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The power of being able to pursue one’s passion. [Christian]

On 03/20/2013, in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, hearts -- matters of the heart, lifelong learning, love of learning, passions, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I appreciate Kevin Wheeler’s comment on Jay Cross’ posting entitled “A Solution to the College Crisis” (emphasis below from DSC)

In response to Jay Cross:

Higher education in the United States is broken. Costs are ouf of control. Students are dissatisfied. Graduates can’t get jobs. Says MIT’s Andy McAfee, “What’s going on is halfway between a bubble and a scandal.” I propose we put higher ed back on track by founding Corporate Colleges. Corporate colleges break higher […]

Jay,

As you know I have written a book on Corporate Universities and have spent many years at the “coal face” of learning, work and formal education. What you propose is actually what many corporate universities are offering today (except for your funding approach). It works well at the professional levels where people already have skills and degrees but seek additional competence.

it works much less well with entry level folks and people with minimal education. Many of these folks lack basic skills or are functionally illiterate. Some are reluctant to sink time into learning, especially if it reduces pay. Many have social issues and have had bad experiences learning in school. They are not predisposed to learn in any way that looks like learning.

They need personal attention, work-based apprentice-like education, and a tremendous amount of coaching with consistent motivation or interest falls off. It is a dilema that technology works much less well at this level and therefore costs for coaching go up while the benefit to a corporation is minimal. Most organizations would rather invest in those who are already performing than try and educate entry-level or marginal folks. …

Everything you propose makes perfect sense, but it is damn hard to get it to work in reality.

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From DSC:
This is exactly the kind of thing I’ve been trying to address — if people don’t like learning, it will be very hard to get them to become lifelong learners (something that has become a requirement these days). 

To those of us working within K-12 and/or higher education:

One of the greatest gifts that we can possibly give to our students is a chance for them to identify and develop their God-given passions, interests, and abilities.  If we create the “space” for this to occur, an enormous amount of internal energy and will power will be released.

Check out this video for a perfect example of this!!!

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IfStudentsDesignedTheirOwnSchools-March2013

 

To those folks working within the corporate world:

How can your organization’s culture be tweaked to better support people and their development?  This might be putting more resources towards helping internal employees develop their own learning ecosystems — based upon their interests, passions, career goals — and/or hiring entry-level folks and then helping develop them.  Besides helping to make the world a better place, this approach just might just turn out to be a solid business move.

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Great to see this! A passions-based learning conference.

On 03/18/2013, in hearts -- matters of the heart, love of learning, passions, by Daniel Christian

Passion-Based Learning Conference: Spartans Connect II — from ryanbretag.com

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Just like the past two years ago, we asked our students and faculty what they are passionate about. But we didn’t stop there. As Dan Pink said, “If people tap their strengths, and use them in the service of something larger than themselves, passion will take care of itself.” So we asked questions like these:

  • What do you do for fun?
  • What are your interests?
  • How do you spend your free time?
  • What do you love doing – something you get lost in, find flow with?
  • What are you passionate about.
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Chesapeake Child Development Center by Elliott + Associates Architects [karmatrendz.com]

On 03/14/2013, in architecture, K-12 related, learning spaces, love of learning, play, by Daniel Christian

ChesapeakeChildDevCtr-March2013

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THIS is what it could look like if students designed and *owned* their own learning! A very powerful piece.

On 03/12/2013, in Daniel S. Christian, engagement / engaging students, formal learning, hearts -- matters of the heart, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, love of learning, participation, passions, student-related, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
THIS is what it could look like if students OWNED their own learning and could pursue their own passions! — A powerful piece! Well worth your time if you are involved with — or concerned about — education in any way, shape, or form.

The video starts off with this troubling/deep assertion by a student (which I’m sure varies in actuality across the board):

  • “It’s crazy that…in a system that is meant to teach…and to help the youth, there is NO voice from the youth at all.”

 

IfStudentsDesignedTheirOwnSchools-March2013

 

From DSC:
A few radical — but powerful ideas — to help students OWN their own learning (something that they will need for the rest of their lives):

  • More choice, more control
  • Research what you want to research — “The most important thing about your question is that you ACTUALLY  WANT to know the answer.”
  • Students pursue their own passions — be that an interest in music, art, science, aviation, or in another discipline.
  • Student present their findings to each other — which involves more of a team-based approach (i.e. peer pressure in a positive way here, strongly encouraging each other to do their best work so as not to let others down)
  • Peer evaluation
  • No quizzes
  • No grades
  • Often no adults in the room; if adults are there, they are acting more as guides and facilitators
  • Multiple types of “assignments”/activities — some individualistic, some group work, some long-term

A couple of questions kept running through the back of my mind:

  • Did they hand select these particular students for this program?
  • If so, what were the predominant characteristics of those students?

 

 

With that said, this is a very powerful piece — well worth your time to check out.

 

 

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What are we doing?! We will all pay for these broken strategies — for generations to come! Time for some new goals!

On 02/22/2013, in communities of practice, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, experimentation, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, instructional design, interactivity, K-12 related, leadership, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, love of learning, morals/values, more voice more choice more control, real-world assignments, social learning / networks, strategy, student-related, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Some very frustrated reflections after reading:

Excerpt:

Right now, boys are falling out of the kindergarten through 12th grade educational pipeline in ways that we can hardly imagine.

 

This situation continues to remind me of the oil spill in the Gulf (2010), where valuable resources spilled into the water untapped — later causing some serious issues:
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From DSC:
What are we doing?!!! We’ve watched the dropout rates grow — it doesn’t seem we’ve changed our strategies nearly enough! But the point that gets lost in this is that we will all pay for these broken strategies — and for generations to come!  It’s time to seriously move towards identifying and implementing some new goals.

What should the new goals look like? Here’s my take on at least a portion of a new vision for K-12 — and collegiate — education:

  • Help students identify their God-given gifts and then help them build up their own learning ecosystems to support the development of those gifts. Hook them up with resources that will develop students’ abilities and passions.
    .
  • Part of their learning ecosystems could be to help them enter into — and build up — communities of practice around subjects that they enjoy learning about. Those communities could be local, national, or international. (Also consider the creation of personalized learning agents, as these become more prevalent/powerful.)
    .
  • Do everything we can to make learning enjoyable and foster a love of learning — as we need lifelong learners these days.
    (It doesn’t help society much if students are dropping out of K-12 or if people struggle to make it through graduation — only to then harbor ill feelings towards learning/education in general for years to come.  Let’s greatly reduce the presence/usage of standardized tests — they’re killing us!  They don’t seem to be producing long-term positive results. I congratulate the recent group of teachers who refused to give their students such tests; and I greatly admire them for getting rid of a losing strategy.)
    .
  • Give students more choice, more control over what their learning looks like; let them take their own paths as much as possible (provide different ways to meet the same learning objective is one approach…but perhaps we need to think beyond/bigger than that. The concern/fear arises…but how will we manage this? That’s where a good share of our thinking should be focused; generating creative answers to that question.)
    .
  • Foster curiosity and wonder
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  • Provide cross-disciplinary assignments/opportunities
    .
  • Let students work on/try to resolve real issues in their communities
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  • Build up students’ appreciation of faith, hope, love, empathy, and a desire to make the world a better place. Provide ways that they can contribute.
    .
  • Let students experiment more — encourage failure.
    .

 

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Reflections after reading ‘Warnings From the Trenches’ [Flaherty]

On 02/19/2013, in assessment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, K-12 related, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, love of learning, passions, student-related, ubiquitous learning, by Daniel Christian

‘Warnings from the trenches’ — from insidehighered.com by Colleen Flaherty

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

“Thus, students arriving in our high school lacked experience and knowledge about how to do the kinds of writing that are expected at higher levels of education,” he wrote. And even though high school teachers may try their best to make up for lost time, they, too, are held accountable for standardized test scores. Beyond mandatory state tests, the broad scope of Advanced Placement exams can have the same short-sighted effect on instruction, he added (many of Bernstein’s courses were AP U.S. government and politics).

Consequently, he said in an interview, students now arriving at college — even elite ones — are better at “filling in bubbles” than thinking outside a discrete set of multiple choices, in the ways the higher education and adult life demand.

Bernstein said he’d planned on retiring from his Maryland high school several years from now, but decided to leave last month due to a combination of factors, including the increasingly frustrating nature of teaching in a test-focused system.

 

From DSC:
I saw a question out on the blogosphere the other day that asked, “After the SATs are gone, then what?”  I’d like to see us pursue that line of thinking, as we need to strive to do more things for students’ learning and not so much because that’s the most efficient way to “manage” education.  (I wonder about CMS’s/LMS’s in this regard as well.)  My vote is for helping students identify their God-given talents, interests, passions, abilities and to help them develop those gifts — creating WIN-WIN situations throughout society and the globe. Assessment is a key element of teaching and learning, but I think we’ve gone too far with these standardized tests — the pendulum needs to swing back the other way.

 

Also see:

  • The Future of Education .. from Isaac Asimov, 1988 #edcmooc — from dontwasteyourtime.co.uk
    Excerpt:
    “Once we have computer outlets in every home, each of them hooked up to enormous libraries where anyone can ask any question and be given answers, be given reference material in something you’re interested in knowing … you ask,you can find out, you can follow it up and you can do it in your own home, at your own speed, at your own direction, in your own time, then everyone will enjoy learning.”
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A warning to college profs from a high school teacher [Bernstein]

On 02/12/2013, in assessment, education reform, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, love of learning, teachers, by Daniel Christian

A warning to college profs from a high school teacher — from washingtonpost.com by Kenneth Bernstein
For more than a decade now we have heard that the high-stakes testing obsession in K-12 education that began with the enactment of No Child Left Behind 11 years ago has resulted in high school graduates who don’t think as analytically or as broadly as they should because so much emphasis has been placed on passing standardized tests. Here, an award-winning high school teacher who just retired, Kenneth Bernstein, warns college professors what they are up against. Bernstein, who lives near Washington, D.C. serves as a peer reviewer for educational journals and publishers, and he is nationally known as the blogger “teacherken.”  This appeared in Academe, the journal of the American Association of University Professors.

Excerpt:

Where do I begin? I spent the last thirty minutes listening to a group of arrogant and condescending noneducators disrespect my colleagues and profession. I listened to a group of disingenuous people whose own self-interests guide their policies rather than the interests of children. I listened to a cabal of people who sit on national education committees that will have a profound impact on classroom teaching practices. And I heard nothing of value. “I’m thinking about the current health-care debate,” I said. “And I am wondering if I will be asked to sit on a national committee charged with the task of creating a core curriculum of medical procedures to be used in hospital emergency rooms.”

The strange little man cocks his head and, suddenly, the fly on the wall has everyone’s attention.

“I realize that most people would think I am unqualified to sit on such a committee because I am not a doctor, I have never worked in an emergency room, and I have never treated a single patient. So what? Today I have listened to people who are not teachers, have never worked in a classroom, and have never taught a single student tell me how to teach.”

 

From DSC:
I remember one of my first coaches saying, “always change a losing game. Never change a winning game.” Standardized tests = a losing game.

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Some great learning spaces from “Classrooms of the Future”

On 02/12/2013, in architecture, Australia, engagement / engaging students, Europe, future, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, learning theories, love of learning, by Daniel Christian

Classrooms of the Future

Excerpt:

This image gallery from Fielding Nair International, a group of architects working in education, shows lots of images from new and innovative schools around the world.

 

imgur-learningspaces-2012

 
Addendum on 2/13/13, also see:

 

Vitra School Brotorp Rosan Bosch Architects

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Vitra School Brotorp Rosan Bosch Architects

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An introduction to technology integration [edutopia.org]

On 12/18/2012, in collaboration, creativity, digital learning, education technology, engagement / engaging students, love of learning, pedagogy, by Daniel Christian

An introduction to technology integration — from edutopia.org

Excerpt:

Integrating technology with classroom practice can be a great way to strengthen engagement by linking students to a global audience, turning them into creators of digital media, and helping them practice collaboration skills that will prepare them for the future. Read a short introductory article.

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The Global One Room Schoolhouse: John Seely Brown (Highlights from JSB’s Keynote at DML2012)

On 10/16/2012, in digital learning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, global / globalization, learning spaces, love of learning, participation, play, by Daniel Christian

An animated highlight of John Seely Brown’s Keynote Presentation, “Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Learner in the 21st Century,” at the 2012 Digital Media and Learning Conference. Published on Sep 18, 2012 by DMLResearchHub.. With thanks going out to Mr. Joseph Byerwalter for this find/resource.

 

 

The Global One Room Schoolhouse -- John Seely Brown -- Highlights from JSB's Keynote at DML2012

 

 

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The Global One Room Schoolhouse -- John Seely Brown -- Highlights from JSB's Keynote at DML2012

 

 

Also see:

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From DSC: I like how Jackie titles her blog:

User Generated Education
Education as it should be – passion-based.

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Stanford School of Medicine experiments with the flipped classroom model

On 10/04/2012, in collaboration, face-to-face, flipping -- inverted learning, hybrid learning, love of learning, more voice more choice more control, online learning, by Daniel Christian

Stanford School of Medicine experiments with the flipped classroom model

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High-stakes testing: Is it removing the enjoyment of teaching….and learning? If it is, I vote to lessen it’s importance.

On 09/22/2012, in assessment, career development, lifelong learning, love of learning, student-related, teachers, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
High-stakes testing: Is it removing the enjoyment ot teaching….and learning? I reflected on that question after I saw the item below:

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Opt-Out Movement Gains Steam -- Harvard Education Letter - Sep/Oct 2012

 

From DSC:
I wonder:

  • How such high-stakes assessment systems are impacting incentive systems and funding? Are they changing the field of teaching?
  • How much standardized testing — and having to teach to such tests — is impacting teachers’ enjoyment of their careers?
  • How much standardized testing is impacting learners’ enjoyment of their educational experiences?  If it’s killing the love of learning, I say we significantly lessen the importance that we place upon such standardized tests.  One of the key deliverables that I think we need to strive for right now in education is that people enjoy learning and appreciate it — because the reality in today’s workplace is that they’ll need to be doing it for the rest of their lives:

Mind the (Skills) Gap –– from HBR by William D. Eggers, John Hagel and Owen Sanderson

Excerpt:

A bachelor’s degree used to provide enough basic training to last a career. Yet today, the skills college graduates acquire during college have an expected shelf life of only five years according to extensive work we’ve done in conjunction with Deloitte’s Shift Index. The key takeaway? The lessons learned in school can become outdated long before student loans are paid off.

And it’s not only white-collar, college-driven careers that will suffer rapid skills obsolescence. Think of how new metering systems and motion sensors suddenly require highly technical skills from contractors, plumbers and electricians. Or how welders working on wind turbines now need specialized degrees and the ability to read CAD blueprints or LEED certification requirements.

…

skills-of-the-future.png

 

 

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Is a large swath of people being left behind? [Christian]

On 09/21/2012, in 21st century, career development, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, global / globalization, love of learning, pace of change, robotics, society, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
“Is a large swath of people being left behind?”


A few things I was thinking about prompted me to ask this:

  • The growth of robotics.
    Will this leave more blue-collar workers out of work? Very likely.
    .
  • The demand for technological skills, new media literacies, and the appreciation for the strategic value of technology
    .
  • New ways of doing business– many of them being new to us. That is, they are enabled by innovations that we didn’t grow up with.
    .
  • New jobs requiring brand new skills; yet because learning is not very enjoyable to many, they may not want to go back to “school.”
    .

Here’s but one recent example that relates to this line of thinking:

  • This robot could transform manufacturing — from TechhjnologyReview.com by Will Knight
    A smarter, safer new industrial robot could bring automation to new areas of manual work and help many U.S. manufacturers regain a competitive edge.
    .

Get a grip: Baxter demonstrates a simple manufacturing task at Rethink Robotics’ headquarters in Boston.
Daniel Lovering

 

 

 

We need lifelong learners and we need to enjoy learning!  If people are coming out of high school or college saying, “I’ll never do that again!” then we have a serious problem.

 

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Reflections on David Warlick’s solid posting, “I never needed to know that.”

On 08/30/2012, in career development, Daniel S. Christian, engagement / engaging students, lifelong learning, love of learning, passions, personalized/customized learning, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Some reflections on on David Warlick’s solid posting, I never needed to know that. First, some excerpts (emphasis DSC):

But the fact is that one reason we, as educators, do not readily recognize this compelling truth and try to make sense of its profound implications is that we can not predict what our children will need to know and not need to know.  It would be nothing more than speculation.

So again, “What do our children need to be learning today?”

Several ideas spring to my mind as I try to unfold this.

  1. Our children need to learn something.
  2. What they need to learn is no longer as important as it use to be.
  3. Increasing the stakes on what they learn does little more than punish our children for our own arrogance.
  4. If what they learn today may not be useful to them tomorrow, then how will they continue to learn what is?
  5. How they learn has become much more important.
  6. Perhaps the most important thing we can help our children learn, is how to teach themselves.

I think David’s comments are right on. How students learn — and I would add enjoying learning — are very important. If I don’t like to learn, or if school is a painful experience, I will be at a huge disadvantage in life these days. Lifelong learning is now a requirement for most of us, if we want to stay marketable/employed. But if I don’t like to learn, this is going to be an uphill battle for me.

So when I approach the Common Core, or standardized tests, or questions concerning curriculum, etc….I am looking through the lenses that constantly ask the questions:

  • Will this help develop a passion for learning?
  • Does this allow students to pursue their passions?

 

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9 Signs We Have a “Boy Crisis” [collegestats.org]

On 08/09/2012, in love of learning, society, by Daniel Christian

9 Signs We Have a “Boy Crisis” — collegestats.org

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The term [boy crisis] refers to the country’s seeming dilemma of underdevelopment and academic underachievement in young males. Although the issue began to surface as far back as the ’80s, some have held firm in their refusal to acknowledge a reason for concern for our next generation of men. But to us, the tell-tale signs are there to prove American society has a serious problem.

 

From DSC:
I care about this topic for a number of reasons, but I’ll just mention a few here:

  1. It involves our nation’s future.
  2. I believe we’re all in the same boat together; no person is an island.
  3. I also find it relevant because it clearly points out that boys/young men are not enjoying their learning experiences. Surprised?! I doubt it. The problem is that such an aversion to learning increasingly bodes poorly in terms of being able to remain employed over the long term.

I have a couple of thoughts about potential reasons why this might be occurring…but what do you all think about this topic?


 

 

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