A teammate posed this question: What are the implications of not doing Blended Learning right? It really got me thinking abut the harm we can inflict by not having the right vision or being able to fully execute on that vision. Even with good intentions, are we still inflicting harm on an overloaded system if we don’t do it "right."
I pose the idea that the harm is in False-Momentum. But, how do we combat this?
Reflective Practice Vlogging Community: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116395158372553895482
The humble status update has become something of a joke. We do dozens of them a day and we let them pass by without any concern for building something new out of them. We should take our time with them, and reflect before we write them. We will make the future of Status Updates because it is an important way of telling our stories into being.
Reflective Practice Vlogging Community: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116395158372553895482
Joe Dillon did a great reflection on how Open Invitations have led to his understanding of Open Education, and I wanted to dig a little bit deeper into this concept of an Open Invitation. It is my thought that the three elements of an invitation are the Ask, The Story and The Person (doing the asking).
So, what are you asking for, what is the story you are telling, and how are you presenting yourself in your own Open Invitations.
Joe’s Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsI4jGw412Q
Reflective Practice Vlogging Community: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116395158372553895482
Learning and Community Milestones are very real, and they happen with increasing frequency as we become more connected and involve ourselves in better conversations. However, I am at a loss for how to celebrate these milestones and not have them be able to the numbers or metrics that so often are the reason we recognize the milestone at all. For example, I now have 3000 Twitter followers. What does that mean, and how should we celebrate that fact?
Reflective Practice Vlogging Community: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116395158372553895482
While I don’t think that it is quite as rigid as the Order of Operations in math, I think that there is a better "order" for learning that creates authentic experiences. But, I’m not entirely sure what the best order is.
What is the best order of operations for your learning environment?
Thank you so much to everyone in the community that helped me to become the Director of Blended Learning in Denver Public Schools. I will be taking you all with me on this journey.
Our first task together: What are the questions I should be asking to each person I meet in DPS? What should I learn from them in the first 90 days?
We are starting a Youtube Channel dedicated to the idea that a small group of people (ideally 7) can change education forever just by being in a community of practice that continually tackles new problems and shares what it is that we are learning.
If you would like to become a part of this Fellowship, please leave a comment on this video. If you think you know someone who might be interested, share this video with them.
The way this works is that the 7 core people from the project will all be assigned a "day of the week" for which to post on. They will post to a designated Youtube Channel and throughout the week we will all comment and clarify and try and push the thinking on each new idea. Some weeks we will pick a theme to all tackle, and sometimes the themes will emerge organically because we will all respond to a particular video in succession.
While we will have the 7 people as a core group of vloggers, we will also need a whole bunch of folks to help fill in the gaps in our experience and to help push us to think deeper. Ideally, this would allow for more people to post their videos on the channel either as replacements for a particular contributor’s day or in addition to it.
That organization may sound pretty loose, but I want to leave it open to allow the Core members to decide how to organize the channel. I hope to hear from each one of you that reads these words as to how you would like to take part in the Fellowship.
Original Idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ty6x2wLW3c
Reflective Practice Vlogging Community: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116395158372553895482
Oh, and here is the text from the video:
So, I want to start a fellowship for teaching and learning. To create the type of collaboration that sustains our practice rather than drains it. To reflect upon our learning process and build upon each other’s ideas, crafting a hub around which we all can learn.
We can all be spokes on a wheel, bound together by a single purpose, but always open what comes next.
John spencer did an amazing blog post on Hipster STEM labs, and why it might be cool to look at older technologies withint the learning environment. I am merely extending that idea and thinking out loud about what it could look lik.
What do you think it should look like? Would you be interested in taking a part of old technology within a STEM lab rather than trying to pursue newer technologies?
Original Blog Post: http://www.educationrethink.com/2013/03/hipster-stem-labs.html?m=1
