I’m a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (aaas.org). The AAAS, for those who are unfamiliar, is an international non-profit whose mission is to advance science throughout the world. The AAAS has been in existence since 1848 and publishes the respected Science magazine. It’s a very cool organization. Continue reading
This image originally appeared on veteran blogger Ellie Lovell’s blog, http://ellielovell.wordpress.com/2011/09/. She does a great job and you should check her out!
One of my twitter pals, Scott Smith (@smith5987), asked me how I got started writing a blog. It turns out that Scott is also interested in writing a blog but hasn’t yet gotten over that “start-up” hump. And all of us who write blogs know what that’s like!!
Scott’s question got me to thinking about when I got started and what I’ve learned in the 6+ months since then. I started tweeting back to Scott, but geez, I can’t fit it all into those 140 characters! So I thought I’d share my top 5 tips for starting an education blog. Here we go….
1. Whittle down your blog identity. Most of us have a bunch of different interests, which is great for life, but less great for a blog. My blog is primarily about effective, data-based instruction. The specific posts are related to that in some way, whether it be learner behavior, particular ed tech hardware products, apps, instructional design strategies or professional development. Sometimes I’ll write an oddball post (like this one!) that isn’t straight down the middle for me, but by and large, readers have a reasonable idea of what my blog is “about” and what they’ll find here. Continue reading
This cartoon originally appeared on http://pactiss.org. Great website, check it out!
Wow, I knew that this whole social media thing was powerful. But something happened to me yesterday that I never could have predicted!
I wrote a post earlier this summer called Three Revised Things to Unlearn about Learning. One reader was so……mmmm….let’s call it “inspired”…that when he started his own blog recently his first post was an open letter to ME in response! And even though he and I don’t agree about much, I think that is really cool.
So here’s your Friday homework: Continue reading
Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I started a blog. I’ve been doing this for just over six months now and what nobody tells you is how hard it’s going to be. And how stressful it is not only to think of stuff to write about (that you hope others will find interesting), but also how vulnerable you sometimes feel putting yourself out there.
So why am I so attached to this blog and whether or not it succeeds? I had to give it some thought. So the post today is about the answer to that question. It’s a little bit different from my usual posts, because it’s not so much about education and technology. It’s about me and my relationship with education and technology. Continue reading
When I was a kid I loved those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. Do you guys remember those? It was always so much fun to have options to choose how the story went…although, of course, I always doubled back to see what happened with the options I hadn’t chosen. I think half the fun for me was trying to see if I could figure out every possible path for the story. But I never had enough fingers to save my place in the book at each juncture of the story! Continue reading
This photo is shared under Creative Commons. The original photo can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjude/2740546006/
This week I was really inspired by a piece that Kathy Cuff wrote for the Blanchard LeaderChat site, “Got a new employee? 3 ways to show you care.”
Here is Kathy’s list of those 3 ways:
1. Never reprimand a learner.
2. Let the employee know it’s okay to make mistakes—that you “have their back.” Continue reading
Last week I bought a new Galaxy Nexus 7. I couldn’t help it. At $249 for a fully-loaded, 16 GB, 7-inch tablet running Android, I just had to find out what all the hype was about. The fact that it came with a $25 credit to be used in the Google Play Store didn’t hurt. Continue reading
I was delighted to be invited to appear on eLearning Chat today by Rick Zanotti, the host. What a fun experience it was. Rick and co-host Dawn Mahoney put me right at ease. And I got to talk about one of my favorite subjects….effective instruction!!
If you have time to check it out, it’s about 30 minutes long…you’ll have to watch to see the mystery companies who I call out for good work!
You can follow Rick on twitter @rickzanotti and Dawn Mahoney on twitter @dawnjmahoney. Follow them to get notice of upcoming eLearn Chat shows!
Note: Sorry if you visited previously and found another video! The link worked when I first posted it, so something changed on the other end! Hope this works!
Nobody was more surprised than I was by the announcement that Toys R Us is coming out with its own proprietary tablet, the Tabeo. With last year’s release of the Leap Frog Leap Pad 2 tablet, as well as the other “child-friendly” tablets already in this space (e.g., Kineo, Kurio, Meep!, Lexibook Jr.), it just seems like an odd move. Is there enough room in this segment to support yet another competitor? Continue reading
Yesterday I wrote about the RNC Education Platform this year, so today I’m writing about the DNC 2012 Education Platform. The DNC platform is written a bit differently, with a combination of accomplishments, policies to be continued in a second Obama term, and new goals. I’ve tried to capture all of that accurately, here. But as I did yesterday, I encourage you to read the platform for yourself as well.
Democratic Education Platform 2012
Accomplishments in Obama’s first term:
disrupt learning! 