C.E. Jottings

"I cannot endorse a program on my Facebook page that does not have research to back it up."

Odd little turn of events. I got deleted. Along with Molly Brown and her Mum. "I cannot endorse a program on my Facebook page that does not have research to back it up." So said Diane Jordan on her Facebook page "Special Kids, Special Teachers, Special Hearts" - "A place to share ideas on special education I gathered over the years from working with amazing people, my own experience and reading. Join the discussion." Except that Diane doesn't really want... Read more →

A new year. A new decade. Uncertain times.

A new year. A new decade. Uncertain times, indeed. One certainty, however, is that when the new decade ends, in 2020, there will be a new Chief Executive of Paces. In fact, it is a racing certainty that before the decade even reaches its half way point, I shall no longer be in that post. Forgive me,then, if I suggest that this might, for someone, be the very best job in conductive education in the UK. In the time remaining... Read more →

Parents, Schools and ICT

Essa Academy in Bolton is to issue an iPod to all its pupils, making them "the most technologically advanced in Britain", according to a large 2-page spread in today's Times. What's more, the article adds: "A bespoke wi-fi system, with 130 access points around the school, means that children never lose connectivity. If teachers are pleased with a piece of work, they can ask a child to e-mail it to them and, using laptops and a projector, display it on... Read more →

CE2.0 a personal journey on a public road

Elliot Clifton has contributed a long and challenging reflection on the relationship between conductive education and the internet (in a Comment to an earlier posting of mine). At one point Elliot writes: “As a community CE hasn't really grasped the possibilities of Web 1.0 (static web pages), never mind the community-building social possibilities offered by 2.0.” Without fundamentally disagreeing with all that Elliot writes, I find myself perhaps a little more optimistic. For over 30 years I have been a... Read more →

Conductive education, Twitter & Hashtags

Ok, so here's another practical suggestion to explore, around conductive education, the world congress and social networking (Web2.0). Increasingly you will find Twitter being used for instant live feeds from conferences and other events. When several different people do that, it can be difficult to track them all down on Twitter. However, that problem is solved by using 'hashtags'. These are simply words or sequences of characters with a # symbol in front. Then everyone else adding this hashtag makes... Read more →

CE2.0, 7WC10 & Social Reporting*

* Conductive education, Web2.0 or social networking, the 7th World Congress in 2010 and social reporting. Having expanded the title of this post, I would like to introduce you to David Wilcox who blogs under the name 'SocialReporter'. In February this year he posted "How social reporters can help turn old-style conferences into the new convening spaces". The title just about says it all, though with a series of links to the work of Bev Trayner, Clare White, Dave Briggs... Read more →

CE2.0 ("Conductive education & Web2.0)

May I draw your attention to .... My recent posting ".... a video too choked with its own portent ... " has attracted comments from Andrew Sutton and Ben Foulger on conductive education and social media (or "CE2.0" as I've called it in the title of this posting). We are all explorers, all journeying. Read more →

7th World Congress: "meet smarter" online first?

At the end of a posting a couple of days ago, I wrote: In December 2010, the 7th World Congress of Conductive Education takes place in Hong Kong. I am greatly looking forward to the adventure of being there. I am also wondering how the social web can be deployed to (a) enhance the experience of all of us who aspire to be there and (b) engage everyone who cannot in the experience - before, during and after the Congress.... Read more →

".... a video too choked with its own portent ...."

Tom Heath is very clever fellow. He works (it says here) "in the field of recommender systems and collective intelligence in a Linked Data/Semantic Web context". Earlier this year he had a credit along with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, for an article in the International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems. Tom works for Talis Platform and occasionally sends me their magazine "Nodalities: the magazine of the semantic web". Clever fellow, as I said.... Read more →

"The Twittersphere had gone into meltdown"

It took one tweet on Monday evening as I left the office to light the virtual touchpaper. At five past nine I tapped: "Now Guardian prevented from reporting parliament for unreportable reasons. Did John Wilkes live in vain?" Twitter's detractors are used to sneering that nothing of value can be said in 140 characters. My 104 characters did just fine. By the time I got home, after stopping off for a meal with friends, the Twittersphere had gone into meltdown.... Read more →