Edupunks

by Daniel L. Bennett

One of my older siblings grew up in the 1980s punk rock era (complete with a mohawk) and to this day, he will from time-to-time refer to me as a "punk". I've been reading quite a bit about the transformative power of technology lately, finding myself more and more intrigued by the potential of technology to revolutionize education as we now know it. This article helped bring about some self-realization: My brother was right all along, I am a punk...an "edupunk" --

"a growing movement toward high-tech do-it-yourself education."

Some cool quotes from the article include:

Jim Groom -

"Colleges have become outrageously expensive, yet there remains a general refusal to acknowledge the implications of new technologies"

"Edupunk...is about the utter irresponsibility and lethargy of educational institutions and the means by which they are financially cannibalizing their own mission."

David Wiley -

"If universities can't find the will to innovate and adapt to changes in the world around them, universities will be irrelevant by 2020."

"The challenge is not to bring technology into the classroom...the challenge is to capture the potential of technology to lower costs and improve learning for all."

"When you put materials online, they're different in that particular way; you can pay to produce them once and they can be used by an infinite number of people."

Richard Ludlow -

"My idea was to...do for educational content what Hulu has done [for TV]."

Bob Mendenhall -

"Technology has changed the productivity equation of every industry except education"

"We're simply trying to demonstrate that it can do it in education -- if you change the way you do education as opposed to just adding technology on top."