I've spent some time this weekend preparing for my EDUCAUSE Point/CounterPoint debate with John Fritz on Learning Management Technologies: Enterprise System or Consumer Good?

We are lucky to have Gardner Campbell moderate the session, so, to get ready, I watched the discussion he had with Jim Groom about the Edupunk movement.

You can see the whole debate on the EDUCOZ channel.

While I disagree with many things that Jim Groom says, and have both sympathies and issues with the Edupunk movement, I came away struck by some of the comments that Jim made in the discussion (see part 4).

Jim provides a wonderful overview of why engaging in this sort of discussion is so important for learning technologists. He also gets right to the heart of some of the main conflicts and challenges within our discipline.

Jim touches on issues of authority, status, and legitimacy. These issues remain the undercurrent of much of the work that learning technologists engage in on our campuses and in our professional organizations.

But I should let Jim speak for himself.

Below are some quotes that I transcribed from the YouTube video that I found particularly salient to our discipline:

"Instructional technology as we've known it has been a very bloodless pursuit, very bland and pale."

"To have a group of people to work with and who are saying the lifeblood is partnership, about working with faculty, it's about re-imagining and re-conceptualizing the very space you inhabit. Using all sorts of tools that are freely available."

"You have people who say, oh wait that's a creative edge to this"

"That is where the creativity came in and for me was truly inspiring"

"Maybe we can get away from the hanging / shrugging of your shoulders saying 'I'm an instructional technologist' - to yeah...I am...and I am full of pride about it!'

I just love that last statement - almost a throwaway line from the discussion - when Jim says "'I'm an instructional technologist- to yeah...I am...and I am full of pride about it!'

So am I.

Your thoughts?