Grundtvig's:Project:2009::..

Six Grand Old Men And A Grand Old Woman

Mark — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:41:09 +0000

“Den har aldrig levet, som klog på det er blevet, han først ej havde kær.” – N.F.S. Grundtvig

To commemorate a great Danish thinker within education – Knud Illeris – and his retirement from a position as a university professor at the Danish University of Pedagogy (DPU), the university created a small conference/ceremony about Knud Illeris and his thoughts. Here is a link to a speech given by Knud himself towards the end of the ceremony. I highly recommend listening to it. It highlights six major philosophical thoughts that influence a persons ability to learn. The six thinkers are N.F.S. Grundtvig, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Jean Lave and Antonio Damasio. Number seven for those who are counting, is of course Knud Illeris himself. And yes, it’s in English.

Be aware that the video is on DPU’s website and the link here will open the video in a media player on your computer.

Filming in Brussels

Mark — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:15:36 +0000

I’ve meant to write a short note about the first leg of filming we did a few weeks ago. Having to write my report however, meant that I never got around to it. In the meantime, my report has been finished and safely handed in, and in the process of writing the report – without thinking about this blog - I managed to write about the experience anyway. Below, I have chosen to add it exactly as it is in my report. Have a look:

Belguim – The First Leg of Production

As a way of creating a dramatic story-line for the documentary, I chose to follow a group of students from mainly Roskilde’s and Copenhagen’s universities that call themselves Reclaim Your Education. This was meant as a pilot to test the validity of the project and the practical challenges of filming, interviewing and editing. Because of my challenges in the research phase however, it also became a test for my faith in the project itself, and me as a project manager. It effectively became a means for forcing myself to formulate, develop understanding and produce at the same time. The group of students we were to follow recently made headlines after occupying the University of Copenhagen in late April. The week after however, they went to Belgium to join thousands of students from all over Europe in demonstrating against what they call neoliberalistic reforms in higher education.

Such a bus ride, with its clear purpose and linear line of events was the perfect means for adding a plot element to an otherwise very theoretical documentary. With equipment borrowed from Århus filmværksted and the cameraman David Leth, whom I had gotten into contact with through the European Film College in Ebeltoft, we set out to create the first few scenes for the documentary. These are currently waiting to be edited and snapshots from it will hopefully be with me at the oral exam. The success of this pilot project has renewed my faith on many levels.

(Photo’s by Sondre Varpe)

“Thinking” as a subject in school?

Mark — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:22:07 +0000

Stumbled upon ablog post from Lars Kolind’s English language blog. It doesn’t seem completely thought through yet, but poses one interesting question: Should the art of “thinking” be a subject in school?

Read his word here.

Looking back at the screenings of “Us Now”

Mark — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:39:29 +0000

There’s just a few hours till “Us Now” will be released online for everyone to view, and the screenings in Aarhus and Copenhagen are over. I believe the time has come for a quick note on the outcome.

About 200 people saw the film and joined in asking questions to the two panels. The panels in turn did their best to predict the future of participatory democracy and social media. Though there were critical questions to the one-sidedness of “Us Now”, especially at the screening in Aarhus, both panels shared the conclusion that social media offer tools that need to be employed in modern democracies. Doing this isn’t an easy task, but in the words of Yildiz Akdogan from the Danish political party Socialdemokratiet, young politicians are already doing it. This will stand it’s test in years to come, but for now I recommend that you visit Yildiz’ twitter profile, or perhaps go to twittertinget.dk, where Wemind has gathered the “tweets” of all the politicians at Christiansborg who use Twitter. To the one-sidedness of “Us Now”, the films director Ivo Gormley mentioned that it had been his deliberate choice to focus on opportunity ahead of shortcomings. This makes “Us Now” an exploration of just that; opportunity, and leaves to the rest of us the responsibility of ensuring, that the debate around the implementation of social media in creating a more participation oriented democratic system, is ongoing.

To hear reactions and interviews with the participants I recommend visiting David Aaron’s uploads on qik.com. David Aaron writes for cphvoice dot com and has posted several recordings of the panel debate in Empire Bio, Copenhagem, as well as interviews made with panelists just after the screening.

Screening a Danish documentary on May 6th and 7th – and you’re invited

Mark — Sat, 02 May 2009 15:23:01 +0000

Together with Wemind and Cevea, I’m bringing the director of the acclaimed documentary “Us Now” to Denmark, to show his film and to discuss its implications.

In a time where the president of the United States of America has over 6 million friends on Facebook, and the Danish Prime Minister actively uses the social network Twitter, attention is now being directed towards the power of social media. What are the implications of these new mediums?

What are the opportunities inherent in these new technologies? And how can modern societies adapt to this new reality, which places new demands on democracies, politicians and the inclusiveness of governments?

“Us Now” is about the power of social media and mass collaboration, and will appear in both Aarhus and Copenhagen. The film has sparked debate among thought leaders in its home country, and at screenings in Canada, USA, Norway, Brussels and Germany. It asks fundamental questions about social change in a time where man’s ability to communicate across time and space is growing explosively.

You can read more or see clips from the movie on the website www.usnowfilm.com

Screenings and panel debates:

Aarhus, 6th of May @ 19:00-21:00 in the cinema “Øst for paradis”, Paradisgade 7-9, 8000 Aarhus C.

Panelists:

Ivo Gormley, Director of “Us Now”
Hans Henrik H. Heming, Partner, Wemind
Lasse Christensen, Lab Agent, Innovation Lab

Copenhagen, 7th of May @ 17:30-19:30 at Empire Bio, Guldbergsgade 29f 2200 Copenhagen N.

Panelists:

Ivo Gormley, Director of “Us Now”
Jacob Bøtter, Partner, Wemind
Mads Bødker, Copenhagen Business School
Yildiz Akdogan MF (S)

The Director of Cevea, Jens Jonatan Steen will moderate a panel debate after each screening.

Due to a large interest in the screening of ‘Us Now”, we kindly ask you to sign up for the event no later than the 4th of May at markhbeanland@gmail.com. Mark the subject line Us Now Aarhus or Us Now Cph. Note that there is a limited number of seats, so if you want to be sure of a place to sit, we encourage you to report back as soon as possible.

Download the official invitation here, and look forward to an exciting debate!

Students occupy the University of Copenhagen

Mark — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:55:24 +0000

I just read this article in the Danish newspaper Politiken. It seems that students have occupied the central administration of the University of Copenhagen through an organization called Reclaim Your Education. Their dissatisfied with the influence of business life in higher education. Historically the students are used to being a part of the decision making processes at the universities, but in recent years reform has meant that the main administrations are now chosen by professional boards from candidates in the Danish business elite. This professionalization is a deliberate choice to meet the challenges of the future, but when the very students that are meant to benefit from such reforms go on the street to protest the decisions made, it suggests that – as a minimum – there is a democratic problem. Do these students – the next in line to run the country we live in – feel that this decision was made without their knowing or influence? And why are they so fundamentally against a professionalized administration? I believe that there is a need for digging into the rationales that lead to these reforms, as well as the points of view that oppose them. It seems to me that some of the steps that were meant to ensure that all points of view had been heard and taken into account, were somehow left out of the democratic process.

Bringing schools out of the 20th century

Mark — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:59:40 +0000

“There’s a dark little joke exchanged by educators with a dissident streak: Rip Van Winkle awakens in the 21st century after a hundred-year snooze and is, of course, utterly bewildered by what he sees. Men and women dash about, talking to small metal devices pinned to their ears. Young people sit at home on sofas, moving miniature athletes around on electronic screens. Older folk defy death and disability with metronomes in their chests and with hips made of metal and plastic. Airports, hospitals, shopping malls–every place Rip goes just baffles him. But when he finally walks into a schoolroom, the old man knows exactly where he is. “This is a school,” he declares. “We used to have these back in 1906. Only now the blackboards are green.”

American schools aren’t exactly frozen in time, but considering the pace of change in other areas of life, our public schools tend to feel like throwbacks. Kids spend much of the day as their great-grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers lecture, scribbling notes by hand, reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed. A yawning chasm (with an emphasis on yawning) separates the world inside the schoolhouse from the world outside.”

The text above is an excerpt from an article in Time Magazine by Claudia Wallis . Read the full article here.

Going to a school without a curriculum

Mark — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:15:07 +0000

Jacques Ranciere speaks of learning without a teacher. What then is next? Schools without a curriculum? Yes, if you ask the inventors of Sudbury Schooling, who formed the first school in a line of many in 1968, that allows students to learn of their own accord; the Sudbury Valley School.

The first time I read about Sudbury schooling was after watching a documentary by Danny Mydlack about a school called Fairhaven in Washington. At that point I presumed that it would be limited to only one or two schools in the world. Perhaps when you read on you’ll think the same. Imagine then my surprise when I discovered that there are more than 30 schools based on these principles, and one even exists in Naestved in my home country, Denmark.

The concept of the school’s are simple. Students decide how to best spend their time and all important decisions are made in democratic meetings that take place once a month. Meetings in which the vote of newly accepted students of any age equals that of teachers that have been at the school for years.

“Fairhaven students grow up in a working democracy in which they are responsible for their own educational development and free to follow their individual interests. At Fairhaven School we prioritize people not test scores.” – from Fairhaven’s website

“Trust and respect are the keys to the school’s success. Students enjoy total intellectual freedom, and unfettered interaction with other students and adults. Through being responsible for themselves and for the school’s operation, they gain the internal resources needed to lead effective lives.” – from Sudbury Valley School’s website

Sudbury schooling is an interesting example of just how far school’s can stray from conventional ideas of education, and they ask important questions such as “what is a school?” and “what is an educated individual?”.

“… Fairhaven (…) is an educational anomaly in the super-competitive Washington area: The school day here is unscripted. Seventy-two students ages 5 to 20 run the school with a staff of eight adults. Students follow no curriculum other than curiosity and whim. Sometimes they seek out a class or workshop, but they are not compelled to take English, geometry or any other subject. Often they just hang…” – Learning on Their Own, by Nick Andersen. April 24th, 2006, the Washington Post.

Visit Fairhaven’s website or see which other schools have been founded on the principles of Sudbury schooling.

And if your curiosity has been aroused, either click here to start watching Danny Mydlack’s documentary “Voices from the New American School House” about Fairhaven, or watch the ten minute trailer below.

Three online resources with universal teaching material

Mark — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:07:59 +0000

The following three sites are both interesting resources for educators and learners alike. They all attempt to gather and/or create open source educational material.

“Wikiversity is for learning. It is a place where you’ll find free learning materialsand learning projects. Everyone can participate. There is no cost, no advertising, and no credentials required. No degrees are awarded — just learning.” – from the website
TeacherTube gathers video’s of all shapes and sizes that were made for or are useful for educational purposes.
Curriki.org allows you to both collect, contribute or connect around teaching materials.

Jacques Ranciere’s The Ignorant Schoolmaster

Mark — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:57:51 +0000

Just discovered that Jacques Ranciere’s wonderful book on intellectual emancipation has been made available for free download as a pdf, thanks to the creators of this blog. The book is about the inherent human ability to learn without needing to be taught. He even speaks to our ability to teach even when we ourselves don’t know the material we are teaching. An immensely liberating read in a world where intellectual capital so often equals success.

The quality of the pdf is mediocre, so I highly recommend buying or borrowing it once you’ve discovered how relevant a read it is.