Disqus - Latest Comments for cwarren

Re: Avec Deux Mains: Judging the Elephants in the Bus

Colin Warren — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:53:59 -0000

another wonderful post Deborah, resonated with me - Australians can also be loud & we're often quick to judge those who may not be as culturally sensitive as we think we are. We (Wendy & I) have enjoyed reading your blog and should've dropped you a note saying hello much earlier. Looking forward to meeting you in Galmi when we visit with Matt in mid December...

Re: Trunk Spotlight: Dolphin for iPad Integrates the Evernote Web Clipper

Colin Warren — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 03:51:42 -0000

With Evernote as my default note-taking app and using webclipping on my laptop, I was really happy to see the clip to #evernote functionality become available in the latest version of the #Dolphin browser for iPad. Excellent! Helps take Evernote use to the next level and makes clipping practice seamless across devices. I also really like the #Dolphin gesture/symbol based functionality for browsing/navigation. FTW!

Re: Some Ways Universities Will Change Over Ten Years

Colin Warren — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:51:53 -0000

Thanks Mark, enjoyed your post, and that it started me thinking about this whole education thing.

The idea of open content is something we all need to come to grips with, the sooner the better (I'm not going to address assessment here). Information is out there and while some contribute new knowledge to canon (via a commercial means), there is more than enough that is freely available. Many more people blogging about their research, online journals, and the ubiquitous Wikipedia. So, while we can make judgements about the quality of material used in university courses, I think there's another factor that needs to be acknowledged.

So, if we agree that (quality) content is available (and fairly freely), what's left? Doesn't it come down to the relationship between teacher & learner (not that I'm all that comfortable with making distinctions - we're all learning) and how learning (or awakening) can be facilitated? I believe that capital (or competitive edge, if that's what you need) will be in how well you can engage people and develop their interest in learning. It's about the process and the tools you use to approach and examine the content/material, this leads to an experience (& hopefully a good one), and I reckon that's what students will be looking for. Maybe this is what you mean by Quality of Teaching, so looking forward to more of your ideas on that.

Re: Why is exceptional work treated as such an exception?

Colin Warren — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:29:37 -0000

Thanks Chris,

A couple of things: We need teachers who are brave enough to take the risks in mainstream classrooms to forego content teaching and have students engage in the types of activities as described above. It's clear that students will learn the content anyway...

Then we also need students who are able to cope with the challenge of the activity. I've met too many who just want to 'do the book'. We need to encourage them to take the risks as well. Getting them outside that comfort zone, stretching their ideas on what learning might be and supporting them if they don't quite hit the mark.

... as Bill suggests, there also needs to be whole school support. The mind boggles if we could get it to work!

Re: Reader

Colin Warren — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:42:29 -0000

Thanks for articulating your journey/experience with/through blogging Kate (I've had my head down and missed 'appreciation day' completely!). My reasons for recently starting a new professional blog resonate with your story as I see the blog as becoming something of an e-portfolio. I suppose it is a little bit about blowing my own trumpet, but mainly it will become the record of my journey (along with annotations/comments :-)) and what I've experienced and been thinking about. It will also reflect on my growth as an academic in learning about the use of technology for learning (and teaching). Blogs provide us with the opportunity to tell a story (in installments - chapters if you will), and I believe that it's this narrative that we share with our readers that adds value to whatever CoP you belong too.

Re: Organisational Change and the Power of Collegiality

Colin Warren — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:02:07 -0000

Thanks Kate, this resonates with me and my question of what forms of PD are appropriate in supporting busy academics to think about and take on new technologies in their work (I made a typo and wrote teachnologies - hmmm, might play with that). I suppose it is about finding the right mix/medium for a particular circumstance, but I agree with you about acknowledging the experts around us and encouraging them (in all sorts of ways) to 'share the love'. I've found that people would often rather work with someone they know and respect/trust, and someone who is gracious and doesn't see any questions as 'dumb' than an external expert who makes them feel inadequate.