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My 2009 Edublog Award Nominations

By on December 7, 2009 in Education with 0 Comments

Going into its 6th year, the Edublog Awards has once again put it’s nominations in the hands of the community.  And just under the gun (nominations close on Dec 8th, here are my picks for the difference makers:

Best individual blog – Kim Cofino’s Always Learning
Best group blog - Leader Talk
Best new blog – Russ Goerend’s TAGmirror
Best class blog – Mrs. Goerend’s 6th Grade class
Best resource sharing blog (tie) Larry Ferlazzo and Richard Byrne
Most influential blog post – Manifesto for EduChange
Most influential tweet / series of tweets / tweet based discussion #edchat
Best teacher blog – Silvia Tolisano’s Langwitches
Best librarian / library blog Buffy J Hamilton’s The Unquiet Librarian
Best educational tech support blog Sue Waters’ The EduBlogger
Best elearning / corporate education blog Rapid E-Learning
Best educational use of audio – Seedlings
Best educational use of video / visual – Lee Lefever’s Common Craft
Best educational wiki – Kelly Hines’ The File Cabinet
Best educational use of a social networking service – Classroom 2.0
Best educational use of a virtual world – ISTE Eduverse Talks
Best Leader blog (a new category?) Scott McLeod’s Dangerously Irrelevant
Best iPhone app (another new category) Open Culture
Lifetime achievement – Vicki Davis

 

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B&B: Words and Ideas Can Change the World

By on September 30, 2009 in Blog Coach, Education with 0 Comments

Love this scene from Dead Poet's Society! What will your verse (image, sketch, blog post, mantra) be?

Bored with “21st Century Skills”? Get Over It

By on September 29, 2009 in Education, Social Media with 0 Comments

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I hear a lot of business people, teachers, educators — and some edubloggers — who are already tired of the term “21st Century Skills.”  Get over it!  The term is going to be around for a long, long time. The definition? Possibly ever-evolving.

I remember when the cry of “PR is Dead” or “Your Home Page Doesn’t Matter Anymore” started circling around a few years back. Folks were aghast. Arguments ensued. Egos bruised. Awareness followed.

Wait…what was that last one?  Awareness?  Yep.

Let’s not get caught up on 21st Century Skills being [about] using a computer, social network, or mobile device. Two decades ago, Twitter wasn’t a twinkle in our eye — now it’s everywhere.  At the end of this century, Twitter may not be a 21st Century Tool, let alone a 21st Century Skill.

I would argue that the skillset of this century — or at least this early portion of it — has little to do with tools and has more to do with mind and heart. Things we read in Tony Wagner’s Global Achievement Gap, Sally Hogshead’s Radical Careering, and almost everything Karen Salmansohn writes.

- Imagination
- Curiosity
- Guts
- Listening (also a 8th, 12th, 19th, 20th century skill)
- Adaptability
- Patience
- Verve
- Collaborativity (the art of collaboration?)

If the term 21st Century Skills is a slap in the face, let’s wake up and see it for what it is and move forward.  Develop the skills of learning and discerning, of gleaning and teaming up, of breaking down the silos that hold us back — for by doing these things we will breakthrough the barriers holding us stuck in whatever decade or century we’re stuck in and be ready for the decades ahead.

Photo on Flickr from Cristobal Cobo Romani

 


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Brunch n Brains: The Art of Listening

By on September 13, 2009 in Education with 0 Comments

So many fantastic TED videos to choose from, here’s one of my favorites.  If you love music, you will be mesmerized by this one — but don’t miss the oh-so-important lesson on listening:

Brunch n Brains with Daniel Pink

By on September 6, 2009 in Education with 0 Comments

While this TED video by Daniel Pink covers the puzzling chasm existing between what science knows and what business does, it also works for what's happening in classrooms around the globe. Your reward for figuring out this puzzle is within the video itself.

Mark you calendar: Daniel Pink will be one of the keynotes (David Warlick is another) at this year's Iowa Technology Education Connection (ITEC), October 11th -13th.

Daniel Pink elsewhere:
 - On Twitter
 - On Facebook
 - On Vimeo (check out his Travel Tips!)

You’ve Always Had Imaginosity – Turn it Back On

By on August 25, 2009 in Education with 0 Comments

Imaginosity. You had it once. It probably still resides within you.

The combination of Imagination and Curiosity (Imaginosity) that is the key ingredient of actively being and learning in this generation of Digital Natives.

The biggest difference between kids today and your generation may simply be that when they curiously push buttons — things move, speak, light up, open pathways to lands previously existing only in imaginations. You were there — with a bigger lean-to upon your imaginosity. Instead of sound effects being electronic, we uttered sounds (and spittle) through our puffed up cheeks and pursed lips.

So before you throw in the towel (whoosh) or call on the wah-wah-wah…wah-mbulance regarding this age of of new stuff — just remember it was once all new. At least to you.

Has anyone seen my Fisher Price Animal toys?

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Brunch n Brains: Relevant Storytelling in the Classroom

By on August 21, 2009 in Education with 0 Comments

I love this 8th grade lesson! Great lesson for the students, but also a great example of how teachers might use — if just by mentioning – some of the tools relevant to their students.  Watch and Learn (and SCAMPER):

Brunch n Brains: Let’s Think Like a Designer

By on August 10, 2009 in Education, Marketing with 0 Comments

Got run over from a drive-by velvet steamroller with Garr Reynolds post on 10 Tips on How to Think Like a Designer post and companion slideshow. The show below includes notes and if you click through to SlideShare, you can view the complete notes below the presentation.

Attention Teachers Marketers Consultants Everyone: Slide No. 5 6 8 All points are important. Don't miss one.

Think Like a Designer (with notes)
View more documents from garr.

Brunch n Brains: The Art of Listening

By on July 30, 2009 in Education with 0 Comments

So many fantastic TED videos to choose from, here's one of my favorites.  If you love music, you will be mesmerized by this one — but don't miss the oh-so-important lesson on listening:

Getting My Wave Suit On

By on June 2, 2009 in Conversations, Cool Tools, Education, Social Media with 0 Comments

I haven't used Google Wave yet, but here's the movie (it's a long one):

I watched this shorter, but a bit techie, Live Collaborative editing video first. Here's my quick take (though I've only had a sniff of Wave, not even yet a taste):

  • Transformative, real-time collaboration. That's what Google is teaching the computers to do (note to my educamatorpologist pals: if Google is banking on and teaching "transformative" "collaboration" with it's valuable assets, shouldn't we do likewise?
  • Channels for the noise. So many channels of communication. We need a Tivo-type social media channel guide to surf with. Could it be the Wave?
  • Power in Collective Smarts: Google Wave provides a framework for collaboration, and the collective and collaborative genius called the community (that's us) can build and improve upon that.

I'm looking forward to more.

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