The Ed. Tech. Echo Chamber?
Ed. Policy, Ed. Tech., blogging June 5th, 2008
I’m sure I’m not the first to write about this, but Scott McLeod delivered his latest list of the (potentially) top 50 P-12 education blogs and he got me thinking. The list is what it is…a ranking based on one metric: how many other blogs (and blogs only) have linked to a given blog. As long as Scott’s clear about that, which he very well is, then readers can make what they want of the list.
I commented, noting first that the list overwhelmingly consists of ed. tech. focused blogs. There are many reasons for this, most notably that blogging requires some technological awareness and a little bit of tech. savvy that ed. tech. folks are most likely to have. I also noted my surprise not to see certain educational policy bloggers on the list, such as Sherman Dorn, Matthew Tabor, Alexander Russo and Gary Stager (who I see as more of a bridge blogger). Dorn’s been blogging practically since I was born, and I learn more from him than just about any of the other bloggers I read.
I’m still searching for the right metaphor, because I don’t know that “echo chambers” is quite right; maybe it is, though. According to Wikipedia, “[m]etaphorically, the term echo chamber can refer to any situation in which information, ideas or beliefs are amplified or reinforced by transmission inside an ‘enclosed’ space.” I’ve gotten myself in trouble in the past for suggesting that the edtechblogosphere is a closed space, so I have to be careful here. But, I’ve noticed that the ed. tech. folks on Scott’s list all tend to comment on each other’s blogs and they all tend to communicate with each other via Twitter and other communication media. There are LOTS of REALLY valuable reasons for that, mostly that there is lots of co-learning going on that way. [NOTE: I've noticed that the same sort of "echo chamber" exists for the ed. policy bloggers, although the echoes there are less frequent and more muted (IMHO), and I don't know that there's much electronic communication going on between them beyond the blogs].
So, maybe rather than a closed space, then, a problem as I see it is that there are very few nodes connecting the unfortunately and unnecessarily distinct networks (i.e. the ed. tech. networks and the ed. policy networks). When Gary Stager called out the ed. tech. bloggers for failing to write about the Reading First study, he (purposefully or not) served as a node/bridge but also pointed out just how little overlap there is between the tech. and policy networks. A few commenters thanked Gary for pointing out the “story”.
I’m problematizing this disconnect because, for me, it is symptomatic or an extension of the sort of compartmentalization that plagues the education sector generally. I believe that one of the reasons our public schools have not experienced rapid technological change is because the ed. tech. folks are treated as separate. Leaders and decision makers don’t really understand the issues, so they delegate it to the geeks and wireheads (I use those terms lovingly). It’s the same way with, for example, special education. Leaders and decision makers don’t really understand all of the laws, regulations, etc., so they delegate authority to THAT department and THOSE educators. We have the same problems in schools and colleges of education. For example, I work in a department of educational leadership. Separately, we have a Department of Special Education and Disability Policies. So, let’s say an educator wants to pursue a doctorate with the idea of serving as a special education policymaker or an assistant superintendent for special education. To which program does that educator apply?
We need more integration in education and less compartmentalization; fewer echo chambers. After all, everything is miscellaneous, right?
Tags: blogs, echo chamber, education, networks, nodes, policy, technology
We only have so much time in the day. So while it would be wonderful for all of us to spend time, energy, and effort in areas outside our own, the bottom line is that we are going to gravitate toward our own affinity groups. We did that before the Internet too; the Web just removes much of the friction and expands our circles of learning.
Let me know, Jon, when, in addition to the ed tech and ed policy bloggers circles, you personally have significant time to live in the homeschooling bloggers’ circle and the elementary classroom bloggers’ circle and the politically-conservative education bloggers’ circle and the special education bloggers’ circle and the …
[on another note: should I be concerned that my two ReCaptcha words for this comment are 'Harlem' and 'apathy?']
I think you are right Jon. I put my critical thoughts of the ed. tech. blogosphere in a post at the Edjurist.
I joined the edublogosphere a few days ago (educatorblog.wordpress.com). Although you say that there is an echo chamber in ed tech blogs, it seems to me that most ed tech blogs are multifaceted. For example, Tabor has a post about a teacher being fired for using anorexic as an insult. Also, we shouldn’t confuse ‘echo chambers’ with extended deliberation/argumentation. Many blog posts are reactions to edubloggers read on other blogs - this is a good thing if the posts add reasoning and evidence to the table.
[...] Defense of the ‘Echo Chamber’ Jump to Comments I ran across posts on Educational Insanity and the Ed Jurist Record that characterize the edublogosphere (I’ll abbreviate it EBS for the [...]
Welcome to the edublogosphere, @educatorblog! Two clarifcations…I was pointing out Tabor’s blog as part of a separate network (the ed. policy network), not the ed. tech. network. Second, I tried to make the point, maybe not well enough, that echo chambers do have their purpose (mainly learning), including, as you write, deliberation/argumentation. My concern is that the networks are separate.
You’ve inspired me to write a post on this topic (http://educatorblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/in-defense-of-the-echo-chamber/)
While I think that a lot of the top bloggers on the list are interlinked, I think it’s because, as Scott has said, they’re first on the scene. I’m a classroom teacher who’s been blogging for about six years, but I only got hooked into the edublogosphere recently by attending a conference presentation by Dean Shareski who had David Warlick Skype into the session. Otherwise, I probably would not have connected.
As a teacher, the edtech network is valuable to me because they are on the leading edge of classroom technology - they’re the MetaCritic or RottenTomatoes of the edtech sphere. I don’t have time to wade through all the web 2.0 crap that’s out there, but I can quickly see which tools are taking off and which will be personally useful when one of them blogs about it because their experience spans classrooms, so they have a more stepped-back view of the situation.
That said, I would like to see a list of the most prolific/popular/useful classroom teacher blogs. Does such a thing exist?
See the comment thread at
http://snipurl.com/2eab1
I think that answers Ian’s question…
[...] Becker at Educational Insanity talks about the Ed Tech echo chamber in a post inspired in part by Scott’s list. Jon also talks about the problem of a lack of cross [...]