No One Right Answers Anywhere

Today I’m announcing a game-changer. And once you let it sink in you won’t be able to look back. Ready? Here it is: there is no one right answer. And I’m not just talking about in classroom instruction and achievement assessments. This is bigger than that. There are no one right answers anywhere, at any time, in life.

How can I say this? The dawn of our global society is shining light in every corner of every culture, every context, every preconceived assumption, and forcing us to think beyond traditional ideals and values.

You can have one right answers in isolation…in a silo…in a vacuum. You can control the variables there. One right answers can still exist in algebraic equations, but they no longer apply in everyday life…and they no longer apply in education.

This means standardization is a false premise for any education policy or practice. Standardization was an industrial-aged ideal that aspired to a specific profile of student success. And in the process we labeled and marginalized anyone and everyone who didn’t fit that profile.

Intelligence quotients are no longer acceptable in quantifying human potential. A century ago the IQ was formulated to identify an entire class of bean counters and paper pushers. There is a much fuller, richer spectrum of human ability which our global society seeks to tap into today.

The profession of education is no longer one class of workers who can be led along like sheep. The decentralization of education to meet the unique needs of all teachers, students and families is the strongest force for true reform of education as an institution.

Traditional formulas for success are also becoming irrelevant. Policies set by elected officials stand like paper tigers, and students today are poking holes through the arbitrary expectations that have no basis in how they learn, grow, and contribute to a global society.

There are no traditional career paths moving forward, either. Students will have multiple careers. So will teachers. No one will prepare for one profession. Everyone will create their own opportunities to contribute to the global economy, and no one will be thinking of “job security” as experience, seniority or tenure.

When there is no one right answer for anything, all the handicaps and obstacles fall away, and everything becomes possible. It pushes us past our physical and mechanical limitations to redefine our world, our work, and our worth. It will no longer matter where we are on this planet, we will all matter. We will all make a difference. And finally and for the first time, we will begin to make progress on all of the unresolvable problems of every age that has preceded ours: war, famine, disease and good stewardship of the earth.

As a member of the last wave of the baby boomer generation, I am resigned to the fact that we have the hardest time letting go of the one right answer mentality we inherited from our parents and grandparents. I have also come to accept that this transformation to a global society probably won’t hit critical mass until my generation is no longer in power to reinforce the outdated value of the one right answer.

But I am bound and determined not to fade away without speaking strongly in support of our progeny and the steps they are taking towards that global society they see so clearly within their grasp. They do not limit themselves to one right answer. They do not accept preconceived notions of what is possible. They ask questions. They seek answers. And they solve problems. Who can be opposed to that?

As uncomfortable and uncertain as it may be to let go of the world we once knew, it is time to acknowledge there is no one right answer anymore. Creativity. Innovation. Transformation. Buckle up, baby boomers. It’s going to be a wild ride.

Visual Content is the Future of Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

The last few years have seen a dramatic rise in visual-based social media. We shouldn’t be surprised, though. Our brains process visuals 60,000x faster than text. Ergo, visual-based social media networks are booming!

Remember:

• Social media is going visual and bite-sized.

• All social networks must now be considered.

• Different territories prefer different networks.

• Some countries have their own specific networks.

• Test your messaging across different channels.

Discover your own social media benchmarks. Take The Social Influencer survey.

Read more…

 

The Future of Wearable Technology in the Workplace [INFOGRAPHIC]

Technology is progressing at an astonishing rate and none more so than wearable tech. Despite this wearables are still very much a niche product and a buzzword for many but some organisations are already reaping the benefits from their employees using smartwatches, health monitors and even treadmill desks. Devices like this can boost not only wellness but also productivity, job satisfaction and even data security.

New Worlds Emerge!

Break the patterns holding you back.

The Leadersphere: Sparking Crackling Connections Everywhere

Have you thought about the difference between energy and power? We use them interchangeably when discussing fuel, but not so much when discussing people. Energy is the availability of power, and power is the ability to get things done. Today’s young professionals expect to be both energized and empowered, and organizations are quickly morphing to meet the challenge and the opportunity.

Consider it in terms of how our thinking about fuel has evolved over time:

From early on in human history, access to fuel has been linear. We’ve had to find and go to the source: water, wind, fire. Eventually, we realized we could harness fuel for specific uses, so we built mills on rivers and ships on oceans and we cooked at fire pits. It was a step forward, but it was still a linear path.

Then came electricity. You don’t “go” to electricity…you make it come to you through conductors, insulators and wiring. It was still linear…available through stationary receptacles…but we extended its reach through extension cords, batteries and generators. Access started proliferating through portable devices…yet it still had its limitations. An extension cord eventually runs out of length. Batteries…even rechargeable ones…run out of juice. Generators…no matter how big…run out of life. This is our fuel reality today.

The next big leap in access to fuel will happen through the development of wireless energy…when we no longer need a physical connection to have energy.  Imagine being able to power devices through the air, much like we receive wireless signals and radio waves today. No linear connections. No outlets. No cords. No batteries that run out of energy…just continuous uninterrupted power without being tethered to a location. Imagine the explosion in innovation and productivity that is going to occur. Talk about endless, renewable sources of fuel!

Leadership is already undergoing a similar transformation. Power used to be leader-centric, resting in individuals…then in small elite groups forming a core. But in an age of open information available to everyone, this model of centralized control is outdated. Energy is no longer linear nor centralized. Effective leaders today are connected across the entire knowledge landscape…a leader-sphere sparking crackling connections everywhere, networking is open-ended, and collaboration is king:

Effective leaders today do not look to traditional sources of power…they look beyond them…they connect beyond the receptacle, beyond the extension cord and battery…out into the energized leadersphere…where everyone can be empowered in entirely new ways peer-to-peer at all levels. Today’s leaders are connected to endless possibilities, and energized by the spark of each crackling connection.

Don’t make the mistaken assumption that this is a generational change; it will leave you disconnected. Picture it as the difference between Edison’s alternating current and the Tesla coil. You will connect, be exhilarated by the current flowing through you, and be carried beyond you current reality to new worlds of possibilities.

This is a call to every leader who has been in education for twenty years or more: we each have a choice to make…transform or resign ourselves to being connected to the past…a kitchen drawer curiosity like batteries and extension cords…a reminder of the finite power of the past. Now is the time to let go of the leadership practices that got you here. Hold on much longer and it will be too late. Become part of the leadersphere…if not for yourself…for the young professionals who will meet you there.

Nicholas Negroponte’s Prediction for the Future: Ingesting Information! [VIDEO 19:44]

MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte takes you on a journey through the last 30 years of tech. The consummate predictor highlights interfaces and innovations he foresaw in the 1970s and 1980s that were scoffed at then but are ubiquitous today. His prediction for the future? Ingestion of knowledge…literally swallowing a pill that deposits information in the brain we have traditionally internalized through reading and listening. A MUST view 20 minute video!

A Model for Game-Enhanced Learning from Bergen, Norway [VIDEO 3:35]

This video showcases the digital, futuristic learning environments and game-enhanced curriculum that are at the core of learning at Nordahl Grieg Upper Secondary, a public high school located in the coastal city of Bergen in Norway. “We want children to know they can change the world. We want them to know they are important,” shares principal Lin Holvik.

Commercial games are repurposed and modified to support curricular goals, as opposed to driving them. Of course, learning can and should also be based on games, as they are valid texts that can be studied in and of themselves, but it is important to see video games as elastic tools whose potential uses exceed their intended purpose.

The Norwegian Ministry of Education now takes video games seriously, and has designated two officials, Jørund Høie Skaug and Vibeke Guttormsgaard, to undertake a national project to integrate games in schools. “With a great team of young teachers with game experience, and with time to plan and develop their game pedagogy, Nordahl Grieg now shines as an example and an inspiration to other schools,” said Guttormsgaard. Skaug added that they are developing a Civilization, The Walking Dead and Portal 2 teaching guide with the gamer-teachers at Nordahl Grieg.

Read more about teaching examples at Nordahl Grieg here.

Are Multiplayer Games the Future of Education?

Reposted from the Atlantic:

“It was just supposed to be a quick trip to Beijing, a touristy group thing to take in the sights. It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. There wasn’t supposed to be a lost manuscript; the travelers weren’t supposed to turn on each other. The only good, if any, to be found in this godforsaken quest, this unholy mission, was that by the end of it, they would all know how to speak Mandarin.

This intricate Maltese Falcon­-like story will unfold each day, over the course of semester, as a multiplayer game at Renssalear Polytechnic Institute in New York. It is being  designed as a language-learning exercise by Lee Sheldon, an associate professor in the college’s Games and Simulations Arts and Sciences Program. “Using games and storytelling to teach­—it’s not that radical of a concept,” says Sheldon. “It makes them more interested in what’s going on.”

Sheldon is a pioneer in gamification, a new movement that essentially takes all the things that make video games engaging and applies them to classroom learning. Sheldon started developing the theory eight years ago. Since then, gamification now comes in all shapes and sizes and is used across educational levels, for kindergarteners through adult learners. Its practitioners range from individual teachers experimenting with game-like elements in their classrooms to entire schools that have integrated the games into their curricula.”

Read More…

Political Gridlock is the Enemy of Children

Reposted from Campaign for Children:

“With important issues facing our nation, very little is getting done. And for our nation’s children, stalemate in Congress precludes action on addressing a wide array of problems, including: changing child welfare financing even though the cost of inaction threatens the very lives of children; addressing child poverty; taking action to reduce gun violence; addressing child labor in tobacco fields; reforming of the No Child Left Behind education law that has incited grassroots movements of teachers, parents and students against the over-testing it has imposed on children in schools across the country; addressing technical problems for kids in the Affordable Care Act, such as the “kids glitch;” and, making critical investments in our children such as early childhood education.

When you give up on the idea of attempting to “legislate,” one result is that, legislative ideas, proposals and debate are less frequent. If we can agree on one thing on a bipartisan basis, it would seem that both parties can at least acknowledge that we reached a place of clearly misplaced priorities if we will soon be spending more money on interest payments on the federal debt than investing in our children.

This is simply the wrong direction for our nation to be heading if we are concerned about our children and our future. Although the forces of inertia and the defenders of the status quo will not give way easily, we must build support for change.”

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The Future Is Not As Far Off As It Seems… [MEME]

Jefferson’s dream was the evolved education of each successive generation through a public system that is well-funded and free of political partisanship, ideologues and the interests of the private sector. If he were with us today, he would encourage is to continue dreaming. “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Live in the future, educators everywhere. Never give in to self-serving interests. Never give up on the dream. The future is not as far off as it seems…