A digital heretic?

Some people think I'm a bit of a rebel. A non-comformist. You see, I don't take too kindly to unnecessary rules and regulations, and tend to scoff when people try to impose them. I despise bureaucracy and red-tape. 'Why can't I do this?' I ask. 'Because it's against the rules!' 'But what if the rules are wrong?' 'I don't make the rules mate, I just make sure you keep them...' How ridiculous!

I know we need some rules to maintain a semblance of order in society, and we need order to avoid a descent into chaos. But when rules are created for the sake of creating rules (governments and large institutions are very good at this) I am usually tempted to step out of line, just to see what happens. It doesn't make me any better or worse than anyone else, but it causes problems for the 'powers that be'. What do they do with me? I'm on record as supporting the do-it-yourself ethos of Edupunk, and a rejection of the corporate learning platform 'solutions'. I also use this blog as a platform to rant about a whole range of education issues. I don't consider myself to be completely rebellious though - I just tend to get a little too uncomfortable when I'm expected to tow the party line when I don't actually subscribe to it. And when I see something I consider unjust, wasteful or unfair, I have to point it out, and if necessary, shout very loud about it. I'm the little boy watching the emperor walk past in his birthday suit, and I'm the one who points out that he's naked. I'm the one walking out of step in the parade. I'm the conformist's worse nightmare. I would be a very bad party politician, and an even worse soldier. What I think I am good at though, is thinking outside the box, trying to come up with stuff that makes people think, or challenges preconceptions. That's the bit that I like the most, so perhaps that's why I tend not to conform.

I was reading the book 'Tribes' by Seth Godin recently, and although it's rather simplistic in its use of language and doesn't tax the mind much (it's written for corporate types after all), I never the less enjoyed reading it through to find out what his take was on leadership and business. I like his concept of 'sheepwalking' where people blindly follow someone or something without really questioning or understanding what they are doing. I like even more his idea of tribes, as groups of people that have purpose and communication. What I like most of all about his book though, is his notion of the 'heretic'. In more superstitious times, says Godin, the heretic was burned at the stake or at the very least, cast out from the community, undesirable, unwanted, a dissident. In present times though he says, the heretic is now more valued, and is probably the one who asks 'er.... why can't I do this?', and then when told it's against the rules, goes out and does it anyway. It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission, says Godin, and I think he's right. Heretics don't lose their faith, he reckons, they just challenge the established 'religion' - the status quo, the established ways of doing things, and they find another way.

I suppose that makes me some kind of heretic. Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm not satisfied with the learning platforms I see, and I'm not too keen on being complicit to corporate profiteering. That's why I use my own online tools, tapping into free services I know my students will find useful and will enjoy using. I'm opposed to respectable and long accepted theories such as learning styles (Honey & Mumford should hang their heads in shame) and digital natives theory (Marc Prensky has retracted much of what he said about cognitive change, but people still keep trotting out the theory as if it's a fact, hoping it makes them sound knowledgeable), because these models try to categorise students and thereby constrain creativity and individuality. I strongly support user generated content as an effective means of supporting learning. PLE will triumph over VLE. Who's to say that txt language is inferior to standard English? And let's allow children to use mobile phones in schools. Call me a digital heretic if you like, but I'm certainly not the only one.

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A digital heretic? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 International License.
Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.