I discovered Holly Henry-Pilkington’s weblog after she left a comment on mine. I must admit, anyone who swoops in and leaves a substantial comment (still waiting for it’s reply) that ties in educational theory and IT, linking back to a weblog reflecting on objectivism and constructivism is quick to make my “interesting read” list.
Perhaps I’m not selling others on reading her weblog very well. I mean, if you enjoy that kind of thing…
I’ll have to come back to some of the theoretical bits; yesterday, something caught my eye:
| If I struggle sometimes with articulating the theoretical details properly, I hope that any larger community of readers beyond the community represented by my academic program will both feel as free as my academic community to add their thoughts to the discussion |
I don’t yet know what makes a good “research journal”-style weblog. Perhaps the medium is inappropriate for it. I know I haven’t used mine to present much work-in-progress, while it has long been my intention to do so. In contrast, my two recent posts on a student’s struggle with syntax highlighting have actually led to an idea for a research study. Is it earth shattering? No. Has the study been carried out before? No. Have I posted it here yet? No. Will I? Yes.
Regarding what others think, I’ve tried to take the attitude that this space is mine. I’m free to say intelligent things, or make an ass of myself… anything I want, really. I get feedback from the two or three people who read what I have to say—or I don’t, but I figure they’re reading and thinking. As often as not, this space is a place where I can point people to my work to catch them up on new ideas and developments, which is a valuable part of academic discourse. (Actually, I use Google as my personal database, and use this weblog to store ideas I want to come back to later. But don’t tell Google!)
So, to answer Holly: Keep writing! If anyone ever steps in swinging and tells you you’re wasting your time, way off mark, or full of sheep, take the manure for what it is: fertilizer. Grow something new and good from it; just try and ignore the smell.
Thanks for the encouragement, Matt.
And right back atcha.
Actually, finding the post that sparked the post you are quoting has really reinforced for me how valuable making this “thinking out loud” in public can be. Sometimes the academic side of things can be so cerebral and introspective that it becomes difficult to judge whether or not any of what we’re thinking about makes sense outside of our own cluttered brains. When we’re taking classes, we have professors who serve as our primary feedback mechanisms in that regard, but that’s only one point of view. How cool is it to be able to widen the feedback circle to essentially anyone who wants to join the discussion? And how much better will our research be if we can hone it enough to stand up to challenge from so many more perspectives?
I look forward to seeing more on your potential research study as I’ve already found the introductory musings that led to the idea so very interesting. Good luck with it!
Holly