A couple weeks ago, I received an invite to a ‘Renaissance Fair‘ at a neighbouring Middle School. It was an honour to be invited, since the reason for the invite was that they based the fair on the model Don Gordon wrote about in the paper I linked to above. It was an even greater […]
Category: technology
Flexible Learning Opportunities
Later this morning I will be a member of a Panel on the topic of “Flexible Learning“, at the 2014 BC Distributed Learning Conference. [Updates added after the session.] We will each be given 3-4 minutes to share our opening remarks, and with those remarks we could have one slide. Here is the slide that […]
Twitter EDU
UPDATE: This post has been vastly improved on, and made into an ebook. Click here to access a free copy of Twitter EDU. Below, you’ll find the material this ebook is based on, but the ebook is much more comprehensive, just as easy to read, and engages you with Twitter while you read. Pick up […]
Finding Balance
My original title for this image and this post was ‘Impossible Balance’, but it was too defeatist. I also realize that many more ‘rocks’ (or maybe ‘roles’) could have been added to the right side of the scale: Spirituality, Alone Time, Commuting, Hygiene, and (Social) Networking, to name a few. No matter what occupies your […]
Shifting Learning – Presentation for RSCON4
Shifting Learning – What Did You Learn At School Today? We hear a lot these days about project based learning, inquiry based learning, etc… What does that mean? What does it look like when schools shift away from “drill and kill” learning towards big ideas, questions, and “no right answer” kind of learning? And what […]
Data Driven Decisions in BC
With special thanks to Assistant Deputy Minister Paige MacFarlane, I had an opportunity to spend an afternoon a few weeks ago in a working session on Open Government. Vision ~ The Ministry of Education (MEd) will adopt an approach that demonstrates the Open Government principles of Transparency, Collaboration and Participation that supports the ministry’s core […]
Why Blog?
What is the value to me? What are some of the challenges? Where do I get inspiration from? How do I make it easier for myself? Yesterday I had the honour to present to my peers at one of our dinner meetings. I shared the presentation below: Why Blog? Why blog? from David Truss As […]
The Lone Wolf and the Unplug’d Conference Letters
Last summer I went to a rather unique conference. Unplug’d is an experience unto itself… a bunch of edtech types heading out to a lodge on the edge of Algonquin Park, and just out of range of cell service… truly unplugged! Before going to the conference, we were asked to write a letter to anyone […]
Disruptive Forces
I found myself in an interesting Twitter discussion with @backcountrynut – Sean Beaton, @adlcprojects – Jason Wiks, @laurelbeaton – Laurel Beaton, and @web20classroom – Steve W. Anderson, a few days back. In this conversation Jason said, “I think that the last disruption in ed was from elite ed to mass ed in the 1900’s” @adlcprojects Sean […]
Still the same conversation
If we are asking the question “Do we need to change?” then we are not yet changing and adapting to the conditions that made us ask the question. It is a paradigm shift to move beyond the question of need, recognize necessity, and act in a proactive rather than reactive way. We can keep having […]