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As we think about an elevator speech, an important consideration is: What problem does this product, service, person solve?

Believe these questions also apply to business start-ups Excerpt What is your pitch? Einstein said it best: "If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it well enough." This is why elevator speeches are a good test. I loathe how reductive they make the mission feel, but they make for a really good exercise. Because if you can't tell me what you do in half a minute-especially if you're fired up about how right your cause is-do not pass go, do not collect $200. Go back to the drawing board so you can tell me, simply, clearly, and quickly, what it is you do. You want my attention, don't you?"

Connected Learning, a new research-driven initiative was introduced at the Digital Media and Learning Conference 2012. This blog post by Jackie Gerstein discusses its essence and includes TED video of Henry Jenkins and separate video of Mimi Ito. See excerpt on core values and principals of connected learning: At the core of connected learning are three values: Equity - when educational opportunity is available and accessible to all young people, it elevates the world we all live in. Full Participation - learning environments, communities, and civic life thrive when all members actively engage and contribute. Social connection - learning is meaningful when it is part of valued social relationships and shared practice, culture, and identity (http://connectedlearning.tv/connected-learning-principles). This initiative is being driven by the following design principles: Shared purpose - Connected learning environments are populated with adults and peers who share interests and are contributing to a common purpose. Today's social media and web-based communities provide exceptional opportunities for learners, parents, caring adults, teachers, and peers in diverse and specialized areas of interest to engage in shared projects and inquiry. Cross-generational learning and connection thrives when centered on common interests and goals. Production-centered - Connected learning environments are designed around production, providing tools and opportunities for learners to produce, circulate, curate, and comment on media. Learning that comes from actively creating, making, producing, experimenting, remixing, decoding, and designing, fosters skills and dispositions for lifelong learning and productive contributions to today's rapidly changing work and political conditions. Openly networked - Connected learning environments are designed around networks that link together institutions and groups across various sectors, including popula

Post by Katie Salen, July 26, 2012, Leveling Up project at Connected Learning Research Network. I like this emphasis on individual and collective gains in connected learning networks. And how connected learning is "value additive." Excerpts: "Further, because connected learning, as a model, advocates for experiences that offer low barriers to entry and information, social supports for learning, and diverse opportunities for the development of interest and expertise, it must also advocate for outcomes that are both individual and collective in nature. It is no longer enough to develop metrics and pathways for individual outcomes; we must also find ways to recognize outcomes produced by groups or communities and provide pathways for collective participation. Or so our hypothesis goes." As a community, the members of Ravelry produce knowledge and expertise, projects and products with academic, civic, and peer value. The welcoming nature of the site and the mere existence of the thousands of groups it hosts are mechanisms inviting participation and the development of shared knowledge. Conversely, the environment provides individuals with opportunities to acquire social, economic, and cultural capital, to learn domain-specific content and skills, and develop metacognitive skills and learning dispositions. Unlike models of learning that center solely on individual outcomes and competition for zero-sum resources and rewards, like those seen in most schools, Ravelry exemplifies how connected learning is value-additive, elevating individuals and collectives in an integrated way. High-functioning connected learning environments are characterized not only by engaged learning at an individual level, but by high quality content and standards and collective purpose that is shared by all participants.

An interesting assessment of how stage fright was picked up and reported in thousands of tweets elevating a single appearance into an epic disastrous event, and how absence from Twitter by the presenter, compounded the error. If anyone thinks that social media can be ignored, they need to read this blog post. Love the quote below from Chris Taylor about how the communications game has changed: It's Twitter, the Internet's first responder, that is primarily responsible for changing the laws of media physics. There are just too many witty things to be said in the space of 140 characters, especially with a moment as shadenfreude-filled as this. Thousands got the Bay-bashing bug, and I certainly wasn't immune. (Hey, it's not every day that a parody of that Aerosmith tune from Armageddon pops up complete in your head.)

A blog post by Jessica Leber published by Fastcoexist.com about Angeline Gragasin, a documentary producer and her Women of the Future, a monthly series of webisodes on inspiring renaissance women. Love the quote below attributed to the first interviewee Eva Franch, a Catalan architect who directs Storefront for Art and Architecture, in NYC SoHo neighborhood. Excerpt In a 30-second preview clip you can watch above, Franch shares with Gragasin her inspiring thoughts on creativity: "Culture is about expanding your horizon of expectations in relationship to what is possible. Curiosity is actually the only thing that allows you to go further, right? To find new horizons."

Interesting blog post for removing ability to comment on blog posts at Copyblogger by Sonia Simone, 4/2014. Seems that conversation has shifted from blogs to other venues such as Google+ and Twitter ... Copyblogger wants to shift comments to author's blog sites. Final reason is to get out from under the spam which they estimate is about 95% of the comments posted. This "experiment" as they called it interests me because it seems to elevate the role of aggregation tool to scan the web for references to one's work on a regular basis. And it is in line with some of the cMOOC approach--to let the conversation occur anywhere, then capture and make sense of it afterwards.

blog by Ross Brenneman, August 12, 2015 that elevates tension between student-centered and teacher-led learning and includes rationale on why people need to be able to learn informally after they finish school.

Most of these tools are brand new to me and worth investigating when we have time and need. by Antonio Tooley, FreelancersUnion

a handle for others to grab onto the value you bring functions much like an elevator speech, blog post by Bruce Kasanoff, December 3, 2015, Forbes