Why Every Teacher Should Blog - Reason #7
Graham has done it again. He's gone off, spreading his pie-in-the-sky ideas about how there is actually life outside of the United States. He's even got the nerve to suggest that his thoughts (as well as the thoughts of countless others out there) are valid and should be valued. Then, to top it all off, he's decided that we Americans shouldn't alone decide how edubloggers around the world should tag.
The nerve.
Doesn't he know that we had things under control during our Edubloggercon meeting-of-the-minds? Noooo. He's published his theory explaining why many Americans have a tendency to ignore the Non-American. And you know what?
Graham's right! Again.
His theory, while a little wordy, is dead on. Americans (or those hailing from the United States) have rarely acknowledged the greatness of international participants in Olympics past because, frankly, they were never exposed to them. As anyone that has viewed Olympic competitions from an American television set knows, the United States media does little to expose us to anything but the American athletes. Wait a minute - weren't we talking about education and technology? Yep. From Graham Wegner:
Unless you live in a smaller country, you can’t see that many of the issues pushed as being important around the edublogosphere are actually focussed towards the biggest participating nation and its education system. This is not a criticism. Don’t get me wrong. But it is something to be aware of if you are a Stateside blogger - your view is not necessarily the world view. Just like the American public watching the Sydney Olympics. There are others involved, maybe in lesser numbers, but just as passionate at leveraging new technologies for learning. And some US edubloggers (people I read and respect) are influenced by my Olympics Effect Theory.So what are we going to do now? I'll tell you what might help:
Reason #7 - Blogging can actually give teachers an international perspective.
I mean think about it. When teachers sit, isolated in their classrooms, they are stuck with their limited, four-walled perspective. If teachers were to at least participate in the blogging process (reading, commenting, hopefully writing), the entire world could be in on their thoughts, needs, and desires - opening doors, encouraging creative thought, giving perspective. I know that I have gained a much needed (far-more-international-than-before) perspective as a result of my participation in/with the blogosphere.
And what about EduBloggerCon and our dire need for an international meeting of the minds? For those of you that were fortunate enough to attend the first EduBloggerCon (last week in Atlanta, Georgia - also home of the 1996 Olympic Games), you realize (or realise) the tremendous value it was to have Julie Lindsay, Mario Asselin, Anja C. Wagner, Vincent Jansen, and Diane Hammond join the ranks - each providing a refreshing international perspective to our discussions. I hope that upcoming EduBloggerCons can be increasingly global in approach.
Furthermore, I propose that it's time to begin planning an international EduBloggerCon that's truly international. In the spirit of upcoming regional EduBloggerCons, it's time to organize an event that any and every blogger can attend. Indeed, Second Life should do the trick (possible site for the 2020 Olympic Games). Here are a few of my initial thoughts (also started here). If this is really going to work, we will need to:- Decide on a date. Personally, I think that any of these days would work: August 27, September 21, October 17.
- Decide on a time. I like 08:00 SL-Time (15:00 GMT). Once we decide on a time, I suggest that we continue to use SL-Time to avoid confusion with Daylight Savings.
- Decide on a location. Ryan Bretag's Blogger's Cafe would work nicely for small groups, but can it handle a large one?
- Decide on sessions, the format, etc.
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