DIY U

Yesterday was just about the bestest book-launching experience an author could hope to have. My first time talking about DIY U and such enthusiastic reactions, from a great, diverse, knowledgeable crowd.

I told a story about a road trip I had taken along the Pacific coast, first speaking to University of California chancellor Charles Reed who told me “In 40 years in higher ed, I have never witnessed a meltdown such as the one we are currently experiencing,” and “This is the end of the Master Plan in California.” Then in Los Altos, CA at Foothill Community College, meeting with Judy Baker of the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources who talked about taking faculty by the hand and spreading the gospel of sharing and remixing, to save time, improve teaching and benefit students. And finally driving down to Mexico with Paul Kim of the Pocket School project, exploring radical models for learner-centered, location-independent education.  (I have to thank my incredibly talented storyteller friend Martin Dockery for tutoring me in preparing for the presentation.)

One professor raised her hand and essentially said, I want to be part of this revolution–this Rebel Alliance of teachers who understand the new way. Where do I begin?

I had a conversation with Doug Freeman and Amy of Classhive this morning about the idea of trying to start some kind of social network assisting the members of this DIY U community in finding each other—helping educational entrepreneurs find professors and classrooms to user-test their products, for example, or allowing students to compare notes about how technology is being used in their school. Are you interested in this idea? Do you think Ning is the right platform, or are there other better ideas?