My kid once wrote out, in cursive (bless him), “Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement”. I have no idea where he got those words from, but he got his sense of humour from me though because then he said: “Cursive. The word f**k would look really nice in cursive…hehe get it mom?” The lines on the paper are faded from exposure to daylight as it sits in my mom’s old typewriter staring back at me with lovely juxtaposition.
The F word could also be “freedom”, the freedom to write whatever your heart desires. Alas, Weller (2020) emphasized how important blogging was in the canons of ed tech and continue to be till this day. A juxtaposition which Weller (2020) pointed out was that of the “academic blogger” (p. 71) “negotiat[ing] two worlds simultaneously” (p. 70), carefully balancing output on both mediums for different but similar reasons.
The F word could also be “forget”, as blogger Watters (2020) urged us to not forget those in the industry who have made mistakes only to return in the guise of educational experts. I sat in a meeting just today where AI was the topic and someone said the bad word: Proctorio! It truly sounds like something a certain wizard would say, but it left a sick feeling in my stomach as I thought of Watters (2020) warning that it “has demonstrated again and again and again and again and again and again that it holds students and staff in deep distain”.
So, I think it’s pretty safe to say that both Weller and Watters would agree that educational justice would also look really nice in cursive.
Watters, A. (Nov, 2020). What Happens When Ed Tech Forgets: Some Thoughts on Rehabilitating Reputations. Hack Education: The History of the Future of Education.
Weller, M. (2020). 25 years of ed tech. Athabasca University Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771993050.01
Hi Tara!
Okay, I have to admit that the title got me! Then the story about your son made me laugh. I think he may be right that the word would look rather elegant in cursive!
What really stayed with me was your use of “forget.” I find it interesting how quickly we can become excited about the newest technology in education without always remembering what happened with previous technologies or the problems they created. With all of the attention currently being given to AI, I think Watters’ warning is especially relevant. New does not necessarily mean better, and we probably need to remember the lessons from earlier educational technologies before rushing toward the next one.
I also really liked how you moved from freedom and forget to educational justice. That was a great way to bring the whole post together.
And yes, I think educational justice would look very nice in cursive too!
Hi Christina! Thanks for reading my blog. Another F-word that would look lovely in cursive is FEARLESS! Fearless in our writing, fearless in questioning educational technology, and fearless in challenging practices that undermine educational justice. Perhaps we need a little more fearless and a little less forgetting as we navigate the future of ed tech. And while we’re at it, let’s add fairness to the page! Your comment is reminding me of how important it is to balance and offset the excitement of flying into the future (think Tesla’s flying car!) with the weighty wisdom of the past. May justice in all it’s fearless facets prevail!