Now wouldn’t it be great if there would be some sort of centralized credit system not only for everything you learn but also for everything you teach? This way platforms could implement it and no matter where you would teach students could see your overall reputation.

Mike says:
I’ll go you one better. The perfect site would be one that could enhance a teacher’s competitiveness equally well both on-line and off.

A truly neutral platform would have no bias in either direction, making it possible for the teacher to be the masters of their own evolution.

But one of the main points for me is that platforms should not be restrictive concerning the teacher’s activities “outside” of the platforms. eduFire does a very good job there. You can put several links in your teacher profile of your other “activities” in the web whereas Myngle for example seems to be very jealous if a teacher dares to use other platforms.
Jon Bischke says: “We know that teachers try other platforms but we are cool with that. We KNOW that we offer the best service and community, so teachers will eventually come back to us”.
I think this is the way to go. You have to be certain about what you are doing and offer the best service to your clients.

Back to the birds now .

But you have also taken this discussion in another direction- asking what traits make us (teachers) most adaptive and successful in an increasingly hyper-competitive, winner-take global setting.

My take is that platform and teachers can be symbiotically successful but that for platforms to be understood by teachers as benign, cooperative partners, a certain transparency and willingness to communicate and move in step together seems to be required.

I wonder who will create the perfect social teaching platform for teachers (as opposed to the perfect platform for students).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3337766/Peregrine-falcons-take-to-the-city-life.html

But Darwin is a good point. Birds / teachers should adapt themselfs in order to survive on the single islands. If you teach on Myngle island you need other skills as on eduFire or as on your own website.
Hmmm, so you need to be a “transformer” bird if you want to survive on every island?!

In fact, one could argue that sparrows are more successful, in evolutionary terms, because they are more plentiful than falcons and probably they have better adapted to the world’s prime predator– our favorite animal, man.

In some countries the prime avian predator has all but disappeared thanks to man. As a “harmless” vegetarian myself I always find it quite interesting when we use meat-eating predators as examples of success when, in fact, it well could be that the more social species, cooperative in the extreme, and able to co-evolve with the most dangerous predator (mankind), should be considered the more successful species.

As long as we eat beef, the cow will outlive the lion. The falcon, beautiful, magnificent bird that she is, might easily disappear without man’s protection.

I myself am a dodo bird.