Jim Groom, a technology specialist at the University of Mary Washington, has been a valuable resource to us in launching our Wordpress Multiuser installation at Wmblogs.net. Recently Jim returned from vacation and fired up a post on the limitations of Blackboard and the possibilities of an alternative reality: exit stage left: Edupunk. Wikipedia defines Edpunk as:

Edupunk is a term that has recently emerged among education bloggers. Coined first by Jim Groom in his blog, [[1]],Groom the term refers to educators and education strategies that engage a do it yourself (DIY) spirit. Most instructional uses of blogs, wikis, and podcasting among many other uses of emerging technologies might fall under the umbrella of DIY education or Edupunk.

Examples of Edupunk are Legos, chalk, Hypercard, Moodle, students’ art work on the outside wall of the classroom, and students teaching their teachers how to use technology.

Edupunk is also a rejection of efforts by government and corporate interests in using emerging technologies to exercise control over education, its processes, and its stakeholders. There is also an element of resistance to large and influential education businesses cooping emerging, collaborative, DIY technologies and techniques and repackaging them as their own product.

Note: The Wikipedia entry may not be up for long as the editors have classified it as “Non-notable neologism, term only coined a few days ago.” The article is proposed for deletion five days from now.

The term is getting lots of attention–including a post in the Chronicle.

Gardner recently twittered that he was not edupunk; neither am I. As a progresso-radical-humanist I’m in sympathy with many of the sentiments, but I could never get that kind of haircut.

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