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Meghan Cureton

Empowering Teachers to Empower Young People - A New Game - Medium - 2 views

medium.com/...ower-young-people-5cbb05f7b0db

#MustRead School Change schoolreform learning idiploma

shared by Meghan Cureton on 14 Mar 16 - No Cached
Bo Adams liked it
  • A person who becomes self-empowered in this way uses her inner powers (her innate capacities) again and again to solve problems — to create opportunities — and to empower others.
  • Being self-empowered — changemaking — requires a sophisticated understanding of the world — an understanding that your wellbeing is inextricably entwined with everyone’s wellbeing. And it means taking responsibility — taking the lead — and collaborating with others to make life better for yourself and family and friends and community and humanity and the planet.
  • Being self-empowered is a way of being. It involves being empathic, thoughtful and creative — being curious, resilient and effective. Becoming self-empowered, then, is a process of finding, using and developing a complex array of changemaking powers.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • And for most, the experience of school reflects limited conceptions of the human mind, the human being and human potential.
  • it reinforces compliance and outdated hierarchical power structures.
  • To make these changes, we need pioneering teachers and educators to come together as change leaders — to form collaborative teams — and to execute strategically-focused projects. And to lay the foundations upon which these strategic projects can have massive impact, we need to build a global community of education professionals who are fully committed to self-empowering educators — for self-empowering young people.
Meghan Cureton

5 Mindsets to Bring Positive Change Across Society - 1 views

singularityhub.com/...5-mindsets-for-human-progress

#MustRead transformation mindset idiploma

shared by Meghan Cureton on 21 Sep 17 - No Cached
  • Stimulating positive change at civilization level also requires certain mindsets and ways of thinking.
  • Here are five mindsets that will allow us to leave a positive mark on humanity. Curiosity and Critical Thinking
  • It is by channeling a child-like sense of awe about the world that we can truly imagine something even better. That can be coupled with questioning how we do things in today’s world instead of accepting them as they are.
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • Asking questions—and asking good ones—is the foundation of critical thinking.
  • It takes powerful curiosity, critical thinking, and imagination to envision radical alternatives to how we do things in today’s world and then be inspired to execute them.
  • Intelligent Optimism
  • being optimistic about the future based on reason and evidence.
  • How can our youth grow up believing they can have a positive impact on the world if the news is suggesting otherwise?
  • Risk-taking
  • being a strategic risk-taker is a valuable lifelong skill of its own.
  • embracing uncertainty, stepping out of one’s comfort zone, and doing something that fulfills your life or company’s grand mission
  • embracing failure and re-defining failed attempts as temporary setbacks
  • Moonshot Thinking
  • Moonshot thinking allows for radical, daring, and disruptive ideas as opposed to incremental improvements
  • Cosmic Perspective
  • Having a cosmic perspective shifts the ambitions and priorities we set for ourselves to those that matter from a grand perspective. As a species, we become more purpose-driven.
  • It’s all about having a positive impact on the world
  • It’s not just about creating a product or generating profits, but also about solving a problem and having a positive impact on human lives.
  • It’s about asking the right questions, being intelligently optimistic about the future, taking a risk with a moonshot, and maintaining a cosmic perspective.
T.J. Edwards

Human-Centered, Systems-Minded Design | Stanford Social Innovation Review - 1 views

ssir.org/...centered_systems_minded_design

#mvifishares systems designthinking

shared by T.J. Edwards on 20 Mar 18 - No Cached
  • T.J. Edwards on 20 Mar 18
     
    Using human centered design and systems thinking to redesign "subs" experience in schools
Bo Adams

NAIS - 10 Ways to Teach Outdoor Education and a Sense of Wonder - 2 views

www.nais.org/...ducation-and-a-sense-of-wonder

outdoor_ed outdoors wonder PBL

shared by Bo Adams on 19 Feb 18 - No Cached
  • Love for the outdoors comes from learning through play, exploration, guidance, fun, and wondering.
  • Learn the natural and human history of the place you are working in order to be open and aware of teachable moments—and to gain your own sense of being. A sense of wonder is the greatest gift you can give children.
  • There are two parts to having a well-developed sense of wonder. One part is the ability to see the wonder in the world (the “wow,” the “amazing,” the “how is that possible?”). It also is the ability to wonder, to ask questions, to know there is more to know.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Don’t just tell children how knowledge was figured out. Have them figure things out for themselves through the activities and lessons you plan.
  • Human-caused problems have human solutions. Small actions multiplied by millions both cause and solve problems.
  • Outdoor education is less about the content and more about the experience. Almost always choose action over talking.
Bo Adams

Why Are We Still Personalizing Learning If It's Not Personal? | EdSurge News - 0 views

www.edsurge.com/...-learning-if-it-s-not-personal

personalized individualized

shared by Bo Adams on 01 Nov 18 - No Cached
  • As an ideal, personalized learning aims to provide instructional experiences tailored to each learner’s preferences and interests, and at a pace appropriate to their needs.
  • That can result in teachers putting tablets in front of kids, letting the technology do the work, and meanwhile calling it “personalized learning” when it’s anything but that.
  • What we fail to realize is that individualization actually has diminishing returns. As individualization increases, so does the potential for isolation. In classrooms where the primary mode of personalization is hyper-individualized, technology-driven curriculum, we find our children siphoned off into silos, taking away valuable points of convergence.
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  • We assume that the more individualized a child’s education is, the more personalized it is. But that’s simply not true.
  • In order for learning to be personal, it must be meaningful and transferable. And meaningful, transferable learning only comes when human connection is at the center of what we do. When we over-individualize learning—especially when we do so using technology—we isolate our children. We put them in silos and take away opportunities for them to connect with one another in order to learn.
  • Does the technology help to minimize complexity?
  • Does the technology help to maximize the individual power and potential of all learners in the room?
  • Will the technology help us to do something previously unimaginable?
  • Will the technology preserve or enhance human connection in the classroom?
Bo Adams

Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...he-fear-of-being-unneeded.html

needfinding HumanCentered optimism anxiety

shared by Bo Adams on 04 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • We all need to be needed.
  • Virtually all the world’s major religions teach that diligent work in the service of others is our highest nature and thus lies at the center of a happy life.
  • Americans who prioritize doing good for others are almost twice as likely to say they are very happy about their lives.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Everyone has something valuable to share. We should start each day by consciously asking ourselves, “What can I do today to appreciate the gifts that others offer me?”
  • what unites the two of us in friendship and collaboration is not shared politics or the same religion. It is something simpler: a shared belief in compassion, in human dignity, in the intrinsic usefulness of every person to contribute positively for a better and more meaningful world.
Bo Adams

Authentic Design Challenges in Project-Based Learning: Fostering Innovators - Medium - 0 views

medium.com/...tering-innovators-70a8ced908ba

PBL designthinking #MustRead #mvifishares

shared by Bo Adams on 12 May 16 - No Cached
  • By connecting Design Thinking with Project-Based Learning, these amazing teams helped their students see how innovation and imagination can solve not just local challenges, but those faced by humans around the world. The design process required the kind of critique and revision PBL asks of students, and the resulting increases in risk taking and resilience will serve students well in any field. Most importantly, by grounding the design work in empathy interviews and authentic challenges, students were invited not only to witness the world as it is, but also to begin crafting the world as it might be.
T.J. Edwards

SMU disrupts design with new Master's in art and design innovation - 0 views

www.smudailycampus.com/...s-in-art-and-design-innovation

master innovation learning idiploma

shared by T.J. Edwards on 17 Mar 16 - No Cached
  • One of the mandatory classes places students in studio classes where they are given a client and a prompt to solve an open-ended problem using human-centered design.
    • T.J. Edwards
      T.J. Edwards on 17 Mar 16
       
      Novel idea :)
  • The current client is Café Momentum, a nonprofit restaurant that trains and hires juvenile offenders. The problem students have to solve is that many of the young men who work at Café Momentum are unable to get a lease or live in unaffordable housing because of their age.
    • T.J. Edwards
      T.J. Edwards on 17 Mar 16
       
      Sounds like fuse
  • Students can take two elective courses in almost any subject as long as they can justify why they are taking the classes. She also emphasized that MADI is for anyone.
    • T.J. Edwards
      T.J. Edwards on 17 Mar 16
       
      Could this be a model for iD. Make room for more electives, and students should show how those electives will further work in iD
Bo Adams

The Next Big Thing in Design - IDEO Stories - Medium - 0 views

medium.com/...g-thing-in-design-513522543a6f

IDEO designthinking #MustRead #MVIFIshares innovation

shared by Bo Adams on 11 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • bringing human-centered design to education, government, healthcare — the sectors that need it most — requires a few important culture shifts:1. We need to bust out of siloed design practices.2. We need to develop ever-broader capacities, taking an interdisciplinary, deeply collaborative approach.
  • We turn our own questions on ourselves: What if we could help design education that readies today’s kids for the technologically enhanced (and challenged) environment they’ll grow up into? While we’re at it, what if we could then start addressing the very policy that shapes those educational institutions? That kind of moonshot systems thinking requires both agility and scale — it requires networked organizations and creative collectives. It requires designers who never stand still.
  • when individuals with their own aspirations and talents come together to build upon each other’s work and drive toward a greater goal, we can gain traction on much bigger challenges — and find new ways forward.
Bo Adams

Does Design Thinking Work For Students? | Steve Mouldey - 0 views

stevemouldey.wordpress.com/...ign-thinking-work-for-students

#MustRead design thinking design_thinking designthinking

shared by Bo Adams on 23 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • It has felt like a more powerful version of inquiry through it’s focus on developing empathy, students iterating their understanding and then having to use their knowledge rather than just remembering information.
  • the most comprehensive definition came from a student: Design Thinking is human centred problem solving where designers go through a process which highly values empathy, feedback and multiple iterations in order to create a solution that best suits a user based on their needs and values
  • The most powerful student comment in this research shows both what students gain from the use of Design Thinking and a thirst for this authentic, meaningful approach to spread further: “I am quicker to find things that don’t feel very meaningful to me which bothers me when I know there can be meaningful ways to learn where even as a high school student I can be contributing to bigger projects that really impact people’s lives.”
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  • I see students as citizens now, rather than citizens in the future, and want to help them develop the skills and knowledge to influence the world around them.
Meghan Cureton

How to Cultivate the Art of Serendipity - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...te-the-art-of-serendipity.html

serendipity innovation creativity iDiplomaSeminar reading list #MustRead #fsbl observationjournals

shared by Meghan Cureton on 03 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • In the 1960s, Gay Talese, then a young reporter, declared that “New York is a city of things unnoticed” and delegated himself to be the one who noticed.
    • Bo Adams
      Bo Adams on 03 Jan 16
       
      LOVE THIS! "delgated himself to be the one who noticed."
  • discoveries are products of the human mind.
  • As people dredge the unknown, they are engaging in a highly creative act.
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  • What an inventor “finds” is always an expression of him- or herself.
  • Some scientists even embrace a kind of “free jazz” method, he said, improvising as they go along: “I’ve heard of people getting good results after accidentally dropping their experimental preparations on the floor, picking them up, and working on them nonetheless,” he added.
  • an incredible 50 percent of patents resulted from what could be described as a serendipitous process.
  • capable of seeing “patterns that others don’t see.”
  • That’s why we need to develop a new, interdisciplinary field — call it serendipity studies — that can help us create a taxonomy of discoveries
  • A number of pioneering scholars have already begun this work, but they seem to be doing so in their own silos and without much cross-talk.
Bo Adams

The Future of Big Data and Analytics in K-12 Education - Education Week - 0 views

www.edweek.org/...of-big-data-and-analytics.html

data analytics bigdata assessment #MustRead #mvifishares school model school3.0

shared by Bo Adams on 16 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • data scientists would then search the waters for patterns in each student's engagement level, moods, use of classroom resources, social habits, language and vocabulary use, attention span, academic performance, and more.
  • would be fed to teachers, parents, and students via AltSchool's digital learning platform and mobile app, which are currently being tested
  • AltSchool's 50-plus engineers, data scientists, and developers are designing tools that could be available to other schools by the 2018-19 school year.
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  • AltSchool is almost certain to provoke a backlash from parents and privacy advocates who see in its plans the potential for an Orwellian surveillance nightmare, as well as potentially unethical experimentation on children.
  • The term "big data" is generally used to describe data sets so large they must be analyzed by computers. Usually, the purpose is to find patterns and connections relating to human behavior and how complex systems function.
  • Analytics generally refers to the process of collecting such data, conducting those analyses, generating corresponding insights, and using that new information to make (what proponents hope will be) smarter decisions.
  • replacing the top-down, slow-moving bureaucratic structures that currently shape public education with a "networked model" in which students, teachers, and schools are connected directly by information and thus capable of learning and adapting more quickly.
  • 'Montessori 2.0': a kind of supercharged version of the progressive, project-based learning often found in elite private schools and privileged enclaves within traditional school systems.
  • Bo Adams on 16 Jan 16
     
    Eventually, Ventilla envisions AltSchool technology facilitating an exponential increase in the amount of information collected on students in school, all in service of expanding the hands-on, project-based model of learning in place at the six private school campuses the company currently operates in Silicon Valley and New York City.
Bo Adams

Is There a "Future of Work"? - 0 views

modernlearners.com/is-there-a-future-of-work

future work environment work

shared by Bo Adams on 28 Mar 16 - No Cached
  • the speed and scale are going to shock those in education charged with preparing our children for it.
  • Like so many other things that we think of in the future tense, (climate change, surveillance, etc.) the changes in work have already arrived, we just don’t seem to realize it
  • we need to start thinking differently about what it means to be “career ready” (as well as, I suppose, “college ready.”)
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Why doesn’t education focus on what humans can do better than the machines and instruments they create?”
  • So, wouldn’t we be better off shifting the emphasis on the work of our teachers away from content and grades and curriculum to mentoring, apprenticeships, making, and discussion?
  • Finally, what role does leadership play in staying abreast of these types of shifts, articulating them to school and community, and in building capacity for those groups to engage in relevant, meaningful conversations around what changes may need to happen?
  • leaders better be building school cultures that learn, constantly.
  • Bo Adams on 28 Mar 16
     
    HT @WillRich45
Nicole Martin

Why Curiosity Matters - 1 views

hbr.org/curiosity

shared by Nicole Martin on 14 Sep 18 - No Cached
  • And socially curious employees are better than others at resolving conflicts with colleagues, more likely to receive social support, and more effective at building connections, trust, and commitment on their teams. People or groups high in both dimensions are more innovative and creative.
  • joyous exploration, deprivation sensitivity, stress tolerance, and social curiosity—improve work outcomes.
  • joyous exploration has the strongest link with the experience of intense positive emotions. Stress tolerance has the strongest link with satisfying the need to feel competent, autonomous, and that one belongs. Social curiosity has the strongest link with being a kind, generous, modest person.
  • ...40 more annotations...
  • deprivation sensitivity—recognizing a gap in knowledge the filling of which offers relief. This type of curiosity doesn’t necessarily feel good, but people who experience it work relentlessly to solve problems.
  • joyous exploration—being consumed with wonder about the fascinating features of the world. This is a pleasurable state; people in it seem to possess a joie de vivre.
  • social curiosity—talking, listening, and observing others to learn what they are thinking and doing. Human beings are inherently social animals, and the most effective and efficient way to determine whether someone is friend or foe is to gain information. Some may even snoop, eavesdrop, or gossip to do so.
  • stress tolerance—a willingness to accept and even harness the anxiety associated with novelty. People lacking this ability see information gaps, experience wonder, and are interested in others but are unlikely to step forward and explore.
  • thrill seeking—being willing to take physical, social, and financial risks to acquire varied, complex, and intense experiences. For people with this capacity, the anxiety of confronting novelty is something to be amplified, not reduced.
  • we all seek the sweet spot between two deeply uncomfortable states: understimulation (coping with tasks, people, or situations that lack sufficient novelty, complexity, uncertainty, or conflict) and overstimulation.
  • people become curious upon realizing that they lack desired knowledge; this creates an aversive feeling of uncertainty, which compels them to uncover the missing information.
  • nstead of asking, “How curious are you?” we can ask, “How are you curious?”
  • But maintaining a sense of wonder is crucial to creativity and innovation. The most effective leaders look for ways to nurture their employees’ curiosity to fuel learning and discovery.
  • How can organizations help people make the leap from curious to competent?
  • by providing the right types of stretch assignments and job rotations.
  • complexity and breadth of the opportunities they’d been given,
  • It enhances intelligence
  • It increases perseverance, or grit
  • And curiosity propels us toward deeper engagement, superior performance, and more-meaningful goals
  • The ProblemLeaders say they value employees who question or explore things, but research shows that they largely suppress curiosity, out of fear that it will increase risk and undermine efficiency.Why This MattersCuriosity improves engagement and collaboration. Curious people make better choices, improve their company’s performance, and help their company adapt to uncertain market conditions and external pressures.The RemedyLeaders should encourage curiosity in themselves and others by making small changes to the design of their organization and the ways they manage their employees. Five strategies can guide them.
  • leaders can encourage curiosity
  • when our curiosity is triggered, we are less likely to fall prey to confirmation bias (looking for information that supports our beliefs rather than for evidence suggesting we are wrong) and to stereotyping people (making broad judgments, such as that women or minorities don’t make good leaders). Curiosity has these positive effects because it leads us to generate alternatives.
  • My own research confirms that encouraging people to be curious generates workplace improvements.
  • What is one topic or activity you are curious about today? What is one thing you usually take for granted that you want to ask about? Please make sure you ask a few ‘Why questions’ as you engage in your work throughout the day. Please set aside a few minutes to identify how you’ll approach your work today with these questions in mind.”
  • “What is one topic or activity you’ll engage in today? What is one thing you usually work on or do that you’ll also complete today? Please make sure you think about this as you engage in your work throughout the day. Please set aside a few minutes to identify how you’ll approach your work today with these questions in mind.”
  • When we are curious, we view tough situations more creatively. Studies have found that curiosity is associated with less defensive reactions to stress and less aggressive reactions to provocation.
  • curiosity encourages members of a group to put themselves in one another’s shoes and take an interest in one another’s ideas rather than focus only on their own perspective. That causes them to work together more effectively and smoothly: Conflicts are less heated, and groups achieve better results.
  • he groups whose curiosity had been heightened performed better than the control groups because they shared information more openly and listened more carefully.
  • Hire for curiosity.
  • “Have you ever found yourself unable to stop learning something you’ve never encountered before? Why? What kept you persistent?”
  • most people perform at their best not because they’re specialists but because their deep skill is accompanied by an intellectual curiosity that leads them to ask questions, explore, and collaborate.
  • “What is the one thing I should do to make things better for you?”
  • hen we demonstrate curiosity about others by asking questions, people like us more and view us as more competent, and the heightened trust makes our relationships more interesting and intimate.
  • But focusing on learning is generally more beneficial to us and our organizations,
  • A body of research demonstrates that framing work around learning goals (developing competence, acquiring skills, mastering new situations, and so on) rather than performance goals (hitting targets, proving our competence, impressing others) boosts motivation. And when motivated by learning goals, we acquire more-diverse skills, do better at work, get higher grades in college, do better on problem-solving tasks, and receive higher ratings after training. Unfortunately, organizations often prioritize performance goals.
  • rewarding people not only for their performance but for the learning needed to get there.
  • Leaders can also stress the value of learning by reacting positively to ideas that may be mediocre in themselves but could be springboards to better ones.
  • Organizations can foster curiosity by giving employees time and resources to explore their interests.
  • Employees can also broaden their interests by broadening their networks. Curious people often end up being star performers thanks to their diverse networks,
  • Leaders can also boost employees’ curiosity by carefully designing their teams.
  • What if…?” and “How might we…?”
  • To encourage curiosity, leaders should also teach employees how to ask good questions.
  • Organizing “Why?” days, when employees are encouraged to ask that question if facing a challenge, can go a long way toward fostering curiosity.
  • 5 Whys
  • Bo Adams on 14 Sep 18
     
    HT Nicole Martin
Nicole Martin

Zero-Based Thinking in Education - What? Why? and Sort of How… - 0 views

medium.com/...y-and-sort-of-how-f57a329c5924

shared by Nicole Martin on 28 Sep 18 - No Cached
  • he road to Zero-Based Thinking begins with observation. But not observation limited to — or even primarily within — schools. Go outside, watch kids, watch humans. Watch them learn when you are not interfering. Watch them learn in parks and coffee shops, on playgrounds and playing fields, in museums and in stores, while riding on buses and trains, while playing with legos, while watching the tide come in. Learn to watch learning.
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