"Predicting the future is easy. It's trying to figure out what's going on now that's hard" (Dressler, 2005)
There is supposedly an old Chinese curse that states, “May You Live in Interesting Times.” I would think that this last week – the first week of President Trump’s administration – qualifies as interesting times. As someone who teaches about social media in both leadership and education classes, it was fascinating to watch unfolding events… Read more The Leaky Social Media Question
As ILD 831 was wrapping up this week, I was down in Rhode Island spending spring vacation with my grandkids. That meant a trip to the movies to see the latest Disney Movie, The Jungle Book. Great movie for adults and kids alike! A key feature of the movie which is repeated throughout is “The… Read more Leader Strength is the Pack
I am always stoked when I get a chance to teach ILD 831 for Creighton University. This course in their Interdisciplinary Doctorate in Leadership Program has an eclectic group of leaders from around the world exploring the impact of technology in general and the internet in particular on leadership in organizations. Through this examination, these… Read more Exploring the Intersection of Leadership and Technology
In that short period between end of Spring semester, our Online Course Development Initiative, and the start of my summer teaching, I dove into some books: The first was assigned reading. The VCU Center for Teaching Excellence in which I have been a member for the past 8 years is merging with our Online@VCU staff… Read more Two Weeks, Three Books, and A New Role
As we approach the end of Spring semester in GRAD-602, our students are beginning to submit their reflections on the book they read for the course. They had a choice of five books: Ambrose, S. et. al. (2010). How Learning Works: 7 Research-based Principles for Smart Teaching Bain, K. (2011). What the Best College Teachers… Read more Evangelizing Teaching
Back on March 5th, my colleague Enoch Hale posted a challenge on his blog: “I want to pose an open challenge: Post an out-of-the-box question about teaching and learning each day for 30 days.” I took him up on his challenge…though I suggested “thirty work days”…to which he agreed. Over the past six weeks, we… Read more 30-Day Challenge – Day 30 – The Questions I Did Not Ask
A decade ago, Ernst and Young led a strategic visioning retreat for the technical college where I worked. Over three days, a mix of college leadership and faculty met in a big room high above the Atlanta scene, looking out over both the city and Stone Mountain in the distance. The room was reconfigured each… Read more 30-Day Challenge – Day 27 – Future Proofing
As part of the 30-Day Question Challenge, Enoch Hale posted “Going Beneath The Surface“, where he asked “How often do we journey into the unknown?” As a retired Navy sailor, I immediately pictured a submarine diving when I saw his title. Enoch asked: “When I think about teaching and learning, I have to ask: do… Read more 30-Day Challenge – Day 26 – Deeper Explorations
Ilya Pozin, founder of Open Me and Ciplex, and a columnist for Inc, Forbes and LinkedIn, had an article in LinkedIn called “15 Crazy Best Practices That Really Work.” Ilya noted that for entrepreneurs, conventional wisdom does not always work, especially in the disruptive market today. He posted 15 “crazy ideas” from fellow entrepreneurs who… Read more 30-Day Challenge – Day 21 – Crazy Teaching Practices
Yesterday, I talked about woodpeckers and swifts…today my inspiration is penguins. Actually, my inspiration was a blog post by Garr Reynolds last week – “There’s no shame in falling. The key is getting up!” As Garr noted: “…What inspires me most about this flightless bird is their resilience. They make the best of a… Read more 30 Day Challenge – Day 17 – Teaching Like Penguins