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Martin Leicht

Jennifer Mueller's Creative Change: Most people are secretly threatened by creativity -... - 0 views

qz.com/...retly-threatened-by-creativity

SLACK creativity ideas education making innovation thinking design

shared by Martin Leicht on 19 Mar 17 - No Cached
  • But research shows that many teachers define creativity as a skill that’s mainly associated with the art
  • Study after study shows that new ideas are chronically rejected at many companies, even businesses that say they want more innovation.
  • To cope with all this complexity, we strive for simplicity.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • So how do we unleash this potential for innovation? The first step is to face up to our (quite understandable) desire for clear-cut answers that affirm ideas with which we’re familiar.
Brian C. Smith

How Silicon Valley Pushed Coding Into American Classrooms - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ce-coding-apple-microsoft.html

shared by Brian C. Smith on 29 Jun 17 - No Cached
  • “It is essential that efforts to increase computer science instruction, kindergarten through career, be driven by the needs of industry and be developed in partnership with industry.”
    • Brian C. Smith
      Brian C. Smith on 29 Jun 17
       
      The danger in this statement is that it says computer science instruction. It has little regard for how students learn or their interests. It is all about industry and jobs. If corporate and industry partners want to help, they must take a backseat to qualified educators, not the other way around. We CAN and MUST do better than industries seeking self-serving initiatives.
  • “They are collaborative partners.”
    • Brian C. Smith
      Brian C. Smith on 29 Jun 17
       
      Another slippery statement. What knowledge and understanding to industry partners have regarding how children learn? Industry perspective seems to always be that they see training as learning. Most coding platforms being promoted are designed to program the child. The difference between programming the computer and programming the child is a powerful idea that we must discuss in depth and know well. Otherwise, we lose out on the most meaningful and powerful learning experiences we could provide.
  • “We have a lot of debate in this country about how to teach,” he said, “and not enough debate about what to teach.”
    • Brian C. Smith
      Brian C. Smith on 29 Jun 17
       
      Not enough talk about how to learn and how to learn it. Some will say they are one in the same, that's simply not true. Teaching implies something teachers do to students (who may or may not yet be learners). While teaching requires students, learning does not require a teacher or teaching. Learning is the consequence of experience and any teaching designed should reflect this powerful idea. When we leave the decisions about how and what to teach to those outside of education, because they are the area "experts", it becomes about the topic and not the child. We will always fail with that approach.
Martin Leicht

Is Social Media Disconnecting Us From the Big Picture? - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...g-us-from-the-big-picture.html

social media awareness responsibility data big algorithms

shared by Martin Leicht on 05 Dec 16 - No Cached
  • Social media is my portal into the rest of the world
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 05 Dec 16
       
      My part of the world? My portal of the world. It's play on "my corner of the world." Well it is interesting to think about as we shape our own portals, yet possibly we are not realizing it.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 05 Dec 16
       
      My part of the world? My portal of the world. It's play on "my corner of the world." Well it is interesting to think about as we shape our own portals, yet possibly we are not realizing it.
  • Each time I liked an article, or clicked on a link, or hid another, the algorithms that curate my streams took notice and showed me only what they thought I wanted to see.
  • I’m not blaming the algorithms
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • They did exactly what I told them to do, blocking out racist, misogynist and anti-immigrant comments, hiding anyone who didn’t support Black Lives Matter, all with such deftness
  • I knew about Eli Pariser’s theory on filter bubbles, or the idea that online personalization distorts the type of information we see, and even so, I still chose to let algorithms shape how I perceive the world. Everything I could want to see is available at my fingertips, and yet I didn’t look.
  • Zuckerberg’s idealism is belied by his desire to duck responsibility for mediating the content of his site
  • Most social media
  • curated by software built to manage the high influx of information flowing into it
  • video-sharing app Vine was the first place I got a glimpse of cultures beyond my own
  • Vine links could be shared independent of the network, and people did so with abandon, meaning that Vines appeared scattershot around the web, defying the sorting mechanism of streams and feeds
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 05 Dec 16
       
      Vine's content did not necessarily need to go back to a central mechanism for oversight, like FaceBook & Twitter.
  • At Vine’s peak, it had more than 200 million monthly users who watched videos billions of times, and it excelled at showing these sorts of commonalities: that, say, black kids in New Orleans lived and looked a lot like white kids in Florida.
  • Snapchat offered its own version of cultural exchange.
  • People submitted short video diaries about life in their cities, which the company compiled into a single video, viewable by anyone using the app
  • But the company is now prioritizing “live stories,” which feature more mainstream events like the Super Bowl and music festivals
  • future of Tumblr, the blogging platform whose endless warren of rabbit holes about gender theory, critical feminist thought and identity politics is unlike any other on the internet, is the most uncertain
  • User-generated content, by and large, is not lucrative at a scale that satisfies investors, and as a result, most social-media companies are changing direction toward other revenue streams
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 05 Dec 16
       
      User generated content by itself is less marketable. What exactly do they mean? Total user generated content without any "filters" or control is not a viable product?
  • Semiprivate messaging applications
  • have grown in popularity as people move away from public arenas for conversation, a shift caused in part by spikes in unchecked harassment on major social networks
  • What happens when we would rather look inward
  • We are more interested in locating alien species than understanding the humanity among the species we already live with
  • Social media seemed to promise a way to better connect with people; instead it seems to have made it easier to tune out the people we don’t agree with
Brian C. Smith

Moment(us) teaching - 0 views

sylviamartinez.com/momentus-teaching

teaching

shared by Brian C. Smith on 28 Jul 16 - No Cached
  • She spoke about love, beauty, and respect for children (of all ages) and their learning process. She showed some photos and videos of children learning together and how teachers have the opportunity to make small decisions in this process. To watch or intervene; to ask a question or remain quiet; to suggest an expansion of the complexity of the children’s investigation or to help them simplify their ideas.
Martin Leicht

Learning to Think Like a Computer - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ng-students-computer-code.html

slack coding computational thinking programming code learning think problem

shared by Martin Leicht on 05 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • all-important concept in computer science — abstraction — in terms of milkshakes
  • The idea of abstraction,” he said, “is to hide the details.” It requires recognizing patterns and distilling complexity into a precise, clear summary
  • Concealing layers of information makes it possible to get at the intersections of things
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • In particular, “computational thinking” is captivating educators, from kindergarten teachers to college professors, offering a new language and orientation to tackle problems in other areas of life.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 05 Apr 17
       
      a computer follow a logical flow, so by breaking down the steps and working through the process you learn a "logic" if you will. This process can then be applied to other non computing challenges as a problem solving exercise.
  • Computer Science Principles, focused not on learning to code but on using code to solve problems.
  • computational thinking — its broad usefulness as well as what fits in the circle. Skills typically include recognizing patterns and sequences, creating algorithms, devising tests for finding and fixing errors, reducing the general to the precise and expanding the precise to the general.
Brian C. Smith

technology - Practical Theory - 0 views

practicaltheory.org/...technology-2

technology modernlearning

shared by Brian C. Smith on 13 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • We need to understand that until we stop fetishizing technology by making it the focal point of the work every time we pull it out of the closet, we will never move past the notion of “technology integration” to a place of “modern learning.”
  • The idea that technology must be invisible in school is simply this: Using technology to inquire, to create, to share, to research, to learn is not and should not be notable anymore. It should simply be a matter of course.Using technology in school is not the point – learning is.
  • There are still moments when we learn about the technology itself, and that’s a good thing. Whether it is in a computer science class where students are learning to program, or it is in a technology infusion workshop where we help students to learn how to fully integrate the technology into their sense of themselves as a student and citizen, there are moments where we — student and teachers — make the invisible visible.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • both students and teachers should have moments of reflection of how the tools affect the learning. But there’s a big leap between understanding how the tool both is vital to and transformative to the work and making the work always about the tool.
  • Brian C. Smith on 13 Apr 17
     
    Lehmann offers an important context for thinking about learning in a technology-rich world.
Dana Watts

Why Every Edtech Company Should Take Field Trips to Schools | EdSurge News - 1 views

www.edsurge.com/...ld-take-field-trips-to-schools

edtech company field trips schools

shared by Dana Watts on 16 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • Dana Watts on 16 Sep 15
     
    Love the fact that article places the ownership on businesses instead of the other way around. It is a two way street.
  • Brian C. Smith on 17 Sep 15
     
    This is a no-brainer for EdTech companies. It's pure marketing and R&D. I don't mind the idea of the corporate world learning from going to school, let's keep them honest about what they are learning. This particular person is proudly touting her strategies for stealing free R&D at the expense of disrupting any flow of learning. Not to mention capitalizing on the little free planning time the teacher has (point #3). If a school is okay with this, so be it, but I might question its focus.
Brian C. Smith

These Creative Kids Designed A Way To Measure All The Plastic In The Ocean | Co.Exist |... - 0 views

www.fastcoexist.com/...e-all-the-plastic-in-the-ocean

creativity makered makers makerspace

shared by Brian C. Smith on 03 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Brian C. Smith on 03 Oct 15
     
    This project happened right here in Hong Kong with a partnership between a school and makers in the community. We have the contacts for this type of project. Do we really want this? If so, what needs to give in order to make it happen? If we don't, why the heck not? ~ Brian
Martin Leicht

It's 'digital heroin': How screens turn kids into psychotic junkies | New York Post - 0 views

nypost.com/...rn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies

screen management parent parenting addiction digital tablets children 1:1 laptops heroin mangement

shared by Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16 - No Cached
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Signs/signals being sent to the parent. "It's educational" is a reasonable excuse, yet does it trump parenting technique/skill?
  • As his behavior continued to deteriorate, she tried to take the game away but John threw temper tantrums. His outbursts were so severe that she gave in, still rationalizing to herself over and over again that “it’s educational.”
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Is too much of any one thing, e.g., baseball, food, study, computers, etc., a good idea?
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • Many parents intuitively understand that ubiquitous glowing screens are having a negative effect on kids. We see the aggressive temper tantrums when the devices are taken away and the wandering attention spans when children are not perpetually stimulated by their hyper-arousing devices.
  • Recent brain imaging research is showing that they affect the brain’s frontal cortex — which controls executive functioning, including impulse control — in exactly the same way that cocaine does. Technology is so hyper-arousing that it raises dopamine levels — the feel-good neurotransmitter most involved in the addiction dynamic — as much as sex.
  • “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” to be especially true when it comes to tech addiction.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      When do we as parents act? Or is it more a partnership going forward? Yes, we (schools) asked students to use these devices. And we must do are bit to help students manage/cope. At the same time, parents need to be aware too. I know we all want to be liked as parents. In today's modern family, life is complex. Yet, I come to the conclusion that I am not my son's friend. There's going to be a lot of actions/directives he will not like. And yes, I will need to do a lot of work to get us through it, yet isn't that my job as a parent to deal with the changes as they come in order to guide him toward adulthood?
  • According to a 2013 Policy Statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 8- to 10 year-olds spend 8 hours a day with various digital media while teenagers spend 11 hours in front of screens. One in three kids are using tablets or smartphones before they can talk
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      1 in 3 before they can talk are using tablets? Okay, this is an interesting statement. Is it supervised use? How long? I would ask the question, why? We as parents make a lot of interesting choices as parents and we all need to stop and reflect on those choices often. If it is before they can talk, then it is definitely not the school asking/requiring the device.
  • Once a person crosses over the line into full-blown addiction — drug, digital or otherwise — they need to detox before any other kind of therapy can have any chance of being effective.
  • So how do we keep our children from crossing this line? It’s not easy.
  • That means Lego instead of Minecraft; books instead of iPads; nature and sports instead of TV
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Great strategy, active parenting. I would suggest, cooking, surfing, and any activity involving ones hands. Of course, do parents have time for this?
  • When I speak to my 9-year-old twin boys, I have honest conversations with them about why we don’t want them having tablets or playing video games.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      I like the "conversations" point. Not one, many conversations.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Another great strategy. I would add, the conversation is on going. The author references the distracted parent syndrome above, that one is key!
  • Developmental psychologists understand that children’s healthy development involves social interaction, creative imaginative play and an engagement with the real, natural world.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Moderation, no? Does not the standby wisdom that everything in moderation apply here too?
  • Thus the solution is often to help kids to connect to meaningful real-life experiences and flesh-and-blood relationships. The engaged child tethered to creative activities and connected to his or her family is less likely to escape into the digital fantasy world.
  • Brian C. Smith on 27 Sep 16
     
    Yeah, this is why the Reggio Emilia Approach and maker-centered learning is excellent. The blending of the digital and physical world to learn nearly anything on any topic and beyond. Kids might spend more time with devices in activities stemming from maker-centered learning, but it isn't all on the device and it provides alternative ways of knowing, understanding, and doing. We, the adults, are ultimately responsible for creating the conditions for this to be so. Papert has taught us this decades ago. I don't know why we don't study his work among the others that have known this for a very long time. Isn't it time to do so with the technology group?
Brian C. Smith

An Ode to Maker Camp: What Makes a Maker? Childhood - 0 views

makezine.com/...maker-camp-childhood

MakerEd design designthinking joy creativity maker making

shared by Brian C. Smith on 15 Aug 17 - No Cached
  • Dr. Guilford’s question: “How are you going to design something if you’ve never built anything?”
  • How are you going to build something if you’ve never taken something apart?
  • How are you going to come up with interesting ideas and solutions if you’ve never been allowed to play with physical and digital bits and pieces?
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • It takes a playful, curious person to take things apart and imagine new ways to put the parts back together.
  • Youthful creativity combined with readily available materials often leads to a whirlwind of wonderful things.
  • Amon Milner, a maker/educator, what a “maker” was, he replied that “[all] people are makers. And the conditions in which people can grow up and have that supported and still do it into adulthood is a very special person… Every [child] is a maker and some get to stay that way longer.”
  • Brian C. Smith on 15 Aug 17
     
    How are you going to design something if you've never built anything?
Brian C. Smith

Will the coronavirus infect education, too? The risk of a radical shift to online learn... - 0 views

www.nydailynews.com/...bozcxlgq34f22rk4zwm-story.html

education online learning learning

shared by Brian C. Smith on 11 Apr 20 - No Cached
  • Learning certainly involves the mind, but also interactions between students, teacher and student, and learning spaces and tools.
  • Though online models may support some of those interactions, they only scratch the surface when it comes to offering diverse, rich, and multimodal educational experiences.
  • Knowledge is not transmitted, it is constructed when we bring our prior understanding in interaction with new ideas, experiences, and environments.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • extensive research showing that the production and maintenance of an online course can be even more expensive than its offline counterpart.
  • the potential of new technology is not in maintaining the status quo but in upending it.
  • New and emerging technologies can instead be used to tweak or enhance existing structures and systems in ways that leverage their particular educational affordances.
  • we can view this as an opportunity to applaud the enormous effort to flexibly adapt to new educational modes under unprecedented circumstances — and, as the dust settles, invite these professionals (rather than corporations or venture capitalists) to be the ones to chart the course forward.
Martin Leicht

Three Critical Innovation Roles: Broker, Role Model, Risk-Taker - 0 views

www.forbes.com/...s-broker-role-model-risk-taker

innovation risk problem solving

shared by Martin Leicht on 15 Mar 17 - No Cached
  • And because the roles are elusive and difficult to measure, they can go unappreciated and unnoticed.  And then they gradually fade away.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 15 Mar 17
       
      How do we ensure the risk taker role goes the opposite of fade away?
  • information silo
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 15 Mar 17
       
      You can't innovate in a silo. Can't do it!
  • They are the ones who seek out connections between people and ideas and foster conversation and interaction.
Brian C. Smith

Collaboration - 0 views

stager.tv/blog

collaboration

shared by Brian C. Smith on 14 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • Collaboration is more than simply the division of labor. It should not be taught as an isolated skill or coerced. Sadly, like many seemingly good ideas, schools seek to mechanize collaboration by turning natural process into a set of measurable skills and multi-year course of study, easily assessed. Some children win, while others fail.
  • Cooperation and collaboration are natural processes. Such skills are useful when the creative process benefits from interdependence. The best collaboration mirrors democracy when individual talents, knowledge, or experiences are contributed to produce something larger than the sum of its parts.
  • Work with your friends. Work with people you trust. Work with people who have different skills or expertise. If that doesn’t produce the result you desire, you will find others to collaborate with. That is how you learn to collaborate. You may teach it, but the students will not stay taught.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The only reason to assign group size is scarcity of materials (we have to share). Even in those largely avoidable scenarios, it hardly matters if group size varies a bit. The main consideration is inactivity by some members when a group is too large.
  • Collaboration is both selfish and selfless. You give of yourself by sharing your talent and expertise, but the collaboration should benefit you as well.
  • Brian C. Smith on 14 Apr 17
     
    Read the whole post.
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