Morpheus Speaks

MORPHEUS Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

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MORPHEUS The Matrix is everywhere, it's all around us, here even in this room. You can see it out your window, or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church or pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

NEO What truth?

MORPHEUS That you are a slave, Neo. That you, like everyone else, was born into bondage ... kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind.

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MORPHEUS The Matrix is a system Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save ... You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it. 

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We, the people ...

Tor_Khan تور خان

If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people. ~ Chinese Proverb

Shouting from the Mountaintop

As an educational advisor working in school improvement, I quote a contributor to Dr. Alec Couros's blog on Open Thinking. This is one of the most challenging aspects of our work here in the UAE.

Convincing teachers to stop teaching from the mountaintop and lead the students up the mountain is an on going challenge ... Our teachers need to constantly remind themselves to try new teaching methods and avail themselves of the tools.

Dave Hill, February 19th, 2009 at 3:25 pm

Copyright Free

Open education - it's an ideal scenario - though with all the proposals around lifelong learning, open networking, classrooms without walls and so on, the whole issue of freeware/open-source at some point becomes an unavoidable part of the debate.

Of course we can't ignore the many who make their livings through genuinely protected works, but the tenet of availability and free distribution is at the heart of Copyleft. Ideally open*, ideally organic* and ideally without walls*.

*There are many accounts of this not being the case. These are cautious ideals, but ideals nonetheless.

Without Walls

It's a great idea, and I quite agree that in many cases we can live, learn and work without walls and boundaries.

My teaching experiences have mostly required me to look for some kind of shelter, and in most cases, roofs and ceilings have been held up by walls. The pendulum for and against open-plan primary school settings in the UK swings constantly one way and another, and is, if anything a reflection on the fact that no one particular model is superior. It is, after all a question of teaching and learning styles and appropriacy. I should confess however, that I do like to keep out distractions so walls do serve a purpose beyond keeping schools standing upright.

Learning Without Walls?

But there are places in the world where learning occurs in the great outdoors - of course there's a whole area of non-traditional or specialist learning that happens outdoors, but then there are traditional classes that are delivered and studied in open ground, under the shade of trees and so on; but of course, much of this is because of lack of choice especially in parts of the developing world.

So why is there a great trend by educators in the industrialised world to rip down walls, where in other places, walls would be the START? Well, there-in, is the attempt to reach out; to empathise, share knowledge and ideas, to join-up learning experiences, to free minds and (for me, the moral obligation) to bridge the digital divide.

Are you listening Microsoft?

See http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/ for more.