emphasise the true value of blogging. Here are four reasons why the academic community should revise its collective opinion about blogging.

Blogging is an excellent medium for professionals to use to crystallise their thinking. When I write down my thoughts, whether on paper, or direct to the text box on this blog, I begin to refine my thinking. Before I write down my ideas they tend to be inchoate and not particularly lucid. Once my ideas have been laid down on the page, I am then free to elaborate, edit, revise and refine. I can also save the work to come back to later when I have thought some more about what I'm trying to articulate. Although this in itself is value enough, there are many other benefits for academic bloggers.

Blogging also offers authors a potentially worldwide audience. Some blogs have a greater following than mainstream newspapers or established media sites. The blog you are now reading regularly attracts an average of 50,000 hits each calendar month. Star bloggers can exert a certain amount of influence if they have the audience. Yesterday I argued that most closed academic journals have a limited readership. I know, academic publishing has never really been about how many people read your work, it's usually more to do with the kudos gained from publishing in an elite journal. And that's exactly what is so badly wrong with the current academic publishing system. Publications are for the public. We should all make our work more freely and widely available for our peers to read. We should also make our work available to the interested laypeople out there who may not have the academic qualifications, but do have the interest and the passion for the subject. Blogging is an ideal popularist method for making ideas and research accessible for all.

Thirdly, blogging is a very powerful dialogic tool. Important ideas should be open to challenge and debate. Closed journals, with the best will in the world, can only ever provide a contrived, time-shifted debate on any given subject. Blogs are different, because blogs are virtually instantaneous. Once a post has been published, anyone can read it and quickly respond, sending their comments directly to the blog while their ideas are still hot. Many a valuable debate has already been had on blogs, with a simple post as the stimulus for valuable dialogue across a community of practice.

Finally, anyone can start a blog, share their ideas and build a community of interest around their subject. It takes a little time, effort and commitment, but the rewards can be extraordinary. So, what will you be blogging about?


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

Getting the bloggers to write

We've been concerned for some time about the quality of essay writing here at the University of Plymouth. Last week my colleague Mark Townsend and I got together to talk, and we came up with the idea to combine blogs and wikis as an experiment to explore essay writing, and hopefully raise skill levels amongst our students. Here's the plan:

Mark and I are going to create a blogalogue (blog dialogue, get it?) about academic writing, including all the do's and don't's, common errors, and good things that we see in essays. Students will be invited to comment on our dialogue and ask questions, raise issues, or even tell us that we are completely barking. Whilst the dialogue is ongoing, Mark and I will actually create a live document within a wiki space, which students can also comment on, criticise and make recommendations about. On the wiki Mark will be writing in black text and I will be writing in blue and with the roll back facility, everyone will be able to track the progress of the paper as it evolves. (We may even publish it along with our commentary about the experiment). Using these two social tools, we hope to generate enough dialogue across the entire student groups to be useful for everyone who reads it.

If anyone has similar projects they are developing, or would like to try this idea out too, please send a comment to us. The blog, which we have called 'Black and Blue' is already up and running.