Stephen Downes defines "edupunk" as "student-centered, resourceful, teacher- or community-created rather than corporate-sourced, and underwritten by a progressive political stance. ... Edupunk, it seems, takes old-school Progressive educational tactics--hands-on learning that starts with the learner's interests--and makes them relevant to today's digital age, sometimes by forgoing digital technologies entirely." I guess I'm one of the new "Edupunk" professors he's talking about. I'm getting pretty frustrated with vendor-centered learning, where the vendor controls what students see and how they interact with it. The situation spirals downward since institutions that buy into a proprietary software package or application tend not to explore alternatives.  The discussion begins with Jim Grooms' blog post at bavatuesdays.

Frustrated With Corporate Course-Management Systems, Some Professors Go 'Edupunk'

"Punk rock was a rebellion against the clean, predictable sound of popular music and it also encouraged a do-it-yourself attitude. Edupunk seems to be a reaction against the rise of course-managements systems, which offer cookie-cutter tools that can make every course Web site look the same." (Wired Campus)

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