Parallel Universes

If one is looking for evidence that parallel universes exist, one need only look at this past week in my life. I had the opportunity to participate in two separate faculty development activities – one on our own campus and one at the University of Mary Washington. The two activities provide an interesting continuum of… Read more Parallel Universes

The Double-Edged Sword

I have started reading Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody this weekend. I am enjoying it, but my mind is buzzing with implications. He discusses how, in the same way that the printing press opened people’s minds and the telephone increased two-way communication, so has the new web applications altered how groups form and interact.… Read more The Double-Edged Sword

Expert versus Paradigm Learning

Gary Stager is a noted expert in education, and I find value in his constructionist approach to online education. However, he made some comments in Will Richardson’s blog posting “Redefining Teachers as Experts” that caused at a minimum raised eyebrows in this old educator! Will was commenting on sections of Axel Bruns’ new book Blogs,… Read more Expert versus Paradigm Learning

The Innovation Dilemma

My buddy Jeff Nugent passed me an interesting YouTube video Thursday night entitled “We Think.” It is an amazing four-minute journey through the possibilities of the semantic web. Shared ideas are the currency of the 21st Century. I went looking for more information on the creator and discovered Charles Leadbeater’s website. One of Charles Leadbeater’s… Read more The Innovation Dilemma

Is the Passion Evident?

Chris Lott posted an exceptional blog post in Ruminate on March 19th: Things I Can’t Teach. It is a short insightful posting so please read the whole thing. As Lott notes, learning is at its heart all about change. It involves being challenged, surprised, overwhelmed, taking the wrong steps, being fearful at times, but holding… Read more Is the Passion Evident?