The Ed non-Tech (EnT) Podcast

Matt’s Notes Greetings, and welcome to our latest EnT outing! Is this a podcast? A video blog? A teaching resource? Napoleon Bonaparte reincarnated minus everything but the attitude and the bicorne black beaver felt hat? Naming things is always a dicey proposition, and so we’re taking the stegosaurus by the tail as we attempt to address these and other pertinent questions herein and/or hereabouts! https://youtu.be/cKi1ThCl12w You can’t spell YouTube… or funky… without “u”! #ednontech You might be said to be listening! And we might be said to be grateful! #ednontech 20260310151635 Doug’s Notes Naming things in education – the Thagomizer This article is concerned with what people in our area of expertise (profession?) are, or wish to be, called. What would you look under in the Yellow Pages if you wanted to find one? Geis, G., & Klaassen, J. (1972). It’s a Word, It’s a Name, It’s… an Educational Technologist. Educational Technology, 12(12), 20-22. Naming creates a relationship even at its very beginning.  Naming is humanizing, personalising and community building. Research amongst vocational teachers revealed that ‘the act of naming oneself as a learner is a complex one, which opens up issues related to position, recognition and power’. O’Brien, M., Leiman, T., & Duffy, J. (2014). The power of naming: The multifaceted value of learning students’ names. QUT Law Review, 14(1), 114-128. E-learning had been in use as a term for some time by 1999, but the rise of the web and the prefix of “e” to everything saw it come to prominence.  Weller, M. (2018). Twenty years of EdTech. Educause Review Online, 53(4), 34-48. EdTech is not just about education, or about technology: much of it is also about business. … Behind the education sector where students and educators interact lies a kind of shadow education industry of business managers, market forecasters, deal-makers, investors, venture philanthropists, and private equity firms.  Donahoe, B., Rickard, D., Holden, H., Blackwell, K., & Caukin, N. (2019). Using EdTech to enhance learning. International Journal of the Whole Child, 4(2), 57-63. Does the name make sense? Thagomizer – an arrangement of spikes found on the tails of stegasaurs (https://www.amusingplanet.com/2020/07/thagomizer-why-stegosaurus-spiky-tail.html) Gestetner – brand name for a copying machine Wiki – Hawaiian for quick Learning objects – “a digitized entity which can be used, reused or referenced during technology supported learning.” SCORM – Sharable Content Object Reference Model OER – Open Educational Resource Podcast – Personal On Demand cast RSS – Really Simple Syndication Blog – truncation of weblog Vlog – a video blog MOOC – massive open online course Running writing – cursive writing Quiz – made up buzz word PIN number – personal identification number (number?) Nap – necessary adult pause Taylor, M. (2010). The Shunosaurus tail-club, revisited: spikes, and complex distal caudals. Iframes not supported Ways to name things Discover something – comets, mathematical proofs, lifeforms Get famous – Louse (Strigiphilus garylarsoni), Butterfly (Serratoterga larsoni), and Beetle (Garylarsonus) Invent something – petri dish, diesel engine, Graphics Interchange Format (gif) Pay money Naming stories The Ouija Board (Allegedly) Named Itself Scotch Tape is an Insult to the Scottish Heroin Made People Feel Heroic – Bayer medicine Minke Whales Were Named for an Inept Whale Spotter – Meincke The Milky Way Got its Name From a Breastfeeding Goddess – Hera Where the Wild Things Are was initially titled “Land of the Wild Horses.” Author Maurice Sendak changed it upon realizing he couldn’t draw horses. Dempster’s Dumpster Ananas – Pine cones were initially referred to as “pine apples.” The pineapple, as we know it today, acquired its name due to its resemblance to these cones. The “B” in dB, the abbreviation for “decibel,” is capitalized because it is named after Alexander Graham Bell. Guinness book of world records – Sir Hugh Beaver arguing about the fastest game bird Word of the Podcast Thagomizer Question of the Podcast How do names impact learning? Phrase of the Podcast The notion of technology – what does that even mean now? Repeating a theme of lifelong learning throughout the show. The floppy cloud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyKeCYYzIRk Poor lonely computerPoor, poor lonely computerDo you really know what love is? #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Welcome to the latest episode of this EnT! In this outing, we’re taking a look at some downright a priori assumptions which underpin and/or undermine industrial and I dare say capitalistic approaches to education vis-à-vis linear progression narratives! Who does the current paradigm most benefit? And why? These are just some of the questions we get into hereabouts! https://youtu.be/VKIQL5sDmOA Lots of linearity and sequential production made this video possible, no doubt! #ednontech If you can hear it, you can believe it! This #ednontech, that is!* *Individual results may vary! 20260302125535 Doug’s Notes Linear progression narrative in education About the old legal indentures of 1840: …All parties then agreed as to the evils of the situation. Education by apprenticeship and education by schools have gone on for many generations side by side as two entirely distinct and unrelated forms of education. The newer movements are concerned with bringing these two kinds of education together and making of them a new kind of education which shall train equally for skill and for intelligence. The propagandism that is being carried to all parts of the country… Wright, C. D. (1908). The apprenticeship system in its relation to industrial education (No. 6). US Government Printing Office. The perceived failures of education are particularly difficult for political and educational leaders to understand given the massive influx of resources invested in educational systems in recent years. This is a result of a linear expectation wherein output is proportional to the input. Reilly, D. H. (1999). Non‐linear systems and educational development in Europe. Journal of Educational Administration, 37(5), 424-440. In an era that everything around us is changing at incredibly fast rates, the contemporary human being as well as the social structures that he has built during the ages, are trying to cope with the new demands that are being created. … this training process is subject to a “tayloristic” linear model of production that takes the student at childhood and gives him back to society and the dynamics of the market with the hope that he will be able to respond creatively to the constantly increasing demands.  Anastasiades, P., & Retalis, S. (2001). The educational process in the emerging information society: Conditions for the reversal of the linear model of education and the development of an open type hybrid learning environment. In EdMedia (pp. 43-48). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Within an ordered school environment and curriculum built to serve the stated needs of industrialism and capitalism, the freedom for students to explore and express is tempered by initiatives intended to ensure that curricular practices are standardized and measurable in Nova Scotia’s Action Plan for Education 2015. Syme, P. (2017). Assembly lines or assemblages: What the human equation can teach us about creativity and a modern education system in the digital age. Knowledge Cultures, 5 (02), 123-143. One vision, the one I and others embrace, values certificates, degrees, and transfer but sees learning as valuable in and of itself. The other vision sees learning as a means to an end—students learn the material in order to pass classes that lead to certificates, degrees, and transfer.  Fox, R., & Guagnini, A. (2024). What is Education for?. FACCTS (Spring). Word of the Podcast Narrative Question of the Podcast How does the linear narrative in education shape students’ lives? Phrase of the Podcast This is exactly what we are trying to get at here & Adding quality to your existence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e_KlnL8f9U Have you ever been ashamedAnd felt society try to keep you down?I begin to watch things changeAnd see them turn around #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Thanks for joining us on this highly fiduciarily-oriented episode of the EnT! On this outing, we’re explore the how’s, what’s, and perhaps especially the why’s of hiring practices in the education sector, broadly, likely with a few choice digressions! https://youtu.be/nwnyRobwEAc We’ve deployed all the resources at our disposal to get this video #ednontech content into your hot little hands! If we had workers at this #ednontech, you’d best believe they’d be all over this audio! IMG_20260213_0001 Doug’s Notes Hiring in education Unquestionably the skill, experience and intelligence of a new employee have much bearing upon the amount of that needs to be expended for his training. Alexander, M. W. (1916). Hiring and firing: Its economic waste and how to avoid it. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 65(1), 128-144. A better solution to the teacher quality problem is to simplify the entry and hiring process. Get rid of most hoops and hurdles. Instead of requiring a long list of courses and degrees, test future teachers for their knowledge and skills. Allow principals to hire the teachers they need. Focus relentlessly on results, on whether students are learning.  Cochran-Smith, M., & Fries, M. K. (2001). Sticks, stones, and ideology: The discourse of reform in teacher education. Educational researcher, 30(8), 3-15. Whereas some states do not allow districts to hire unqualified teachers, others routinely allow the hiring of candidates who have not met their standards, even when qualified teachers are available.  Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Constructing 21st-century teacher education. Journal of teacher education, 57(3), 300-314. Most student affairs professionals will serve in a managerial and/or supervisory role at some point in their careers, yet we found only 11% of higher education graduate preparatory programs have required coursework focusing on this competency area.   Tolman, S., & Calhoun, D. (2019). Pedagogical approach to developing the hiring practices of higher education administrators. Georgia Journal of College Student Affairs, 35(1). The fact that employers regularly hire for cultural fit, and not just on the basis of educational credentials and technical expertise, has important implications for higher education professionals Hora, M. T. (2020). Hiring as cultural gatekeeping into occupational communities: Implications for higher education and student employability. Higher Education, 79(2), 307-324. Word of the Podcast Hiring Question of the Podcast How do the hiring practices in education shape students’ education? Phrase of the Podcast Concerned with representing themselves a certain way. & You have all the power https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW5tynR-qxg Disconnected, from feeling alrightDisconnected, and itAin’t black and white #ednontech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVF8cXsMPaU You don’t know a thing about meIs there something that you should know?I can tell you what you want to hear #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Thanks for joining us! You are, no doubt, a sophisticated, thoughtful, and good-looking contemporary Internet user! And as such, you’ve likely noticed an AI spike in your online diet! Much like fillers and colors and sugars of various kinds fill our physical bodies with empty and unwholesome caloric content, so our current use of web technologies has become bloated with content created by generative AI apps and processes! Not to be too precious about it, but all of this sloppy, greasy AI content makes its way into our brains and/or minds! And so we’re taking a few moments with this episode to speak to the slop and at least call it out for what it is! The first step in fixing a problem is recognizing you have a problem, to quote many a recovery program! https://youtu.be/VRI1d0edhYQ The EnT: bringing you online self-awareness since 2022! #ednontech If AI helped create this audio, we’re likely morally culpable but probably not directly responsible! #ednontech IMG_20260201_0001 When searching for Microslop, the search engine kept primarily giving me links to MicroSoft. Doug’s Notes AI-published slop AI tools, while offering unparalleled efficiencies in paper drafting and peer review, also introduce notable ethical concerns. Carobene, A., Padoan, A., Cabitza, F., Banfi, G., & Plebani, M. (2024). Rising adoption of artificial intelligence in scientific publishing: evaluating the role, risks, and ethical implications in paper drafting and review process. Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM), 62(5), 835-843. AI “slop” is an increasingly popular term used to describe low-quality AI generated text, but there is currently no agreed upon definition of this term nor a means to measure its occurrence. … market conditions inherent to a “market for lemons” have been introduced into the online marketplace for quality text-based works because of the sudden influx of works generated by large language models. The bleak nature of these findings may lend credence to Luddite leanings and perhaps provoke a readoption of the typewriter. Tullis, J. (2025). Sifting Through the Slop: How Generative AI Created a Market for Lemons for Text-Based Works. Available at SSRN 5266660. The publishers’ cocktail of probability, prediction, and profit is predicated on the same process: extract our scholarship and behavior, then sell it back to us in congealed form. Pooley, J. (2024). Large language publishing: The scholarly publishing oligopoly’s bet on AI. KULA, 7(1), 1-11. The surge of scholarly output, enabled by advanced digital infrastructures, open-access models, and mega-journals has fueled not only greater access and collaboration, but also mounting information overload, declining editorial standards, and the evolution of a research workforce that spends more and more time chasing metrics. Enslopification … involves the creation of large amounts of low-effort, poor-quality content using AI (ie.-“slop”), driven by incentives that reward quantity over quality and amplified by algorithmic systems that promote popular patterns regardless of their actual value. Lang, C., Moffett, C., & Vasudevan, L. (2025, November). The Architecture of Academic Overproduction: Toward Post-AI Scholarship. In Interdisciplinary Science and Research Conference on Digital Humanism (pp. 483-498). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. Word of the Podcast Slop Question of the Podcast How can AI slop be reduced in the creation of knowledge? Phrase of the Podcast Critical discernment in terms of information literacy & The primacy of human involvement in the endeavour & Ever seen a Hallmark Christmas movie? https://youtu.be/lmDUJhbxIjI?si=AA-FIw_sdv3pSF_H Will we leave the last place burning?Or do we just get leaving?Red-light,Red-light my mind moves to refuse that filter,Are you still surprised? #ednontech

Matt’s Notes If you’re reading this on any kind of screen: A) We’re extremely grateful, and B) You should get outside immediately after and touch grass, or snow, or sand, as suits your local outdoor setting! As we are the non-tech podcast, you bet we have opinions about these screentime things! https://youtu.be/UpoyxjCeTV0 Less screens are better than more screens! Except in the case of however you’re checking this EnT! #ednontech Out of an abundance of care for your well-being, and shameless self-promotion, we have a less screen-intensive option available for this EnT! #ednontech IMG_20260127_0001 Doug’s Notes Reducing screen time Each of the programs had particular strategies embedded in its curricula that have been found to promote or inhibit expressive language production and vocabulary acquisition. Linebarger, D. L., & Walker, D. (2005). Infants’ and toddlers’ television viewing and language outcomes. American behavioral scientist, 48(5), 624-645. … the effect of interventions specifically targeting screen time reduction has not been well described. Additionally, the results from studies of the effectiveness of interventions aimed at screen time reduction are inconsistent. Wu, L., Sun, S., He, Y., & Jiang, B. (2016). The effect of interventions targeting screen time reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine, 95(27), e4029. Though electronic media may be used for educational purposes, studies have shown that skills learned on these mediums are often limited in comparison to those acquired in real-life contexts (Linebarger and Walker 2005; Christakis et al. 2018). Neophytou, E., Manwell, L. A., & Eikelboom, R. (2021). Effects of excessive screen time on neurodevelopment, learning, memory, mental health, and neurodegeneration: A scoping review. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 19(3), 724-744. … screen media use may have serious adverse effects on children’s health over the long term, making this a pressing public health concern. It has raised the likelihood that children will become obese, experience behavioral problems, sleep irregularities, poor academic performance, etc. Muppalla, S. K., Vuppalapati, S., Pulliahgaru, A. R., Sreenivasulu, H., & kumar Muppalla, S. (2023). Effects of excessive screen time on child development: an updated review and strategies for management. Cureus, 15(6). Digital learning technologies are fundamentally transforming how people learn: they deliver significant autonomy to learners, shape the way that people interact with information and learning resources, and deeply influence how we make sense of our reality. PISA 2025 Learning in the digital world framework (second draft). (2023). : OECD. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/topics/policy-sub-issues/learning-in-the-digital-world/PISA%202025%20Learning%20in%20the%20Digital%20World%20Assessment%20Framework%20-%20Second%20Draft.pdf Word of the Podcast Screens Question of the Podcast How does Denmark’s reduction of screen time impact your thinking about technology use in education? Phrase of the Podcast Not having a critical discernment & Stepping off the crazy train https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfLgP_8JHyE Left eye spins in circlesPassives line the railThey get no satisfactionFrom the electro-static breaks #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Welcome, all, to our first episode of 2026! In these deep winter post-holiday weeks it can be easy to get deep in the winter doldrums! It can be a challenge to see the light at the end of the cold, snowbound, wintery tunnel, so to speak! So we’re taking a look at some of the highlights of 2025 with this episode in the hopes of digging deep and drawing succor and finding solace and other mental and emotional resources to power forward into what has the potential to be a highly lit newish year! Please join us! https://youtu.be/IqKB5zlKM2E This is, unquestionably, our best episode of 2026 so far! #ednontech You’d have to go back as least as far as 2025 to find audio of this caliber! #ednontech IMG_20260111_0002 Doug’s Notes New Years Wrap-up: Derelict, Lagan, Jetsam, & Flotsam: Take 4 (The happy version) What we threw overboard, abandoned, noted to address, and addressed in 2025 Derelict – goods sank to the bottom and abandoned Lagan – goods sank to the bottom and tethered by a marker to be potentially recovered Jetsam – goods jettisoned and abandoned Flotsam – goods floating on the surface and may be reclaimed … conclude that the human factor is often considered as the most influential factor on the chances of failure or success. Kirschner, P. A., Hendricks, M., Paas, F., Wopereis, I., & Cordewener, B. (2004). Determinants for Failure and Success of Innovation Projects: The Road to Sustainable Educational Innovation. Association for Educational Communications and Technology. There are two major issues: Where are we going? How are we going to get there?  Gilbert, W. (1996, September). Supporting 50 classrooms full of whiz-bang technology. In Proceedings of the 24th annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User services (pp. 65-66). Chicago Edtech is also an area to which people come from other disciplines, so there is no shared set of concepts or history. This can be liberating but also infuriating.  Weller, M. (2018). Twenty years of EdTech. Educause Review Online, 53(4), 34-48. Historically, the research on teacher morale and its affect on student achievement has been positively correlated.  Willis, M., & Varner, L. (2010). Factors that affect teacher morale. Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012), 8(4), 24. Music had originally included all the branches of intellectual and moral education – all departments presided over by the Nine Muses. Laurie, S. S. (1887). The rise and early constitution of universities: with a survey of mediaeval education (No. 91). D. Appleton. … effective strategies for flourishing while overseas provide preliminary data which suggest that acculturation phenomena provide growth opportunities. …Flourishing can be linked with acculturation.  Stasel, R. S. (2021). Educator acculturation while living and working overseas: Stories from seventeen sojourning teachers and school leaders at international schools (Doctoral dissertation, Queen’s University (Canada)). Word of the Podcast Flotsam Question of the Podcast What Derelict, Lagan, Jetsam, & Flotsam would the audience like us to address in more detail in a future podcast? Phrase of the Podcast Additionally I dare to add … & The human enterprise & Offloading that cognitive weight & Doomscrolling of grief https://youtu.be/tFDLrJk3xFQ?si=Y6fx1zP81IWrqvQ6 I remember seein’ diamondsWhat ever happened to them? #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Like a comet made of gasses and minerals and lagan and jetsam from origins billions of years out comes hurtling this final episode of the EnT for the year of our (mis)creation 2025! We bring you tidings of sunlessness, funlessness, and likely many grievances in this especially timely EnT Festivus Special! Please join us, if you dare! https://youtu.be/DjP2JQKBeZQ Creativity such as this, and grievances such as these, only come around so often even in the era of ubiquitous interwebs! #ednontech Many an aluminum pole has been sacrificed in the name of educational non-technology, and this here audio is further evidence thereof! #ednontech IMG_20251220_0001-1 Doug’s Notes Festivus – Ed Tech for the rest of us Airing of Grievances Most teachers tend to regard educational technological devices with deep suspicion. Teachers think of education as a more or less personal relationship between them and their students. Programmed materials, canned electronic “lessons,” learner-operated machines, and even the older audiovisual aids tend to interfere with the generally parental interest teachers have in the success of their pupils. Hence, resistance to these devices among teachers is high. Selden, D., & Bhaerman, R. D. (1969). Instructional Technology and the Teaching Profession. QuEST Paper Series,# 6. The majority of participants believe that the use of computer technology in the classroom is distracting, reduces social interaction, is responsible for the development of a loneliness, can be addictive, is expensive, bears a risk, is remarkably easy to copy and reproduce and even undermines the teacher. Kryeziu, S. A., Avdiu, T. A., & Avdiu, A. (2021). Examining the Teachers, Administrators and Parents’ View on Drawbacks of Technology Use in Education. Ilkogretim Online, 20(2). Although Educational Technology offers numerous advantages, its use can also lead to various problems, such as:  Adaptability: Technological changes tend to be faster than the willingness and capacity of teachers to accept these changes. Generally, it forces teachers to make a significant effort to master and adopt the use of new technologies.  False information: The vast amount of available information presents a challenge for students, especially when it comes to distinguishing between true and false information. With more misinformation also increases.  Outdated educational systems: The difference in quality between educational systems with different resources increases and those with fewer resources are less efficient. Nikolic, M., Paunovic, L., & Gojgic, N. (2024). Educational Technology–Benefits and Drawbacks in Enhancing Knowledge Acquisition Efficiency. In 10th International Scientific Conference Technics, Informatics and Education-TIE 2024. Faculty of Technical Sciences Čačak, University of Kragujevac. Feats of Strength And I believe that technology, if used as proper means to worthy ends, has the potential for increasing the productivity of our enterprise. The new media will provide a variety of new educational roles for both the teacher and supportive personnel. This, they foresee, will lead to increased specialization within the profession as we know it now and to the appearance of auxiliary positions in the school tables of organization. Some of these projected roles (planner, scriptwriter, etc.) will be ancillary to the more basic job of instruction, while others are likely to become separate jobs in and of themselves.  Selden, D., & Bhaerman, R. D. (1969). Instructional Technology and the Teaching Profession. QuEST Paper Series,# 6. The findings indicated that the teachers, administrators and parents had a positive attitude towards the use of technology.  The vast majority of teachers, administrators and parents indicated that technology affects the enhancement of contemporary teaching and it should be used by teachers in all subjects.  They also added that the integration of technology into learning processes raises students’ motivation and interest in the subject. Similarly, many researchers expressed that integrating technology into learning process increased motivation and the length of attention. Kryeziu, S. A., Avdiu, T. A., & Avdiu, A. (2021). Examining the Teachers, Administrators and Parents’ View on Drawbacks of Technology Use in Education. Ilkogretim Online, 20(2). Students are in the focus of the teaching process (figure 1), and various forms of interactivity are incorporated into teaching:  the structure of the learning environment is adjusted to suit the students’ needs  the teaching process is focused on the students  students are encouraged not only to receive information, but also to do research as much as possible, to think critically about, to work independently or as a team    both teachers and students are encouraged to be the members of the team that collaborate in the teaching and learning process. Nikolic, M., Paunovic, L., & Gojgic, N. (2024). Educational Technology–Benefits and Drawbacks in Enhancing Knowledge Acquisition Efficiency. In 10th International Scientific Conference Technics, Informatics and Education-TIE 2024. Faculty of Technical Sciences Čačak, University of Kragujevac. Festivus Miracles There is no doubt that this technology will have a definite role in future  instructional strategies. There does not seem to be much agreement concerning the costs of computer assisted instruction. Part of the reason is that some writers look at present technology and others think in terms of what will be possible in the future. Also, there is some disagreement over what the computer would be asked to do. If it were a full-scale tutorial program, it would be much more expensive than a simple drill device. Kiesling, H. J. (1970). On the Economic Analysis of Educational Technology. Suppose that you want to increase quality by providing more books and learning materials. The cost of schooling will go up which may mean that it can be offered to fewer people so access goes down. Our general point is that if you try to improve one side of this triangle your action usually changes the other two sides in undesirable ways. For this reason we refer to it as the iron triangle. It has been a straitjacket on the expansion of education throughout history. The revolutionary feature of educational technology in general – and of open and distance learning and ICTs in particular – is that it can break open the iron triangle. You can increase access, improve quality and cut costs – all at the same time. This is because of the economies of scale and consistency of quality that come with using media. That is the big miracle. Daniel, J., West, P., & Mackintosh, W. (2007). Exploring the role of ICTs in addressing educational needs: Identifying the myths and the miracles. South African Journal of Higher Education, 21(6), 632-642. Word of the Podcast Festivus  Question of the Podcast How can we ensure edtech resourcings helps improve education? Phrase of the Podcast Before you roll out… & AI slop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a95G2GzB3t0 You know I’ve come to find it hardTo know exactly where you areYou left me folded in the darkAnd now I’m seeing stars again #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Welcome one and all to the second-to-final episode of what has been an eventful, if not significant, 2025! As befits the holiday onslaught, we’re exploring creativity in ed tech, hopefully demonstrating some of that selfsame quality in format and substance, as well as via the topic! Do check the widgets below, as suits your whims and/or desires! https://youtu.be/CBqDYqtShgk Creativity via established social software is how we’ve been rolling these past 3.5 years! #ednontech We’ve scoured the ends of the digital ethersphere to bring you this audio, you bet’cha! #ednontech IMG_20251212_0001 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtPk5IUbdH0 Electric avenue is actually the mailing address for this here #ednontech Doug’s Notes Creativity with Ed Tech For this nothing can take the place of contact with the living spirit of research, original work, creative authorship. No teaching for a real university can be ranked high which is not vitalized by abundant original creative work. Halsted, G. B. (1895). Original research and creative authorship the essence of university teaching. Science, 1(8), 203-207. Creative imagination is worth more than mere book knowledge. Education and intelligence are merely the means by which we facilitate the liberation of this creative energy. Simpson, R. M. (1922). Creative imagination. The American Journal of Psychology, 234-243. The location of creativity within the school curriculum remains a contentious area of discussion as there is a tendency to locate creative activity merely within the arts. Most educators would acknowledge that this is a naïve perception yet the pragmatics of education, which often take precedence, mean that although desirable, creativity is often marginalised and remains on the periphery rather than at the centre of the curriculum – even in Design & Technology. Spendlove, D. (2005). Creativity in education: A review. Design and Technology Education: An International Journal, 10(2), 9-18. Yet creativity comes in many different forms, shades, and hues.  Not everyone who is an artist or a scientist is equally creative, nor are all creative people either artists or scientists. Kaufman, J. C., & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.). (2010). The Cambridge handbook of creativity. Cambridge University Press. Chicago Much traditional childhood play is being replaced by time spent on computer play. Verenikina, I., & Herrington, J. (2017). The affordances of computer play in young children: A preliminary study. The literature on creativity and technology is fragmented, making it difficult to enact consistent or defined classroom practices.  … the issue of risk is unavoidable in dealing with creative practices and new technologies. School contexts that amplify the negative implications of creative risk may dampen learning possibilities.  Henriksen, D., Creely, E., Henderson, M., & Mishra, P. (2021). Creativity and technology in teaching and learning: a literature review of the uneasy space of implementation. Educational Technology Research and Development, 69(4), 2091-2108. Word of the Podcast Creativity Question of the Podcast How can we ensure edtech improves opportunity for creativity rather than hinders student creativity? Phrase of the Podcast Impossibly blazing intellect & It is a different snowflake We are well and truly grateful every however and whichway you’ve chosen to check this out! May your holidays sparkle like live wires! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq4VI_SYReE For a moment we could forget just how cool we areAnd pretend we could make it all right #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Greetings and salutations! In our first episode of December, we’re exploring personal curricula. I dare say we’re individuating rampantly, if not rambunctiously even as the winter solstice, aka the shortest day of the year draws ever closer! Please join us below, as per your preferences! https://youtu.be/8333HJa8_Gg We’re rising in the digital East and setting in the digital West! #ednontech You, us, and this audio in perpetual perpetuity! #ednontech IMG_20251204_0001 https://youtu.be/dZ_swBE-mJw?si=QtlmMW6D5e6LkD_j And I will go, on ahead freeThere’s a light yet to be foundThe last pale light in the west #ednontech Doug’s Notes Personal Curricula The 160 freshmen and sophomores at Goucher College follow no less than 114 different personal curricula. Staff, M. C. (1939). Maine Campus March 13 1939. The group considered that perhaps “core” curricula might have different procedures from those of enrichment or personal curricula. As the student achieves maturity in conventional schooling or sets objectives in a program of continuing education, it must.be assumed that a complete range of choice – and responsibility – must be allowed for. Dubois, S. (1972). Relevance in the Curriculum. Ontario Association for Curriculum Development Annual Conference (21st, Toronto, Ontario, November 9-11, 1972). Inquiry into technology is integral to personal relevance curricula for the following, and other reasons: Students are free to develop, or are active in helping define their own curricula based on their personal problems, developmental levels, goals, interests, curiosities, capabilities, and needs. Petrina, S. (1992). Curriculum change in technology education: A theoretical perspective on personal relevance curriculum designs. These are also questions that demand that the inquirer seek not a safe and self-serving objectivity, but rather engage in the “ethics of self-accountability” (Miller, 2011). It was this self-accountability that we sought in this article as we examined how our personal curriculum remained in the shadow of the colonial socialization of our lives.  Sawyer, R. D., & Liggett, T. (2012). Shifting positionalities: A critical discussion of a duoethnographic inquiry of a personal curriculum of post/colonialism. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 11(5), 628-651. The word ‘curriculum’ originally refers to the course to progress along or the pathway to follow (currere meaning “to run/to proceed”)  … awkward, unhelpful and erroneous concepts such as ‘informal’, ‘non-formal’ learning have entered and become established within the global educational lexicon.   Billett, S. (2023). The personal curriculum: conceptions, intentions and enactments of learning across working life. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 42(5), 470-486. Chicago Word of the Podcast Curricula  Question of the Podcast How can we determine the values of self education, lifelong learning, and personal curricula? Phrase of the Podcast Ruminations on the messaging & With a screw loose We’re grateful you’ve stayed with us this far! We’ll be seeing you again as soon as you feel like it! https://youtu.be/bQl5KQIlDXM?si=yQ6DSJrw1sWuZYuM Well, I ain’t that much worse than the restI’m just that much further west #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Welcome one and all to what surely must be one of the final episodes of this year 2025! Inasmuch as we’re sliding into the holiday times when revels are had it seems a fine time to speak to situational ethics this go-round! https://youtu.be/ka0ZyeZWPys From the digital ends of the digital earth to you! #ednontech If it is indeed the end of the world, you could do worse than to listen to this audio first! #ednontech IMG_20251129_0001 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-5oGnvfUEU It’s the end of the world as we know it, and we feel fine! #ednontech Doug’s Notes Situational ethics in education The basic characteristic of the delinquent sub-culture, it is argued, is a system of values that represents an inversion of the values held by respectable, law-abiding society. These justifications are commonly described as rationalizations.  The Denial of Responsibility. The Denial of Injury. The Denial of the Victim. The Condemnation of the Condemners. The Appeal to Higher Loyalties. Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (2017 & 1957). Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. In Delinquency and Drift Revisited, Volume 21 (pp. 33-41). Routledge. Situational ethics as one of three primary avenues for making moral decisions. The other two are:  (a) the legalistic, which contends that moral rules are absolute laws that must always be obeyed; and  (b) the antinomian, which contends that no guidelines exist, that each situation is unique and requires a new decision.  Fletcher, J. F. (1966). Situation ethics: The new morality. Ethical absolutists would hold that every real work situation can be judged in terms of a standard which is both universal and unchanging.  McNichols, C. W., & Zimmerer, T. W. (1985). Situational ethics: An empirical study of differentiators of student attitudes. Journal of business ethics, 4(3), 175-180. The concept of situational ethics may be particularly helpful in understanding student rationalizations for cheating. McCabe, D. L. (1992). The influence of situational ethics on cheating among college students. Sociological inquiry, 62(3), 365-374. The application of situational ethics proves particularly illuminating in understanding how teachers experienced moral distress when forced to choose between competing ethical imperatives. … teachers’ experiences during and post-pandemic represent a fundamental encounter with what Fletcher (1966) would recognise as paradigmatic ethical situation: circumstances where conventional ethical frameworks prove inadequate and require contextual wisdom. Nakar, S. (2025). Navigating ethical landscapes: vocational educators’ adaptations through and beyond COVID-19. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 1-27. Word of the Podcast Situational Question of the Podcast How do people justify having situational ethics in educational contexts? Phrase of the Podcast The giant head behind the other giant head. & Airports have their own time zone. Thanks for joining us as we veer into the final weeks of 2025! We hope to see you again soon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OyBtMPqpNY … That’s great, it starts with an earthquakeBirds and snakes, and aeroplanesAnd Lenny Bruce is not afraid #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Thanks for joining us on this, our 87th venture into this wildness which is the EnT! We’re glad you’re here for this discussion on self-education and other associated and sundry topics! https://youtu.be/NMxsN8yb4g0 Reach for the YouTube dial while there’s still a dial left to imagine! #ednontech You may suspend your disbelief and imagine us on the other side of this audio, if you’re so inclined! #ednontech IMG_20251121_0001 Doug’s Notes Self-education I conclude, from your presence here, that you regard self-education as not only a duty but a privilege. Whitehurst, Edward C. (1855). Self-Education: a Lecture. London, B. D. Cousins, Helmet Court, Strand. One can say, generally, that up to the fairly recent wide-spread and readily available schooling for everybody, self-education was the prime way for man to cope with the world around him. With the introduction of free compulsory education for children, following the industrial revolution, many educators have forgotten the need of the adult to continue on learning, although the working man struggling for his place in the industrial society and the North American self-made man provide us with ample examples of the self-educated adult. Kulich, J. (1970). An Historical Overview of the Adult Self-Learner. Self-education must above all consist in this, that where one perceives one’s shortcomings, one strengthens one’s own resources and that one does not relinquish this responsibility to the school, or rely on school grades, or on school reports or on whatever is given a premium by parents. Gadamer, H. G. (2001). Education is self-education. Journal of philosophy of education, 35(4), 529-538. So, what is necessary for self-education? To receive considerable results from the processes of self-education, self-development and self-improvement, strong wish and willpower are necessary. Kopteva, G. (2020). About self-education. The Scientific Heritage, (53-4), 52-54. Self-education always takes place outside the educational institutions.  Also, self-education takes place only when there is no personal obligation to learn and when education is not imposed by any authority, in any formal environment, according to any official curriculum. Mihai, O. I. (2021). Self-education and lifelong learning. IJASOS-International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences, 7(19), 142-145. Self-learning in history Socrates spoke about the wise as those who have mastered self-control, and declared himself as a selflearner who is not ashamed to learn from everyone around him.  Plato – the ultimate goal of education is the ability of the adult for self-education.  Aristotle – the principle of self-realization, a potentiality for wisdom which can be developed both through self-education and through the help of a teacher.  Seneca – all education through others must ultimately aim at inculcating the ability for self-education, and that this ability needs frequent re-charging and guidance from outside the individual.  Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi – “I have to raise myself, through my own effort, to the degree of perfection made possible by my own nature”  Edward Gibbon – “Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself.”  Edmund Coote – Englische Scholemaister (1596) – “it was designed not only for the teacher, but also for ‘the unskillful, which desire to make use of it, for their owne private benefit” Word of the Podcast Self-education Question of the Podcast How could self education realistically replace institutionalized schooling? Phrase of the Podcast I did not go anywhere with it because I was not motivated. Every time we do this, we learn something new. We hope the same is true for you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFbnQQ6t98Q Don’t you be scared, don’t you be scaredEverybody’s terrified, it don’t seem fairWhat are you waiting for?What do you think you were created for? #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Greetings, and welcome to our ninth episode of the EnT this season! We’re glad you’re here for this discussion on presenteeism… a word previously unknown to either Doug or myself… which speaks to “the act of staying at work longer than usual, or going to work when you are ill, to show that you work hard and are important to your employer” as per the Cambridge Dictionary! This is, obviously, a widespread phenomenon in educational workplaces everywhere, and it’s about the time, in the northern hemisphere, for seasonal colds and other associated ailments to appear! https://youtu.be/b1FTNfbv2sg We’re committed to this video… in sickness and in health! #ednontech Here’s hoping this audio finds you as healthy as humanly possible! #ednontech IMG_20251109_0001 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nGsT_qFMBs Touch us, we’re sick #ednontech Doug’s Notes Presenteeism in education Problems in the school environment, as indicated by poor Indoor Air Quality, as well as pupil school dissatisfaction and bullying, are associated with increased risk of short-term sick leaves among teachers. Ervasti, J., Kivimäki, M., Puusniekka, R., Luopa, P., Pentti, J., Suominen, S., … & Virtanen, M. (2012). Students’ school satisfaction as predictor of teachers’ sickness absence: A prospective cohort study. The European Journal of Public Health, 22(2), 215-219. The highest sector presenteeism is largely to be found in the education sectors (46%). In the group of compulsory school teachers, the risk of sickness presenteeism is also more than quadrupled. Pre-primary educationalists (preschool teachers and recreation organisers) and child minders also have a substantially increased risk of being present at work when sick. Aronsson, G., Gustafsson, K., & Dallner, M. (2000). Sick but yet at work. An empirical study of sickness presenteeism. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 54(7), 502-509. Sickness presence (SP) refers to going to work despite illness. The main findings from the study among students in secondary schools were that some SP during a school year may be more common than no SP, and that one in four students in Lower Secondary School and one in three students in Upper Secondary School reported high SP.  Johansen, V. (2015). Sick and still at school: an empirical study of sickness presence among students in Norwegian secondary school. BMJ open, 5(9), e008290. Work from home while being infected with Covid-19; a phenomenon called virtual presenteeism. Sickness presence is the outcome of the increasing precarity and job insecurity in the sector, as well as the outcome of a presenteeism culture in academia which is being facilitated by technology and the blended learning approach adopted during the pandemic.  Hadjisolomou, A., Mitsakis, F., & Gary, S. (2022). Too scared to go sick: Precarious academic work and ‘presenteeism culture’in the UK higher education sector during the Covid-19 pandemic. Work, Employment and Society, 36(3), 569-579. One significant concern related to mental health is that it gives way to presenteeism – the phenomenon of employees being physically present at work but performing below capacity due to illness.  Izegbu, O. (2022). Going Through the Motions: Policy Considerations for Addressing Mental Health-Related Worker Presenteeism in Canada. Word of the Podcast Presenteeism Question of the Podcast How can we actually support wellness for educators? Phrase of the Podcast It was seen as being acceptable Thanks for choosing to make it today! You know we appreciate it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6h1Rs83VuY Here comes sicknessMoving up my blockWhen she comes to my houseI hope she don’t knock #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Hey there, and welcome to our 85th foray with this EnT! We are grateful you’ve chosen to spend some time with us, as we discuss what learning consists of in post-modern, digitally-saturated times such as these… as well as associated and sundry questions, side-trips, and rabbit holes! https://youtu.be/Tqm1SLxVwq8 Here comes the #ednontech again! On the YouTube and hereabouts! We have a lust for audio! And lifelong learning! #ednontech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaP7qmsQbSI This topic has put me in mind of one of my favorite novels and associated films of all time! When Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting was unleashed in 1996, I was in grade 12 and deep into my long-running punk and alternative music phase— which is still going, fyi! My pal Mike had a copy of the novel which I borrowed and it hit me like what I assume heroin must feel like from the many descriptions of that drug in the novel, film, and in other places! My friends and I watched the screening that fall at UNB’s Capital Film Society, and I read everything I could by the Irvine Welsh who was then something of a poet laureate for Scottish degenerates. I knew there was something more than pop culture appeal going on with the film and novel in 1997 when Stewart Donovan, one of my favorite profs at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, assigned both as part of his outstanding course Fiction, Drama, and Film: A Study of Narrative. That was the course that cemented my decision to switch from a journalism degree to an Arts degree focusing on English and Philosophy. Nearly 30 years later, I’m pleased to say Boyle’s film and Welsh’s novel both stand up as timeless versions of the same story. I am transported back effortlessly to downtown Fredericton in the late 90’s, an insecure punk with literary aspirations who somehow ended up in an educational career of sorts, having taught college and university English and educational studies classes at various points since then. As a sober, divorced father of two living through my second significant stretch of unemployment over the past four years, the “choose life” speech resonates now as much as it did when I was 18. Perhaps even more so! As we are all about lifelong learning on this EnT, this kind of connection, calling back across the years aligns with our message and our objective since the fall of 2022! As we discussed in the recording, it feels like in many ways we’re just getting started! Doug’s Notes Choosing Learning It must be remembered that the test of real interest can only be revealed by intensiveness and continuity in the pursuit of a subject during a sufficiently long period. Hanus, P. H. (1899). Educational aims and educational values. Macmillan Company. Machines would be more useful if they could learn to perform tasks for which they were not given precise methods. … It is proposed that the program of a stored-program computer be gradually improved by a learning procedure which tries men, programs and chooses from the instructions that may occupy a given location, the one most associated with a successful result. Friedberg, R. M. (1958). A learning machine: Part I. IBM Journal of Research and Development, 2(1), 2-13. Chicago How voluntary, self-initiated, and proactive is adult learning? People begin a major learning effort because they anticipate several desired outcomes or benefits that are interrelated. Tough, A. (1979). Choosing to Learn. The majority of learners stated they had taken the decision as a result of some particular trigger, or critical incident.  O’Grady, A., & Atkin, C. (2006). Choosing to learn or chosen to learn: the experience of Skills for Life learners. Research in Post‐Compulsory Education, 11(3), 277-287.Chicago Unlike Socrates’ prisoners, we are equipped with the ability to choose. We can select what we want to attend to, we can pick our favorite people to emulate, we can decide to play with one toy or another; we can look, we can ask, and we can act. Most importantly, in action we reap the benefits of effects.  Bonawitz, E., Bass, I., & Lapidow, E. (2018). Choosing to Learn: Evidence evaluation for active learning and teaching in early childhood. In Active Learning from Infancy to Childhood: Social Motivation, Cognition, and Linguistic Mechanisms (pp. 213-231). Cham: Springer International Publishing. Lifelong learning remains a concept suffering from imprecise definitions, yet it is commonly understood as hinging upon the ability to retain previous knowledge while continuously integrating new insights into one’s cognitive framework It is important to note that lifelong learning as a mindset implies the continued development of learning, for which current learning goals build up in the already mastered previous goals.  Mendes, A., Greiff, S., & Bobrowicz, K. (2024). Approaching lifelong learning: An integrated framework for explaining decision-making processes in personal and professional development. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 35, 100230. Word of the Podcast Choice Question of the Podcast How can we support more people to make the decision to choose learning? Phrase of the Podcast You have said a few things that resonate with me. Digital firewood Thanks for choosing to visit! We hope you’ll be inclined to do so again relatively soon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvUBf5l7Vw Well, I’m just a modern guyOf course, I’ve had it in the ear beforeWell, I’ve a lust for life (lust for life)‘Cause of a lust for life #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Welcome one and all to EnT 84! We are glad to have you with us. In this episode we explore resistance to oppressive education. It’s been awhile since we’ve spoken to Paulo Freire and associated thinkers. As we’re still relatively early in the academic year, this seems like a good time to jump in with both feet! https://youtu.be/hwUlMLfSL9k Down by law, but not by YouTube! #ednontech We snatched this audio like our freedom depends on it! #ednontech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r04Zkrt79HA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgtQj8O92eI As with my previous episode’s notes, I felt like this topic would be better expressed handwritten! Doug’s Notes Resistance to oppressive education The secret of liberty is to enlighten men, as that of tyranny is to keep them in ignorance. Robespierre, M. (1793). Works of Maximilien Robespierre (Vol. 9). E. Leroux. Education as the exercise of domination stimulates the credulity of students, with the ideological intent (often not perceived by educators) of indoctrinating them to adapt to the world of oppression. It would be a contradiction in terms if the oppressors not only defended but actually implemented a liberating education. Freire, P. (1968). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Seabury. The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant. Medvedev, F. E., & Kulikov, G. I. (1981). Human rights and freedoms in the USSR. Progress. The expression “hedge school” encapsulates the ideas of poverty (an open-air  educational enterprise), clandestinity and local protection: surviving political repression over a long period of time is impossible outside a deep-rooted network of local acquaintances and complicity. O’Connell, A. M. (2011). The Irish hedge schools: Rejection, resistance and creativity (1695-1831). Revue Civilisations, (11), 55-86 School boards have attempted to justify their removal decisions based on “educational suitability,” despite substantial evidence that those removals were politically motivated.  Schroeder, R. L. (2021). How to ban a book and get away with it: Educational suitability and school board motivations in public school library book removals. Iowa L. Rev., 107, 363. The main social determinants of mental health include adverse early life experiences, poor education, unemployment, job insecurity, poverty and income inequality.  Mohammadi, A. Q., Neyazi, A., Habibi, D., Mehmood, Q., Neyazi, M., & Griffiths, M. D. (2024). Female education ban by the Taliban: a descriptive survey study on suicidal ideation, mental health, and health-related quality of life among girls in Afghanistan. Journal of Public Health, 46(3), e439-e447. Success was determined by the school’s ability to fulfill the objectives laid down by the policy makers; assimilation was the prime objective. Haig-Brown Vayro, C. (1986). Invasion and resistance: Native perspectives of the Kamloops Indian Residential School (Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia). Word of the Podcast Agency Question of the Podcast How can educational technology play a positive role in resisting ideological education? Phrase of the Podcast Asymmetrical and other kinds of education It’s been a slice, and then some! Please come around again! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL8chWFuM-s Breakin’ rocks in the hot sunI fought the law and’a the law wonI fought the law and’a the law wonI needed money ’cause I had noneI fought the law and’a the law won #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Thanks for visiting us for EnT 83! We are veering heavily towards the tech aspect of the Ed non-Tech with this episode, including speaking to some obsolete if not downright anachronistic technologies which have been part of the public education endeavor in past and recent years! https://youtu.be/IoglP3w1BTk Here is the least obsolete YouTube video we are capable of at this exact moment in time! #ednontech Audio of an indeterminate shelf life contained hereabouts! #ednontech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmNJvSyWyQM During our discussion we went in lots of different directions! Reviewing the recording, I think our chat regarding penmanship and the personal qualities of handwritten letters stands out the most for me as the most personally resonant part of this episode. Definitely, I rely on handwritten notes to internalize anything important. Digital communication formats, for all their potential persistence, tend to feel less personal and more ephemeral than handwritten messages. And so, to that end, I’ve written a letter to you, the EnT listener and/or viewer and/or reader, and embedded it here digitally! This feels like an approach which I may use more often! Doug’s Notes Mandatory education impacted by tech Whereby any Game of mere Skill, such as Bowling, Coyting, Cloyshcayls, Half Bowl, Tennis, or the like, is declared an unlawful Game, or which enacts any Penalty for playing at any such Game of Skill as aforesaid, or which enacts any Penalty for lacking Bows or Arrows… Peel, R. (1845). An Act to Amend the Law Concerning Games and Wagers. 8 & 9 Vict., C. 109. In common with other branches of education, penmanship demands thorough elementary instruction. Three things are indispensable to the success of a class in writing : An enthusiastic teacher, who has a personal knowledge of the subject. A proper amount of time to be devoted to instruction and practice. A system of penmanship, progressive in method, simple in practice, exhaustive in treatment, and grounded on a scientific, elementary analysis. It is of absolute importance that the teacher should be educated in the science of penmanship. I Payson, J. (1877). Penmanship. New England Journal of Education, 6(12), 135-136. Three fundamentals marked the first educational curriculum: (1) catching fish with the bare hands, (2) clubbing tiny horses to death, and (3) frightening saber-toothed tigers with torches. By studying those three subjects in their “schools” the stone-age people got along fairly well until there came a changed condition caused by the movement of ice from the north, the forerunner of the ice age. Peddiwell, J. A. (1939). (Harold Benjamin). The Saber-Tooth Curriculum. New York: McCraw-Hill Book Co. Doug: This concept of obsolescence was so well known 85 years ago that satirical books were being published on the subject. If my grandparents walked into a typical classroom today, they would know exactly what to do: Sit at their desks, be quiet, and listen to the teacher. Wolk, S. (2017). Educating students for an outdated world. Phi Delta Kappan, 99(2), 46-52. The tremendous advancement in science and technology leads to new knowledge and skills, necessitating timely revision of existing curriculums to avoid instances where learners gain obsolete skills that lack global competitiveness. Law, M. Y. (2022). A review of curriculum change and innovation for higher education. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 10(2), 16. Things we used to teach: Slide Rule Handwriting How to cook using lard Penmanship with a Steel-Tipped Dip Pen Shorthand notetaking How to Use a Card Catalog Morse Code Basics Typing on an IBM Selectric Floppy Disk Lessons in Computer Class Chalkboards How to run a filmstrip projector Encyclopedias Cassette Players Card Catalogs Fountain Pens Wall Maps Floppy Disks Analog Clocks Punch Cards  Training for selected obsolete professions: Armourers – made armour Buggy whip maker Body snatcher – removed corpses to sell Breaker boy – separated impurities from coal Computer – human who performs calculator Cooper – barrelmaker Elevator operator Illuminator of Manuscripts {Limner) – copied books Keypunch operator Leech Collector Man-at-Arms Needle maker – made needles Ninja Plague Doctor Printer’s Devil – apprentice printer Scribe – copied manuscripts Tallow chandler – made candles Telegraph Operator Wheel wright – an artisan who built and repaired spoked wooden wheels Word of the Podcast Mandatory Question of the Podcast Technology has made much of the curriculum obsolete. How can we as educators reduce that impact on learners? Phrase of the Podcast The benefits of it… Feudalism, Baby! We are grateful to you being here, wherever, whenever, and however you happen to find us! https://youtu.be/yYJ4aem-cjI?si=CJPFcwB9kZMynF6t I say, and when it drops, oh, you gonna feel itKnow what you were doing’s wrongI say, when it drop, oh, you gonna feel itKnow what you were doing’s wrong #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Thanks for joining us for this episode of EnT, everyone! This time around we’re talking about approaches to education, and how these have changed over the centuries and decades. We’re all in on a discussion which involves curriculum, apprenticeships, and alternative approaches to teaching and learning! https://youtu.be/QFC75PEtxc8 We’re on video, with conviction! #ednnotech This audio may change your views on education, as well as having other effects! #ednontech This topic puts me in the mind of travel. Even as we discussed travel and education explicitly in our previous episode, Doug’s framing of approaches to education caused me to think about the distance between what is and what could be, between ideas and actions, and between curriculum and how it taught to students. Lately, as I try and make sense of my own personal and professional context, I often find myself thinking of the ancient Greeks and Romans, particularly the stoic philosophers. Heraclitus was a significant pre-Socratic philosopher (circa 500 BC) who is noted for, among other things, his concept of the universe being in a constant state of flux. He famously stated: “No man ever steps in the same river twice”. The stoics based much of their cosmology on this concept of universal flux, which I find expressed most meaningfully by Marcus Aurelias in his Meditations. This statement resonates for me on a personal level. I find this idea that both ourselves and the world around us are always changing profound, particularly as I grow older. Education is a river of sorts which can lead to experiences unique to the moment and the individual. Every day is an opportunity to learn something new, and to test yourself as an older, presumably wiser person against the currents of time and events. In the recordings, we discuss various approaches to education which by its wording implies travel. To come to somewhere new through a highly personal path is a function of life which our structures for teaching and learning are meant to help accommodate. The value which we as a society place on certain aspects and types of curricula is expressed in the kinds of programs and teaching methods offered by institutions of learning, whether K-12 or post-secondary. These curricular choices have serious, tangible effects on our quality of life. When one approach is chosen, it is by definition at the exclusion of all other possibilities. As educators we grow ourselves, even as we have the privilege of helping others through their growth. Ours is a helping profession, and it is an honor to be able to do so. This calling, and I do think of it as a calling or vocation, can be personally and professionally challenging. As Doug and I have said variously across these episodes, we wouldn’t recommend our respective paths to anyone else. But for those who are willing to make the effort, the personal rewards can be significant. Speaking from my personal history, I can definitely say that my journey has led me places which would have been impossible to predict at the outset. The tumult and the instability and downright insecurity of my present circumstances can be mentally and emotionally draining at times. I have been known to wonder at my own past decisions, particularly in regards to certain career choices. And while I sometimes look back at my former self with curiosity, it is also with appreciation for what the past person went through to lead to the mentality to make those decisions. I try and regard my past self with care and empathy. And I try and view my future, unknown as it is, optimistically. While other kinds of work may have provided more material stability, the inner benefits of having helped someone else in some way or other, even if simply through serving as a cautionary example, more than make up for it. It’s never the same river twice. Doug’s Notes Approaches to education: How did we end up here? What did the ancients fix upon as the course of study in their schools? In what way have we varied from the curriculum? Music had originally included all the branches of intellectual and moral education – all departments presided over by the Nine Muses. Laurie, S. S. (1887). The rise and early constitution of universities: with a survey of mediaeval education (No. 91). D. Appleton. …throughout human history, the majority of occupational preparation has been premised upon apprenticeship as a mode of learning, that is, as preparation and ongoing learning arising mainly through active and interdependent engagement by apprentices in their work, rather than their being taught or directly guided by more experienced practitioners.  Apprenticeships are usually seen, in contemporary times, as a model of education focused on occupational preparation Billett, S. (2016). Apprenticeship as a mode of learning and model of education. Education+ Training, 58(6), 613-628. Reader’s Note: This article is so direct with its points, I loved it. It was such an enjoyable read. The author starts from Einstein’s thesis that everybody is a genius, but reaches the conclusion that genius is not supported by modern education. The model “to teach everyone everything” is still the predominant model of education. Schools of today kill the creativity of students. Around 80% of teaching materials in schools are dedicated to the past or to coping skills to get through a school maze.  Suzić, N. (2017). Traditional schools in the modern age. INOVAEDUCATION 2017, 24.  In the first half of the twentieth century, characterized by the development of remote and sparsely populated areas, the governments of Canada, the USSR and Australia tested various educational models for the local population.  Such a situation with the education in the sparsely populated areas of Siberia and the North turned out to be quite lasting. Boarding schools used old approaches or their elements, which proved to be inefficient or even harmful for children. Nevskaya, M. V. (2018). Schools of the air in Australia. The modern distant learning prototype. Alternative schools such as Montessori, Reggio Emilia or Waldorf emerged on the educational scene over a century ago but have proliferated internationally in the last 15–20 years. Overall, the results show a better performance in children from alternative schools or no differences with their counterparts in conventional schools. Guerrero, S., Valenciano-Valcárcel, J., & Rodríguez, A. (2024). Unveiling alternative schools: A systematic review of cognitive and social-emotional development in different educational approaches. Children and Youth Services Review, 158, 107480. Word of the Podcast Traditional Question of the Podcast How did we end up with “traditional” education and how traditional is it actually? Phrase of the Podcast Anything you are going to plan on, is probably not going to happen. Thank you for being in this particular place! We hope you’ll be back again soon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcaGlJGijj0 I know we don’t talk much but you’re but you’re such a good talker,Well I know we should take a walk but you’re such a fast walker #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Welcome to our fourth episode of season four here at the EnT! We’re grateful you’ve joined us for this discussion on learning away from our home communities! Doug and I have both spent significant time overseas in our careers thus far, and it’s fair to say that this topic also has much to do with the current educational context here in Canada, as well as distance education generally! https://youtu.be/w47wLk1LcDk From our respective communities to yours with #ednontech! You can be assured this audio has travelled far and wide to land here! #ednontech This was a compelling topic for me for any number of reasons. As we discuss in the recording, there are many benefits to studying and/or teaching anywhere other than your home community. As per Ruperti (2009) whom Doug cites below, there seems to be a positive correlation between studying abroad and academic benefits, including going on to further study. My earliest experiences as a teacher are tied to travel, and similarly are tied to my further education. For example, when my then-spouse and I went to South Korea, it was specifically so that I could gain experience as a teacher so as to be able to gain entry into a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) program. Upon completion of the program, I then went to Qatar while at the same time working on a Masters of Education (M.Ed) from one of my local institutions of higher learning in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The fact that I was able to complete the University of New Brunswick (UNB’s) M.Ed through a primarily distance-based format was valuable from the standpoint enhancing my interest in e-learning and distance-based learning generally. This experience, in turn, led directly to my decision to focus on e-learning within the context of an education doctorate (Ed.D) in educational technology. The Ed.D was delivered through a blended format, which allowed me to start the program in Qatar and finish it in Oshawa, Ontario. Throughout my adult life I’ve lived in Fredericton, NB; Halifax, NS; Montreal, QC; Seoul, South Korea; Doha, Qatar; Oshawa, ON; Kamloops, BC; Saint John, NB; and Fort McMurray, AB. In all these places I learned things about myself and about the world which would have otherwise gone unnoticed. As Doug pointed out in the recording, once you start to travel you will find new and unique opportunities for personal and professional growth. Sometimes that growth will be painful. The immediate analogy which comes to mind when I consider this is of muscle tissue being broken during exercise in order to grow back stronger. As Google AI has it, this is “a process sometimes referred to as micro-tears, which triggers a repair and rebuilding process called muscle hypertrophy”. Constantly going outside your comfort zone, as you must when travelling, builds up flexibility of mind, situational awareness, cultural literacy, and a whole host of other benefits over time. Inasmuch as travelling for education and work has been part of my life since I was twenty years old, I am now looking ahead to a future which may include going elsewhere in Canada or returning to Asia or possibly other locales which I can only guess at. While my strongest desire is to be in BC close to my kids, I recognize that my history is of going other places to work and study, and that the greater good from a professional and financial standpoint may be to present myself somewhere far away for the benefit of potential employers, wherever they may be. This greater financial and professional good has direct material connection to my kids’ opportunities and well-being generally. Once you have travelled for a significant time the habits of that passage, the adjustments you need to make, the constant tests while moving from one location and experience to another, all inform who you are when you are back in your home community. You are a different person than when you left and the value you bring to any interactions with others, whether in a teaching and learning context or otherwise, is informed by that experience. Thanks to Doug for a choosing a topic that resonates across the decades and across the continents! Doug’s Notes Learning away from your home community There is no longer the same necessity for crossing the Atlantic for an education that existed some years ago … To such, especially if women, a few notes, suggestions, and addresses will prove useful in simplifying the modus operandi of settling in a foreign city.  Nieriker, M. A. M. A. (1879). Studying Art Abroad, and how to do it cheaply. Roberts Brothers. Most participants reported that they enjoyed living and studying in Australia and they were appreciative of freedom of living alone, being relatively less controlled in their everyday life, being in a friendly environment, and acquiring a quality education. They also took advantage of a diverse range of opportunities that were not readily available in their home countries. Han, G. S., Jamieson, M. I., & Young, A. E. (2000). Schooling in rural New South Wales: The experience of overseas students. Journal of Family Studies, 6(2), 272-279. Forty-six percent of full-year students reported acquiring graduate degrees. They were twice as likely to attain a Ph.D. degree (7%) than students attending shorter terms (3%). Students who studied abroad for a full year were twice as likely to cultivate lifelong friendships with host-country nationals. Lasting relationships take time to develop. Achieving greater understanding of one’s own cultural values and biases, continuing to be influenced in one’s interactions with people from different cultures, and developing a more sophisticated way of looking at the world are all strong findings Ruperti, B. (2009). Tanizaki and the Way of Art (Geido): Traditional Arts and Performance Skills. The Grand Old Man and the Great Tradition, 97. Three main themes emerged when participants were asked what they had learnt from their time away.  The first was an appreciation of the healthcare system in their home country. This appeared to both surprise and please the participants and may have contributed to their decision to return to their home country.  The second theme was the recognition of the need to establish an adequate work–life balance. Most participants found this realisation to be positive, enabling them to establish a healthier relationship with work on returning home.  The third theme suggested that time spent working overseas increased motivation for training. Participants’ overseas experience had left them more mature and better able to deal with the pressures of postgraduate training. Fox, T. A., Byrne, G., & Byrne‐Davis, L. M. (2018). The educational impact of experience overseas. The Clinical Teacher, 15 (4), 298-303. … effective strategies for flourishing while overseas provide preliminary data which suggest that acculturation phenomena provide growth opportunities. …Flourishing can be linked with acculturation. The participants who set goals for themselves felt proud when they accomplished them, and served to reinforce their sense of belonging Stasel, R. S. (2021). Educator acculturation while living and working overseas: Stories from seventeen sojourning teachers and school leaders at international schools (Doctoral dissertation, Queen’s University (Canada)). I let the quokkas in 🙂 Rottnest Island, Western Australia Word of the Podcast Overseas / International Question of the Podcast How can more people get the opportunity to embrace teaching and learning opportunities away from their home communities? Phrase of the Podcast Became Canadian Thanks for checking out this EnT, wherever in the universe you happen to be! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfVOmE1yoRo Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyesThey call me on and on across the universeThoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letterboxThey tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe #ednontech

Matt’s Notes Thank you for checking out this, the third episode in our fourth season! We are going into new territory with this outing, as we talk about book bans and book burning and how they fit into the wider culture of contemporary education generally! Please give it a view or listen! https://youtu.be/0JNlcZyw4nA It’s just us, Garfield, and maybe Billy Joel! #ednontech It’s audio that’s too hot to hold! #ednontech I have to admit I was more than a bit curious when Doug suggested book bans and book burning as a topic for this episode. Perhaps even more so when I saw “morale” as one of the categories, or metadata, for the post. And while I’ll leave the audio and video recordings to speak for themselves, from the outside looking in, that is, as I write this before we record in a few days, I can see a connection between book bans and a reactionary kind of mindset which may exist in some areas of contemporary education. Thus far, I’ve had the privilege to work in three different settings as an English teacher for roughly half my career thus far, plus putting in countless hours volunteering as a college writing tutor. Back in April, we in Canada were facing a federal election which was essentially a referendum on whether or not our country would align with the policies of the populist American president who took office earlier this year. At the time, and in the run-up to the election, I was employed as a college English instructor teaching Media Studies, Class and Literature, as well as science and business writing. In those classes, we talked about the singularity taking place in Washington, DC, particularly as this had significant repercussions for Canadian politics and economy, and our sovereignty. The proclamations of Canada being a “fifty-first US state” from our southerly neighbours were particularly vexing. And so we discussed these things in class, as part of an historical perspective on the subjects we were exploring. You can go back and check out some of our winter Ed non-Tech episodes where we got into those and associated topics. Exactly three days after the election, my position teaching English was ended a year early as part of cost-saving measures across the college. Despite my expressed interest in returning, I’ve yet to hear back from my former employer about filling positions that were subsequently advertised in the mid-late summer period in the wake of the institution’s reorganization. It begs the question: why did I come to Fort McMurray, Alberta in the first place? I know that Alberta is, historically and presently, a deeply conservative province. I know that my educational practice and associated social media activities over the winter drew attention to reactionary tendencies in the American conservative movement in order to highlight long-standing Canadian narratives of cultural survival, particularly against the backdrop of our federal election. All my colleagues at my former institution are open-minded, hardworking, intellectually curious people who embrace diversity of thought and opinion. Nobody that I’m personally aware of has every condoned book burning or otherwise limiting a literary curriculum. At the same time, as a person, the loneliest I’ve ever felt has been in Fort MacMurray. Not just from the standpoint of being away from family and friends for a prolonged period, but in the sense of being personally out of sync with the wider culture in the local area. The extreme conservative rhetoric of the provincial and federal political classes representing this place has a tangible effect on actions in classrooms and in meeting rooms and other venues across college and university campuses. Not only am I am unemployed, I am somebody who by personality and values lacks alignment with the prevailing sensibility of the place where they currently live. At the moment, I have no idea if and when I will ever work as an educator again. With nineteen years and four months in since starting as a teacher in Seoul, South Korea, I’m as without a home institutionally and intellectually as I was at the very beginning of my career. Being removed from a role ostensibly due to factors outside my control has made me feel powerless and without agency. And those are the kinds of destabilizing feelings which those who burn books or ban books or support those who do those things are trying to inspire. This Ed non-Tech Podcast is a way of reaching out. It’s a way of making contact and inviting critique and engagement. And to that extent, I hope we’re making a positive difference in these highly-fraught political times, however small and nascent those efforts may feel at any given moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gnXPmXPCUQ There’s something acting on this bodySomething goes in when nothing comes outAnd someone’s acting on this informationBut, nothing’s registered from this locationFrom this site that I sense that I amIn asking, “What is burning in my eyes?” #ednontech Doug’s Notes Banning books leads to burning books Over 10000 articles in Google Scholar about this … which really surprised me. A work of the kind, from the hand of Confucius, was destroyed at the great book burning b.c. 220, and only some few fragments of it are retained in the present compilation.  Tagore, G. M. (1863). On Buddhism. Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London, 2, 182-201. The people whose judgment should count concerning books are of course those who through study have knowledge of their character. Hamilton, G. L. (1907). The Censorship of the Church of Rome and Its Influence upon the Production and Distribution of Literature. Volume I. THE LIBRARIAN AS A CENSOR  “Some are born great; some achieve greatness; some have greatness thrust upon them.’* It is in this last way that the librarian has become a censor of literature. Let us admit at the outset that there is absolutely no book that may not find its place on the shelves of some library and perform there its appointed function. Bostwick, A. E. (1908). Address of the president: The librarian as a censor. Bulletin of the American Library Association, 2(5), 113-121. … books are the targets because they “are the embodiment of ideas and if you hold extreme beliefs you cannot tolerate anything that contradicts those beliefs or is in competition with them.” Book burnings “are highly symbolic. When you destroy a book you are destroying your enemy and your enemy’s beliefs” Schwartz, D. (2010). The books have been burning. CBC News, 10. The phenomenon of book burning has been occurring worldwide for thousands of years, and as a longstanding tradition that has always drawn visceral reactions from spectators, it is still happening with alarming frequency. In America, book burning walks the fine line between censorship and free speech. It remains, however, an attack on knowledge and culture and is consequently a threat to the information management field. Book burning in the United States is an ineffective form of censorship as it tends to lead to an increase in sales and “near immortality” for the book in question. Olson, L. (2021). “Moral Bonfires”: An Exploration of Book Burning in American Society. Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 16. Here is a list of some of the book burnings that have happened since the end of the Second World War.  Iran, 1946 In December 1946, Iranian forces burned all the Kurdish language books they could find. They also banned the teaching of Kurdish and closed Kurdish presses.  United States, 1948 That year residents in Binghamton, N.Y., burning comic books they feared would spread moral depravity among American youth.   United States, 1956 In 1956 psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich had six tonnes of his books and papers burned, including The Sexual Revolution, Character Analysis, and The Mass Psychology of Fascism.  China, 1966-1976 Books were burned in China as part of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution.  Chile, 1973 After their violent overthrow of Chile’s elected government, the military conducted public book burnings of works they considered subversive.  United States, 1973  In Drake, North Dakota the school board had “objectionable” books thrown into the school furnace. After learning about the burning, Vonnegut wrote to the school board chairman, “If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.”  Sri Lanka, 1981 In 1981 the Jaffna Public Library in northern Sri Lanka was considered one of the best libraries in Asia. Following the shooting deaths of three Sinhalese policemen in the majority Tamil city, Sinhalese security forces went on a brutal rampage and burned down the library. More than 95,000 books were destroyed.  United Kingdom, 1988 As soon as it was published, Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses was under attack by people who considered it anti-Islamic. The first British burning was at a protest in Bolton. The burning books “The burning of books publicly and ceremonially is a bizarre subtext of history, repeated constantly. It’s an act of violence, a punishment, a deterrent, a death by proxy. To assume this is a futile act, a deluded, empty ritual, to think of it as something that has only happened at other times, to other people, in other places, is wrong. Books were burning thousands of years ago, in other countries, and books are burning, here and now.”  Abkhazia, Georgia, 1992 During the Abkhazian-Georgian war following the end of the Soviet Union, Georgian paramilitaries broke into the Institute of the Abkhazian Language, Literature and History in Sukhumi and set it ablaze. Neighbours, including Georgians, immediately extinguished the blaze but paramilitaries returned and set the archive on fire again and prevented neighbours and firefighters from fighting it. The fire destroyed 95 per cent of the collection.  Bosnia, 1992 Serbian nationalist forces started a fire in the national library of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo by bom

Matt's Notes Welcome, one and most, to the final regular episode for this THIRD season of the EnT! Academic year 2024/25 has been one for the books... and not just geopolitically, either! This episode sees us talking about marking... and a whole host of associated issues! Please check it out, as per your preferences! https://youtu.be/WT-0cTBQsG4 I guess it (the end of the term) hasn't really hit us yet! #ednontech 77 episodes in, and we're just getting started! #ednontech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGSD-jWq6_s And that is it! Time, gentlemen! Gentlewomen! Gentlefolk! It's time. Exams are over! Classes, too! Piles were created, eliminated, recreated, shifted into numerical and alphabeticized data formats... from rich to flat... from multimodal to binary! We've been given our orders, and boy did we march! I'm doing my best to stay general here! After the marking done, what else is there? For this itinerant educator fella... a repositioning, of sorts! From one rich, significant context to another! Severance will ease the transition! My point remains: it is better to be an educator in Canada than anywhere else in the world! It's my dumb luck to be of this place! And especially the Maritime place(s)! What's to stop anyone with a desire to self-improve to take that 10,000 hours and turn it into a thing for life... beyond the commercial applications! Writing, for me, is life stuff. It's DNA stuff. It's what I think about, and it's how I think! It's well prior to the educational endeavor chronologically, mentally, and spiritually! Teaching is a thing of the spirit. So is music. So is writing. I'd like to think we try to give that creative spirit, writ large, some space and some exploration through this show and our various and sundry and associated and non-mutually-exclusive other endeavors! This is all to say: education is freedom! We are pursuing this with commitment and conviction! And we are grateful to you, or anyone, who takes an interest in this for any reason whatsoever! We'll see you again in the fall! Doug's Notes Marking Out of the discussion of the last fifteen years we find one point of absolute agreement, namely, that we should overhaul thoroughly the methods by which we measure the outcome of instruction in the public schools.  Rugg, H. O. (1918). Teachers' marks and the reconstruction of the marking system. The Elementary School Journal, 18(9), 701-719. Secondary school teachers reported an average workload of 47.6 hours per week, made up of: 20 hours of face-to-face teaching; 11–12 hours of marking, planning and preparing; and 7 hours of administration  A number of teachers highlighted the cyclical nature of their marking workload, confirming that the hours spent on marking increased at certain peak points during the school year such as assessment, examination and reporting periods. As one teacher remarked, ‘These times change throughout the year. During musical time, reporting periods, senior marking, these hours double if not triple’ Manuel, J., Carter, D., & Dutton, J. (2018). 'As much as I love being in the classroom...': Understanding secondary English teachers' workload. English in Australia, 53(3), 5-22. Without considering the 21st Century teaching and learning activities, there are factors that are often left out in teaching workload calculation. Among of those factors are:  (i) courses regularly and repeatedly taught over time,  (ii) the evaluation types,  (iii) pedagogical methods employed,  (iv) the amount of assistance available from a teaching assistant(s)/ laboratory demo assistant,  (v) the coordination of industrial training and final year projects course,  (vi) practicum, especially for counseling and nursing course,  (vii) the course coordinator load,  (viii) individual private lesson, i.e. music lesson. … the assessment of student learning was the single most ...

Matt's Notes Hey there, hither and yon! We are most def gratitudinal (sic) to see you here and now! In this episode, Doug went way in the way back machine and brought out a topic and possibly the start of his part of these notes back in fall of 2023! We're always trying to fully use what we create on the way to these notes, and it's always great to be able to go back and rescue topics and ideas that had perhaps fallen to the side! Folks, we are talking loss & grief in education... and it does get heavy! https://youtu.be/quYUPX2M-Rw We are committed to these discussions! And we are excruciatingly handsome! #ednontech Unsurprisingly, we have some exceedingly handsome audio hereabouts as well! #ednontech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tuV4drxVXc&t=1s Listen, I'd be remiss here not to observe the following that have been shaping my viewpoint on certain aspects of how communication works in our new Trumpian, post-social media shitshow that is passing for culture! The Pope died on Easter Sunday the day after meeting a senior executive from one of the most chaotic, problematic US administrations in modern history. This same Easter weekend has also coincided with the normal 4/20 stoner fest to celebrate legal weed. As far as significant rock things go, we are also this same weekend with Easter, the death of the Pope, and 4/20... today, as I write this, Easter Monday of 2025... is the fifth anniversary of the passing of Prince, the legendary genius generational musician and cultural icon... and, at bottom, basketball-loving Minneapolis homebody! They're a type, actually! It's also Iggy Pop's birthday today, cause why the fuck not? In the times of MAGA and the complete annihilation of economic, cultural, and political norms... people are feeling stressed, angry, exhausted! I know this because I've made an intentional effort to reach an American audience for podcasts and other media offerings vis-à-vis the "adding friend" feature on FB! Here are the points that I made this afternoon when somebody reached out! It seems best to share these verbatim! Honestly, I think this says it all! I have a PhD in a thing called educational technology! I teach English at a college here in Alberta! I've been doing somewhat of a multifaceted social media experiment. I'm using 5 different social media platforms with pretty specific purposes in order to amplify content that I produce related to: an education podcast, a music podcast, a literary interview series, plus bespoke indie media production. As of 6 weeks ago, I had around 115 followers... a normal, selective amount for a middle-aged separated educator guy. Then, after your president fucked over the world economy, I decided to start poking back through very specific and disruptive techniques equating to spam, but with advanced cultural and technological messaging behind it. Cause you know, 4 university degrees, temporary English contract, away from my kids, single, basic bored sober dude. I'm trying to be as transparent as possible to anyone who asks. I have a very legitimate 20 year practice as PhD level educator in the language, learning technology, training and development spaces. I have seen MAGA use very basic features and approaches through Meta tools, largely FB and IG but also Whatsapp. The Democrats are utterly fucked at running counter messaging. I am a basic overeducated Canadian dude whose Grandfather fought in Korea alongside American troops in the first conflict against Soviet-Russian backed forces following WWII. I take this bullshit from your fucked up bigoted dictator personally. I am using very basic counter propaganda techniques to put out messaging which is educationally and cultural valid, while also causing the other side to scramble with my advanced writing skills and my basic ability to use media creation tools and web marketing techniques to disrupt some very bogus and lazy...