and then there were eight

Folks,
Just had a peek at the wikispace and we have 8 bodies signed on. Almost a crowd or at least an excuse for a party.

Interesting report

A colleague working on a different project came across this report out of Tasmania: More than an Education: Leadership for rural school−community partnerships. What struck me was that the key ideas are very close to what one might value in a KPS context in terms of community-school links. The file is 197 pp. long.

The Wiki space

I've moved a few bits of furniture into this space. So the invitation is there to add stuff. The old static web page site is way past its use-by date. I can send out individual invites to the Wiki but it is simpler if folk who'd like to add bits to the site that they go there, get an account (it is free) and just do it.

Given it is open to anyone I was also wondering about having students write in this space, maybe with images rather than words but that they could have a piece of the wiki turf? What do folk think?

The Schools kids would like

I stumbled across this piece from the Guardian that reports a project the newspaper ran for school children, asking them what school they'd like. I came across it on Bob Pearlman's site. The project-based approach that he has traced across a number of schools is pretty KPS-like. Interestingly, he reports a study of school student leaders in the US conducted by the International Society for Technology in Education, they wanted schools that:

* Are Fun
* End lecturing from a textbook
* Institute problem-based, discovery-based, and inquiry-based curricula
* Implement "real life" situations and hands-on learning
* Shape the curriculum with student internship experiences
* Build relationships and "animated mutual learning" between adults and students
* Provide an "inviting" physical environment
* Provide the technology tools for students and teachers to do their work.

Not a bad check list.

Moving (the KPS) house

I've been mulling over some of the new so-called "social" or Web2 software that allows easy online editing and more participation of users. I've had a bit of a chat to Trudy and we are going to try Wikispaces. It has a nice clean interface, a lot of useful features and the structure of a Wiki is not far removed from that of the old conventional web page. I'll try and have the basic structure up in the next few days so feel free to add, edit, comment. Each page in a Wiki has a discussion page, a history page and a notification option (although that will mean you having to master RSS if you don't use it).

The new KPS home is here.

Shopping for science

You may (or may not) remember me as the quietist of the three Kiwis who attended the KPS conference in Geelong nearly two years ago now. Anyway, I have many sympathies with the KPS agenda and immediately thought of KPS when I read of this European idea via a local Kiwi weblog community Public Address. Perhaps you have heard of Science shops?

They are small entities that carry out scientific research in a wide range of disciplines ­ usually free of charge and ­ on behalf of citizens and local civil society. The fact that Science shops respond to civil society's needs for expertise and knowledge is a key element that distinguish them from other knowledge transfer mechanisms.

The general idea, generating local knowledge for the community, is the nub of KPS as I understand it. Though aimed at universities I cannot see why the idea could not work at lower levels; come to think of it, I guess KPS is evidence that it can!

Enquiring minds project

This, on the surface, has some family resemblances with KPS-like work. It is still, to my mind, not as "out there" as KPS work but has some useful characteristics. The website looks to be fairly informative. The L word (L is for learning) features as does the use of digital tools (ugh).

Sue's project

I've just finished reading Sue's final account of her KPS project in a non-KPS setting. It's a terrific piece of work and analysis and I'd recommend you chase Sue for a copy. I think Sue raises some important issues/questions in relation to working with kids, giving them autonomy to act and how difficult that can be to get the kind of agency you see fairly commonly in schools where this agenda has been running for some time.

John Seely-Brown

I guess a lot of my thinking has been more influenced by "interesting" approaches to the problems of business than by what is being scribbled in various educational discourses. In my head the Web2 stuff is a harbinger for or maybe an accelerator of increasingly serious challenges to authority claims around knowledge that have largely resided in the academy. This is a very long intro to merely point to an intriguing podcast by John Seely-Brown who has the wonderful title of "Chief of Confusion. He was Chief Scientist at Xerox-Parc for a long time. Did a lot of interesting work in relation to situated cognition. But this piece is, I think, germane to KPS-style thinking.

"Perspective: Distributed Business," by John Seely Brown, from Supernova 2005, June 2005.

As a footnote, I have begun to make a lot more use of podcasts courtesy of an iPod with FM radio transmitter attached to it so during all the driving I do, I can listen to neat stuff like this.

And now for a hunch, a leap of faith, well not quite. This is a notion from the warm belly of business. I'm a bit of a fan of Seely-Brown over many years but what he describes in this podcast is well worth a listen and if you can either gloss or read into the business analysis there are some pretty interesting and familiar (KPS-like) ideas in here.