On 11/15/2020,
in collaboration, colleges, community colleges, health, ideas, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, music, online tutoring, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, youth,
by Daniel Christian
Musical Mentors collaborative mobilizes and expands in response to pandemic — with thanks to Bristol Jones for this resource/information
Organization connects musicians in need of work with students lacking access to music instruction
(Emphasis below from DSC)
New York, NY — November 12, 2020 — Musical Mentors Collaborative (“MMC”), which provides free private music instruction and instruments to students who would not otherwise have access, announced today its Winter Gala to benefit the 1:1 Music Fund which will enable the organization to provide 10,000 more lessons in the years to come.
MMC was founded in 2009 as a partnership between Columbia University students and PS 145, a neighboring elementary school in Morningside Heights, and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in New York State in 2011. Since 2009, MMC’s university chapters have provided over 7,500 lessons to more than 450 students in the United States.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 caused dramatic and painful changes in the musical community. Many performing arts institutions were forced to close indefinitely, and many talented musicians found themselves out of work.
In response, MMC launched a teaching fellowship in early April to pay professional musicians to teach one-on-one virtual lessons to students without access to private instruction. Teachers include members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as collaborators of Herbie Hancock, Lauryn Hill, and others. The organization has since onboarded over 35 teaching artists and nearly 200 students. Since the onset of the pandemic, MMC has paid more than $150,000 to its Teaching Fellows and shipped over $30,000 worth of instruments to students, collectively in support of over 1,300 virtual lessons.
“We are inspired by the response from the musical community, and immensely grateful for the support musicians have shown MMC students. These students represent our musical future and would otherwise lack access to the instruction and mentorship they deserve,” said Zack Susel, Co-Founder and Executive Director of MMC. “We are excited to announce our Winter Gala in support of our 1:1 Music Fund, through which we aim to provide 10,000 more private lessons in the coming years.”
In support of its growth and response to the pandemic, MMC has recruited 12 Grandmentors to lead pedagogical development, including GRAMMY® award winning pianist Emmanuel Ax, and Tony® award winning composer Jeanine Tesori, social work experts, and faculty from The Juilliard School and Curtis Institute of Music.
About Musical Mentors Collaborative
Musical Mentors Collaborative connects musicians with underserved students around the country. Since launching in 2009, MMC has taught over 8,800 free private lessons across instruments and genres, furthering their goal to support young musicians through one-on-one instruction. MMC operates chapters at universities across the United States, and mobilizes professional musicians through their selective Teaching Fellowship.
For more information, visit www.musical–mentors.org. | Instagram | Twitter
Also see:
MMC is thrilled to announce our newest campaign, the 1:1 Music Fund, which brings free, one-on-one lessons and instruments to kids who wouldn’t otherwise have access.
To learn more about the campaign and to donate, visit the link: https://t.co/A0eDNwJI3Q#1to1music pic.twitter.com/oc7TJqJFEX
— MMC (@musicalmentors_) November 12, 2020
On 11/10/2020,
in 21st century, adult learning, change, collaboration, communications, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, digital video, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, ideas, innovation, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, motivation, professional development, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, training / L&D, using teams, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, web-based collaboration, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Lincoln Financial CIO: How to build a learning culture – even in a pandemic — from enterprisersproject.com by Ken Solon
Lincoln Financial CIO Ken Solon shares how he’s bringing a virtual perspective to his longtime commitment to prioritizing the people behind the technology
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
In the spirit of test-and-learn, we created “Lean In and Learn IT,” an interactive digital program that provides a deep dive into one key IT strategy each month. Topics include digital and architecture, agile and DevOps, cloud, big data, and cybersecurity.
Based in our virtual collaboration platform, each topic features a kick-off video followed by a drip of content and interaction, including snackable articles, video clips, quizzes, and prizes to keep the team engaged. The month wraps up with a webcast focused on a key business application of the strategy, featuring subject matter experts both from within the IT organization and our business partners.
The involvement of partners is key, as our surveys tell us that few things motivate our teams as effectively as seeing the impact of their work.
From DSC:
Love their use of “streams of content.”
On 11/10/2020,
in 21st century, change, changing business models, collaboration, communications, corporate / business world, creativity, experimentation, ideas, innovation, pace of change, UK, web-based collaboration, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Digital transformation: 5 ways to balance creativity and productivity — from enterprisersproject.com by Andrew Parker
Creativity and productivity shouldn’t be opposing forces in your digital transformation efforts. Consider these tips to tap the power of both
Excerpt:
Creativity and productivity might sound like they’re poles apart: One is about thinking in new ways; the other is about making things happen.
But in successful digital transformation programs, the two go hand in hand – a perfect marriage of creative thinking that takes the latest technology innovations into account and productive action that brings those new ideas to life.
Today, creativity is more important than ever. As a result of the pandemic, organizations have been forced to think differently and to adapt quickly in order to stay relevant and survive. It’s a case of do or die.
In the wake of the pandemic, creativity is more important than ever.
From DSC:
Another important element here is developing/establishing a culture that is willing to innovate, adapt, experiment, and change. That is SO key in this type of transformation.
It’s clear to me that our people, and their willingness to be agile, innovate, test, and learn, were one of the “secrets” behind those successes. (source)
Also see:
- Remote work: How the pandemic is reshaping the office of the future — from enterprisersproject.com by Raju Vegesna
Having shifted to remote work, more businesses are considering a future with lower-cost office models that give employees choice in how and where they work. Good news: It’s a win-win.
By decentralizing the workforce, companies can attract talent anywhere in the world.
From DSC:
This means that our students must be able to collaborate and to create their deliverables — digitally/virtually/online.
On 10/30/2020,
in business side of he, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, digital learning, education technology, elearning, higher education, new business models, online learning, online media, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
OPM Market Landscape and Dynamics: Fall 2020 updates — from philonedtech.com by Phil Hill; with thanks to Edsurge.com for this resource
Excerpt:
There has been growing interest in the Online Program Management (OPM) market, as more schools try to develop a strategy and revenue model for online programs (particularly for master’s level). In addition, there has been a broad question to what degree schools would turn to OPM partners to help out with the Covid-driven move to online education in 2020 and beyond. We’re in the middle of the chaotic period of the pandemic, so there are no clear answers yet, but the consistent message is that OPM vendors are seeing a marked increase in interest from colleges and universities this year.
On 10/27/2020,
in collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, computer science, higher education, leadership, Learning Experience Design, online learning, participation, platforms, presentations, programming, remote teaching and learning, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
The Advantages of Teaching Soft Skills to CS Undergrads Online — from cacm.acm.org by Orit Hazzan; with thanks to Sarah Huibregtse for posting this out on LinkedIn.
Excerpt:
At first, I wondered whether teaching soft skills online is even possible since, unlike theoretical courses, I assumed that close face-to-face (F2F) interaction is required in order to practice such skills. Eventually, I realized that teaching this course online has, in fact, some advantages, that this teaching format opens up new opportunities, and that this medium can even foster several soft skills that I had not previously considered teaching in the F2F format. This blog demonstrates these advantages by focusing on the use of the breakout rooms option available in Zoom, which I used extensively in the course.
On 10/22/2020,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, Adobe, Apple, architecture, art, attention, biology, business side of he, career development, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, distance education, drama/theater, economics, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, engineering, entrepreneurship, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty/staff, future, game-changing environment, geography / geology, global / globalization, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, instructional design, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, journalism, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, love of learning, maker movement, mathematics, media/film, Michigan, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, music, online learning, online media, participation, passions, photography, platforms, project-based learning, reinvent, research, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, writing, XR - extended reality,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC…by the way, another title for this blog could have been:
WIN-WIN situations all around! The Theatre Departments out there could collaborate with other depts/disciplines to develop highly engaging, digitally-based learning experiences!
The future of drama and the theatre — as well as opera, symphonies, and more — will likely include a significant virtual/digital component to them. While it’s too early to say that theatre needs to completely reinvent itself and move “the stage” completely online, below is an idea that creates a variety of WIN-WIN situations for actors, actresses, stage designers, digital audio/video editors, fine artists, graphic designers, programmers, writers, journalists, web designers, and many others as well — including the relevant faculty members!
A new world of creative, engaging, active learning could open up if those involved with the Theatre Department could work collaboratively with students/faculty members from other disciplines. And in the end, the learning experiences and content developed would be highly engaging — and perhaps even profitable for the institutions themselves!
[DC: I only slightly edited the above image from the Theatre Department at WMU]
Though the integration of acting with online-based learning materials is not a new idea, this post encourages a far more significant interdisciplinary collaboration between the Theatre Department and other departments/disciplines.
Consider a “Dealing with Bias in Journalism” type of topic, per a class in the Digital Media and Journalism Major.
- Students from the Theatre Department work collaboratively with the students from the most appropriate class(es?) from the Communications Department to write the script, as per the faculty members’ 30,000-foot instructions (not 1000-foot level/detailed instructions)
- Writing the script would entail skills involved with research, collaboration, persuasion, creativity, communication, writing, and more
- The Theatre students would ultimately act out the script — backed up by those learning about sound design, stage design, lighting design, costume design, etc.
- Example scene: A woman is sitting around the kitchen table, eating breakfast and reading a posting — aloud — from a website that includes some serious bias in it that offends the reader. She threatens to cancel her subscription, contact the editor, and more. She calls out to her partner why she’s so mad about the article.
- Perhaps there could be two or more before/after scenes, given some changes in the way the article was written.
- Once the scenes were shot, the digital video editors, programmers, web designers, and more could take that material and work with the faculty members to integrate those materials into an engaging, interactive, branching type of learning experience.
- From there, the finished product would be deployed by the relevant faculty members.
[DC: Above images from the Theatre Department at WMU]
Colleges and universities could share content with each other and/or charge others for their products/content/learning experiences. In the future, I could easily see a marketplace for buying and selling such engaging content. This could create a needed new source of revenue — especially given that those large auditoriums and theaters are likely not bringing in as much revenue as they typically do.
Colleges and universities could also try to reach out to local acting groups to get them involved and continue to create feeders into the world of work.
Other tags/categories could include:
- MOOCs
- Learning from the Living[Class]Room
- Multimedia / digital literacy — tools from Adobe, Apple, and others.
- Passions, participation, engagement, attention.
- XR: Creating immersive, Virtual Reality (VR)-based experiences
- Learning Experience Design
- Interaction Design
- Interface Design
- …and more
Also see:
What improv taught me about failure: As a teacher and academic — from scholarlyteacher.com by Katharine Hubbard
In improv, the only way to “fail” is to overthink and not have fun, which reframed what failure was on a grand scale and made me start looking at academia through the same lens. What I learned about failure through improv comes back to those same two core concepts: have fun and stop overthinking.
…
Students are more engaged when the professor is having fun with the materials (Keller, Hoy, Goetz, & Frenzel, 2016), and teaching is more enjoyable when we are having fun ourselves.
On 10/10/2020,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, engineering, experimentation, faculty/staff, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, online learning, online tutoring, platforms, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, science, STEAM-related, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, television, tools, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Got science questions? Skype A Scientist can help — from bigthink.com by Scotty Hendricks
A non-profit dedicated to science communication offers to connect learners with over 11,000 scientists.
On 10/08/2020,
in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, adult learning, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, liberal arts, mobile learning, multimedia, online learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, society, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, tools, training / L&D, trends, TVs, United States, universities, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
If your collaboration tool allows it, try this “Virtual ‘4 Corners’ Activity” [Honeycutt & Robinson]
On 10/06/2020,
in active learning, adjunct faculty, attention, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, digital learning, distance education, engagement / engaging students, faculty/staff, more voice more choice more control, motivation, online learning, pedagogy, platforms, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, universities, videoconferencing, webinars,
by Daniel Christian
From Honeycutt & Robinson:
Dr. Sheila Robinson shares how she uses the "4 Corners" activity in a virtual environment to break up long lectures & increase student engagement. https://t.co/MaLqEYybj0— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) October 6, 2020
Per Dr. Honeycutt, also see:
On 10/05/2020,
in adjunct faculty, budgets, business side of he, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, curriculum, digital learning, distance education, experimentation, faculty/staff, formal learning, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, instructional design, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, online media, society, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, traditional / tradition, trends, United States, universities, vendors, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
The shift online has colleges looking to share courses — from educationdive.com by Alia Wong
Dozens of institutions have joined consortia for exchanging online classes since the pandemic began, and new options have sprung up.
Excerpts:
Dozens of other small, private institutions followed thanks to the Council of Independent Colleges’ (CIC’s) Online Course Sharing Consortium, which was formed in late 2018 and today is the largest of the dozen or so networks on Acadeum.
On 09/29/2020,
in Access to Justice (A2J), collaboration, ideas, innovation, law schools, leadership, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, productivity / tips and tricks, society, technology (general), tools, United States, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
Civil Justice for All — from amacad.org
Excerpts:
This report calls for the legal profession, the courts, law schools, tech professionals, and partners from many other fields and disciplines to coordinate their efforts to provide necessary legal assistance to many more people in need. Past efforts to improve access to justice offer strong evidence that such an effort would have a profound effect on American society—measured in financial savings, greater trust in law and social institutions, and the safety and security of families and communities.
THE PROJECT’S SEVEN RECOMMENDATIONS ARE:
First, and above all, dedicate a consequential infusion of financial and human resources to closing the civil justice gap, and seek a significant shift in mindset—extending beyond lawyers the duty and capacity to assist those with legal need—to make genuine strides toward “justice for all”;
Second, increase the number of legal services lawyers who focus on the needs of low-income Americans;
Third, increase the number of lawyers providing pro bono and other volunteer assistance, to supplement the corps of legal services lawyers;
Fourth, bring many new advocates—service providers who are not lawyers—into the effort to solve civil justice problems;
Fifth, foster greater collaboration among legal services providers and other trusted professionals—such as doctors, nurses, and social workers;
Sixth, expand efforts to make legal systems easier to understand and use through the simplification of language, forms, and procedures and the wider use of technology; and
Seventh, create a national team, or even a new national organization, to coordinate the efforts listed above, collect much-needed data on the state of civil justice, and help identify and publicize effective innovations that improve access.
On 09/28/2020,
in 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, art, Bring your own device (BYOD), career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, formal learning, future, future of higher education, graphics, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, informal learning, innovation, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, mathematics, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, presentations, relationships, simulations, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, society, student-related, tablets, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, TVs, ubiquitous learning, United States, user experience (UX), user interface design, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, youth,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC: What if each learner/person/student could have a lifelong, cloud-based “tribute” site?
What if you could hire a career coach to sift through the tributes to find common themes?
From DSC:
I recently asked friends and family to help me celebrate a significant birthday for my wife by creating a tribute for her — using a service called Tribute.co. It was a fun, meaningful, relational experience — it opened the doors to some great communications.
Here’s a video that describes what a Tribute is (from the company of that same name).
So I put out potential suggestions for what I hoped that we could relay to my wife, and people contributed their videos. Then a person at Tribute edited the videos to come up with a highlight reel. They also presented to my wife all of the videos, not just the highlight reel.
That got me to wonder, “What if each learner had a cloud-based, lifelong tribute site that parents, guardians, grandparents, teachers, coaches, musical directors, pastors, friends, and others could leave encouraging and instructive messages on? Or when they note something that might be of use later on in terms of career selection, they could “jot it down.” For example:
- [First-grade teacher] “I noticed Anne that when we did the art projects, you were enthralled with any sort of creative endeavor or project. We almost lost you in another world!”
- [Family member] “Tony, I’ve noticed ____. Here’s something to consider for your future pathways. Would you be interested in exploring _____ — such as if we signed you up for some lessons in that area?”
- [Eight grade teacher] “Eloise, I saw that your engagement level skyrocket when we studied ____, especially when you did the project on ___.”
- [Basketball coach] “Chan, I appreciated your hard work in practice today. Keep up the good work and you will be a super player! You are fast, strong, and seem to have a competitive spirit about you. Consider making a workout chart and charting out the workouts that you do each day. Monitor your progress over time. As of today, here are some apps to do just that: ___.
- [Pastor] “So glad Amanda that you were able to join us on our youth group visit to ___. I appreciated your end-of-the-day reflections on the experiences of the day. I also appreciated your hard work helping others.”
- [Friend] “It was great horsing around on Garageband with you today Zach. I look forward to diving into iMovie next with you. Let’s create a movie for each other. You seem to have a very creative side to you.”
- [High school CS Teacher] “Keep up the good work programming Jeremy! I hope that you will consider going into some type of job that uses critical thinking, mathematics, problem-solving — perhaps it will be programming, perhaps it will be engineering, or something else.”
- [College professor/advisor] “You mentioned that you hate college to me the last two times we met. You don’t seem happy studying ___. Have you considered ____?”
- [Tennis coach] Remember to bend those knees…get low. Keep your eyes on the seams of the ball.”
The idea behind such a service would be to offer encouragement, feedback, (if carefully put) constructive criticism, a message that “I’m on your team”…and/or…”Here’s what I see in you.”
Additional functionality/options
- Contributors:
- Like Twitter imposes a limit on characters, there could be options to impose a time limit on the length of a video, ability to add more than one video, and/or set a limit on how many videos someone can upload
- If submitting a written piece, the option would be there to limit the number of characters and/or the word count.
- From learners themselves (to their own tribute)
- No time limit, no word count or character limit
- Would act like a multimedia-based diary/journal of learning
- Option to select whether might be worth re-listening to for career selection purposes.
On 09/24/2020,
in change, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, faculty/staff, future of higher education, higher education, ideas, law schools, leadership, learning ecosystem, organizational change, participation, strategy, United States, universities, using teams, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
Staff get little to no say in campus governance. That must change. — from chronicle.com by Lee Skallerup Bessette
As professors and administrators debate how to reimagine academe after Covid-19, that reform must include a greater voice for staff members.
Excerpts:
Why, then, in all of this recent (and needed) hand-wringing and speculating about the future of the university, post-pandemic, have we not heard many (if any) staff voices? Or for that matter, any calls for our voices to be included in any planning and restructuring?
…
Faculty members are the experts in their disciplines, but they do not have a monopoly of knowledge around pedagogy, programming, student success, inclusivity, equity, accessibility, among other things. We shouldn’t expect already overtaxed faculty members to be experts in everything and anything. In fact, the intense pressure that many of them are feeling lately is largely because of structures and traditions that discourage professors from collaborating with staff members who are experts in those areas.
…
With college campuses selling themselves as an entire “experience,” not just a set of courses, it’s high time for those of us responsible for that campus experience to be included in the larger conversation.
On 09/24/2020,
in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, internet, law schools, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, United States, vendors, videoconferencing,
by Daniel Christian
Quick survey: What is the one tech (product, platform, etc.) that has been essential to you in working from home?
— Bob Ambrogi (@bobambrogi) September 23, 2020