Reputation and Transparency

I’ve referred to my blogging as a permanent presence on the Web and have encouraged would-be bloggers to first get a permanent domain name. My site is where anyone can find out most things about me, such as what I think, who I’ve worked for or how to contact me on various platforms. Michele Martin [...]

End of an era

The debate on the elimination of early French immersion will continue, but the NB Liberal government has drawn a line in the sand and is moving ahead with its one-size-fits-all approach to fix its industrial school system. Immersion was the grand experiment that began 32 years ago in order to put fact to the policy [...]

Protesting the Abolition of EFI

I’m heading off to Fredericton tomorrow to protest against the abolition of early French immersion (EFI) at the Provincial Legislature. I’ll be joining hundreds of other concerned citizens to show our disagreement with this decision. It’s my first protest, as I never had the chance to participate in these political activities while I was in [...]

Costs of open source and proprietary LCMS/LMS

David Bahn at Metropolitan State University of Minnesota asked me last week if I had any information about implementation and maintenance costs of open source versus proprietary learning systems. I referred him to Edutools and Brandon-Hall for comparative information as well as an older study done in French for the Québec government.
David then send me [...]

Learning at Work

Note: This is part of a Working/Learning blog carnival hosted at Dave’s Whiteboard
This post repeats some themes that regular readers have seen over the past few years, but I’m finding that there is still a great need for individuals to take control of their knowledge-creation and sharing and many are overwhelmed by the Web.
I have [...]

From cottage industry to international certification

It’s a few years from now and you’re sitting in your office in an old Victorian building in your new position as Dean of Students. You thought that this would be the perfect job in a small university town with an easy walk to work, great colleagues and eager new students each year. However, you [...]

Ridiculously easy group-forming

The title of this post comes from a quote by Seb Paquet in the book Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky. This book is situated somewhere between the simplicity of Wikinomics and the complexity of The Wealth of Networks, which makes it a welcome addition to the field of social networks. Shirky’s analysis is excellent [...]

On curriculum

Gilbert asked how I defined curriculum in my last post. There are many definitions, but I specifically meant curriculum as the pre-determined set of subjects, objectives, tests and lessons that constitute public education. Of particular note is that the students have no input or choice in the curriculum. I am not referring to university curriculum, [...]

The bully of curriculum raises its head once again

As I listen to comments on the Liberal government’s decision to axe early French immersion (EFI) in New Brunswick, I’m reminded once again that we have become so accustomed to the ground of schooling that we no longer see it for the restrictive institution that it has become. I return to Brian Alger’s post on [...]

Toward minimally cohesive utterances

The quality of French by anglophones in this province will quickly slide to “minimally cohesive utterances” if the Minister of Education, Kelly Lamrock, has his way and abolishes Early French Immersion (EFI).
About 75 concerned citizens met in Sackville this evening to discuss how we can reverse this decision that was based on the seriously [...]

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