"Predicting the future is easy. It's trying to figure out what's going on now that's hard" (Dressler, 2005)
For the 13th year, voting for the Top Tools for Learning is open (closing September 13th). I have participated in Jane Hart’s annual survey for a number of years, and her call for voting for favorite tools is a good opportunity for reflection as well. My last reflection was here. My top tools this year…and… Read more Annual Tool Reflection
A little over four months ago, I posted about Jim Lang’s book Small Teaching: Everyday lessons from the science of learning (2016). In this book, Jim suggested a number of small modifications to teaching that could spark positive change, usually in the form of brief activities, one-time interventions, or small changes to the daily schedule. These… Read more Small Teaching in Online Classes
Yesterday, Goldie Blumenstyk of the Chronicle of Higher Education shared a link in her weekly newsletter to The Future of Work in America, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). The future of work has been a topic of interest to me for the past decade, particularly in reference to the doctoral courses in… Read more Opportunities in The Future of Work
This week, my 8-week Northeastern class, EDU-6323 – Technology as a Medium for Learning, started. Before diving in to various technologies while working through Michelle Miller’s book Minds Online, we spend the first week exploring what learning in a networked world might actually mean. Readings include: Brown, Dehoney, and Millichap. (2015). The Next Generation Digital… Read more Truth 3.0
I was out walking today listening to Pandora, and Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall came on. One of my favorites … and it reminded me of a recent blog post by Seth Godin on The Learning / Doing Gap. As Godin noted, “To quote the ancient rockers, ‘We don’t need no… education.’ But… Read more Are You Another Brick?
Stephen Downes noted this report in his blog post a few days back, noting: “This report has some flaws but it is overall a far better snapshot of the future of learning than many of its contemporaries… five scenarios dominate – education as usual, global giants, regional rising, peer-to-peed, and robo revolution. These aren’t depicted… Read more Oh The Changes We Will See
I learned an interesting turn of phrase today while reading Steve Wheeler’s new book Digital Learning in Organizations: Help Your Workforce Capitalize on Technology (2019). “Knowmad” I am about a third of the way through this book…and I am enjoying it. I have followed Steve Wheeler (a.k.a. @Timbuckteeth) for a decade now on both his… Read more Encouraging Knowmads
“As the world becomes more connected, more transparent, and more diverse, businesses need a new type of leadership.” That was the lead sentence in a Forbes article by Bonnie Marcus entitled “What Are the Most Important Leadership Skills for the Future?“. Marcus was citing the 2019 Global Human Capital Trends report by Deloitte. Deloitte researchers… Read more Human Focus in a Tech World
This week, I start teaching an 8-week course for Merrimack – ED6306 – Technology, Communication and School Improvement. One of the course objectives is for students to revise or develop a social media marketing plan for their school. And I am half-way through the Spring term at Northeastern for EDU6333 – Social Media and Beyond,… Read more Two Faces of Social Media
In a five-part series, Canadian Tony Bates looked at the overall purpose of online courses, in reaction to recent moves by the Canadian government: Ontario’s strategy to use online learning to ease pressure on high schools using online learning to reduce the cost of higher education using online education to support disadvantaged students: no online… Read more The Purpose of Online Learning
