Group items tagged

great interview with Charles Duhigg--transcript and podcast--on how individuals and organizations can bring about changes in their lives with "keystone habits"

White paper by Shawn Callahan, Mark Schenk, and Nancy White, April 21, 2008 on Building a collaborative workplace "THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP Leadership is a keystone for establishing supportive collaboration cultures, especially in teams and communities. This is based on how leaders mainly embed their beliefs, values and assumptions in the fabric of their organisation. There are six main behaviours that leaders display that mould the organisation's culture.[3] What leaders pay attention to, measure, and control on a regular basis-are they paying attention to collaborative strategies and behaviours from team, community and network perspectives? How leaders react to critical incidents and organisational crises-are they sacrificing long-term goals for short-term fixes which sabotage collaboration? Does fear of connecting to the larger network keep them from tapping into it? How leaders allocate resources-are they investing in the collaboration capability? Is it attentive to all three types of collaboration? How leaders express their identity through deliberate role modelling, teaching, and coaching-as our leaders collaborate, so do we! How leaders allocate rewards and status-are your leaders rewarding individual or collaborative behaviours? Or both? How leaders recruit, select, promote, and excommunicate-are collaborative talents sought and nurtured?"

interesting article by Cass Sunstein and Reid Hastie, November 4, 2014 on how to help groups make better decisions. Eight suggestions are made: 1. Silence the leader 2. Prime critical thinking 3. Reward group success 5. Assign roles 6. Appoint a devil's advocate 7. Establish contrarian teams 8. Delphi Method

Quotes from the eLearning Africa conference plenary sessions as reported by eLearning Africa News. "Under the general conference theme 'Opening Frontiers to the Future', the esteemed panel of speakers in the opening plenary addressed a number of vital issues that formed the core of the agenda for eLearning Africa 2014. Chaired by the Honourable John Nasasira, Minister for Information and Communications Technology, Uganda, speakers highlighted, amongst other things, the need to develop productive partnerships between the government and private sectors, as well as to create an environment that rewards entrepreneurship and encourages African-born innovation". Thought of our conversation with Susan about being an online leader, and incorporating eLearning into any leadership program.

Quotes from the eLearning Africa conference plenary sessions as reported by eLearning Africa News. "Under the general conference theme 'Opening Frontiers to the Future', the esteemed panel of speakers in the opening plenary addressed a number of vital issues that formed the core of the agenda for eLearning Africa 2014. Chaired by the Honourable John Nasasira, Minister for Information and Communications Technology, Uganda, speakers highlighted, amongst other things, the need to develop productive partnerships between the government and private sectors, as well as to create an environment that rewards entrepreneurship and encourages African-born innovation". Thought of our conversation with Susan about being an online leader, and incorporating eLearning into any leadership program.

Great article by Carol Kinsey Goman on the impact of business silos and how to tear them down. No date. Actions to take: Reward collaboration; focus on innovation; communicate transparently; encourage networks,create alignment, mix it up in teams; focus on the customer; get personal;

interview by Dan Pink with Charles Duhig, breaking down habits into cue, routine, and reward--and and replacing them with better alternatives.

wonderful article on differences between networking, coordinating, cooperating, and collaborating drawn from work of Arthur Himmelman.  They add up:  exchange information, alter activities, share resources, enhance capacity for each player. 

rationale for WLStudio as learning network from Seth Godin "The connected person is no different from you, they've merely made a generous choice, confronting their innate fear instead of hiding from it. The reward for overcoming this inertia belongs to the connector and to everyone she connects. It's easier than ever to convene, to organize, to create spaces where strangers will cease to be strangers and turn into allies and friends. Those that convene overcome their resistance just one time, and then benefit from the generosity they've delivered to the group. The only difference between a group of strangers and a group of friends is that the friends benefitted from someone willing to go first. When we weave together strangers and turn them into a tribe, we create real value, value that lasts."

important report on repositioning employers and workers to enable the best rewards for both

Blog by John Hagel reviewing new book, Design in Nature, by Adrian Bejan and J. Peder Zane, looks like it was published in January 2012. As a systems person, this review resonates with me and speaks to what the WLStudio can do to help women redesign their learning systems as well as the currents that flow through their systems. They must avoid others who wish to dictate where and what and how learning opportunities are available to them. Reworded more constructively, women need to design and nuture their own learning opportunities. Excerpts from review: The book introduces us to constructal law: "For a finite-size flow system to persist in time (to live), its configuration must evolve in such a way that provides easier access to the currents that flow through it." The authors caution "that nothing operates in isolation; every flow system is part of a bigger flow system, shaped by and in service to the world around it." "As the title of the book suggests, the constructal law is ultimately a law about design. It determines which designs will survive and thrive over time. The constant interplay between flow and design drives the evolution of flow systems. The design of flow systems must evolve to enhance the flows within the system or they will die." Final excerpt from book review: The bottom line So, what does this mean for all of us? The message is simple and compelling. If we are not enhancing flow, we will be marginalized, both in our personal and professional life. If we want to remain successful and reap the enormous rewards that can be generated from flows, we must continually seek to refine the designs of the systems that we spend time in to ensure that they are ever more effective in sustaining and amplifying flows. As the authors observe, "it is not love or money that makes the world go round but flow and design"

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.

"A comment on Joho's (Dave Weinberger) blog post--a memoir of blogging--bySuw Charman-Anderson, January 9, 2014. Excerpt: " I wonder too if my lack of blog writing is related to a lack of blog reading. My RSS reader became so clogged that I feared it, wouldn't open it, and ultimately, abandoned it. And then Twitter and now Zite arrived to provide me with random rewards for clicking and swiping, showing me stuff that I had no idea I wanted to read. Instead of following the writings of a small cadre of smart, lovely people whom I am proud to call my friends, I read random crap off the internet that some algorithm thinks I might be interested in, or that is recommended by the people I follow on Twitter. That may or may not be a good thing. We were all aware of the problems of homophily, and the random clickage does help combat that. But the problem with not following people's blogs closely is that there's no conversation anymore. My blogs used to host great conversations, and I would happily engage in fascinating discussions on other people's sites. You can't do that so easily with Twitter, and Facebook. Indeed, most of my interactions on Facebook, which are scarce as I loathe it, end up being pointless arguments with friends-of-friends who turn out to be idiots. I'd love to see a resurgence in blogging. I think, personally, I need to delete Zite from my ipad and find a good RSS reader so I can follow the blogs of those people that I really care about. Not the worthy blogs I ought to read, but the works of people who matter to me. And then I need to get back to commenting, like this, because there's nothing more encouraging than finding out that people care about what you write, that people appreciate it. And David, I really do appreciate your writing - you're as inspiring and fascinating now as you were back in 2001! "

Blog post by Ann Michaelsen, January 27, 2012 "Have you ever sat down in front of your computer, expecting a lot of work to be done in a certain amount of time, only to find that you have done nothing work-related at all? Or that you've done a lot - just not what you planned to do? Many people are thinking about the way we spend our time and what gets our attention in this digital age. Howard Rheingold calls it infotention and I've been learning a lot about it recently thanks to his challenging but rewarding online course, "Introduction to Mind Amplifiers." It's a five-week experience using asynchronous forums, blogs, wikis, mindmaps, social bookmarks, synchronous audio, video, chat, and Twitter. Participation requires a serious commitment of time and attention by every member of the learning group. Believe me, the skill of staying focused on what is important certainly proves to be helpful here! The world demands "infotention" Infotention is a word I came up with to describe the psycho-social-techno skill/tools we all need to find our way online today, a mind-machine combination of brain-powered attention skills with computer-powered information filters. ~ Howard Rheingold"

"Running a blog is so much more rewarding when you know people are reading, enjoying and sharing your work. If you're managing a blog as part of your business, you probably want people to find and buy your products through your blog, as well. So increasing subscribers is an important task for bloggers. These are some fairly simple hacks that you can implement without too much fuss, which should boost your subscriber numbers. 1. Lower your bounce rate - here is how"

Pretty amazing list of skills you need to be successful in life by Robin Good, June 3, 2014. This is the last five of 35 skills that he will make sure his kids know how to do. Also includes excellent resources to improve one's skills in each area. These five are: 31. How to Search 32. How To Navigate 33. How To Calculate with Numbers 34. How To Rest 35. How To Cure Oneself Excerpt (rationale) Made exception for some basic math (though learned and understood with a completely different approach) and for dwelling deeper into truly understanding how to "read" something or knowing more about one's own body and physiology, the thirty-five skills that I have explored in this guide share very little similarities, if any, with those that you can gain in the 13 years of basic traditional school education. My key selection criteria in considering, evaluating and finally choosing anyone of the skills that I have here listed, has been a rather simple question: does the mastering of this skill significantly affect my probability to live a meaningful, constructive and rewarding life experience independently of the time, part of the world, social class, and group that one could be living in? And when my answer has been positive I have included that skill. Link: http://www.masternewmedia.org/what-to-learn-to-be-successful-p5/#ixzz37SVB5qTR

Blog post by Meenoo Rami, October 22, 2013. "How can you make the most of social networks? The main thing: Explore. Whether you choose to use Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, blogs, or other forms of virtual communities, read a lot and let the good stuff lead you to more good stuff (and good people). The second thing: Look for community-and if you don't find it, build it. When I realized there was no Twitter chat for English teachers, I launched (and have maintained for past three years) #engchat, which has given me many rewards for the time and effort I put into it. Every Monday night at 7 p.m, ET, dozens of teachers of English come together to discuss topics such as social justice education, teaching grammar and vocabulary, and balancing the canon with contemporary fiction in our classrooms. Even outside our Monday night chats, the hashtag #engchat helps teachers to pose questions, share lesson ideas, and exchange relevant resources with others who share similar interests. "

interesting example of mobile app for conference attendees to do certain collaborative/evaluative things and earn points for "swag" takeaways; maybe we need ECO swag?

The explanation of Connected Learning has a great graphic on learning principles and design principles that we can adapt for the WLS's work with professional membership groups. "Connected Learning leverages the advances of the digital age to make that dream a reality - connecting academics to interests, learners to inspiring peers and mentors, and educational goals to the higher order skills the new economy rewards. Six principles (below) define it and allow every young person to experience learning that is social, participatory, interest-driven and relevant to the opportunities of our time. "

Op ed piece by David L. Kirp, a Berkley professor. The business models that are proliferating in educational thinking and assessment does not work, and the greatest determiner of success are the interpersonal relationships of students and teachers, students and students, and teachers and teachers. Adding more and new technology has not been successful because of this. Rewarding "good" schools with merit pay while closing and punishing those in areas of poverty because they are "failing" schools without instituting known programs that engender success is a crime in his view.

NPR interview with Charles Duhigg, on habits, 3/5/2012