The Big Things That Make Me Go Hmmm...

These days, I have a lot on my mind. These are the daily observations and vicissitudes of life and they all make me go hmmm...

Then there are the larger issue and events and it's some of those that are the focus of this post. Impossible to list them all due to time and space, but the ones that follows are certainly front of mind right now. I suspect that this will be a regular post with some issues and events staying on the list and others fading away into history or a small dark corner of my mind.

I have a lot of interests, personal and academic. This blog is mostly for those things of personal interest that make me go hmmm... For the academic interests, most of them can be found on my professional blog Thoughts from the Field on my consulting Web site Birch Hollow Consulting. But just to be contrary today, I'm going to list them all to get started. I will cross post when I want to share all of those hmmms...

So let's start with those big things that are personally making me go hmmm...

• Climate Change - as I look out my office window on to a verdant front lawn on the 19th of January, I have what we are in for weather wise and its associated impacts and costs. We're supposed to get our first real snowfall of the winter tomorrow (10-15 cm forecasted), while globally the weather over the last few months (and years) has gone wild - droughts, floods, atmospheric rivers, weather bombs - Mother Nature is isn't going to take it anymore The socioeconomic, political, infrastructure and human cost are massive and will continue to be. Grocery stores here have signs apologizing for a lack of produce due to weather and food security is an issue for many - and that's in the First World!
• Healthcare - the system isn't working the way the we want it to and fundamental change is needed. Efforts are being made but they have to be apolitical and focussed on results. The amazing frontline health workers provide incredible care in a system that sometimes seems to work against them. More to say on this too.
• U.S. Politics - Why did it take 15 rounds of voting to elect a Speaker of the House who had to sell his political soul to get the job?  Why is a congressman who seems incapable of telling any truth still holding his seat? Why are debunked conspiracy theorists holding positions of power?  Why isn't the former president (you know who I mean) not in jail? If they don't sort themselves fairly quickly and focus on their job, settle on a debt ceiling and budget that is not based on revenge, then the lights will be going out all over the World.
• War in Ukraine - geopolitics is indeed a murky place most days, but this is cut and dry - Russia has invaded a sovereign nation regardless of past history and connections.  The World has an obligation to do all it can to correct this wrong. All it takes for Evil to prosper is... 

 I don't want to write a tome today, so here are my current academic interests:

• Appreciative Inquiry - in my doctoral work focussed on organizational change and culture I used an Appreciative Inquiry approach to develop models for change. I like AI as it focuses on the positive and what it working well and stops organizations from getting bogged down in the bad. David Cooperrider is the father of AI and it is worth taking a look at his research.
• Artificial Intelligence - There's been a lot of talk about applications such as ChatGPT and how they are going to ruin education by letting students  easily cheat.  The advent of AIs like ChatGPT are an opportunity for a change in learning and assessment and really look forward to exploring the opportunities further. Plus the fact that two of my interests both have the same acronym is enough to make any one go hmmm...
• Competency- Based Learning - has been a passion of mine for years. By developing learning environments focussing on competencies and what students need and allowing them to learn and demonstrate skills and knowledge directly, is for me the best way to learn. A lot of work for educators but a better learning experience for students. I'll definitely be writing more on this and possibly even on how all three of my academic interests might come together.

So there we are. Hmmm...

Image from http://clipart-library.com/

Sugata Mitra - the Child Driven Education

This is from TED.com and is an amazing presentation from Sugata Mitra, on experiments and studies he has done on children in remote areas teaching themselves to use computers with NO assistance - amazing stuff and proof that children will learn what children want to learn - something as educators we can all keep in mind...



Hmmm...

Adventure of a Lifetime...

My friend and colleague Dave Jellicoe, has just launched the adventure of a lifetime - for the next year (at least), he will be teaching in Japan at the Hohoku School in Sendai . You can follow his adventure at his blog, The Uncarved Block.

Have a blast Dave and stay in touch! Hmmm...

Vacation Blogging - My 21st Century Summer Reading List

Remember getting those summer reading lists when you were in school - titles to be read for the next school year? Spent summers doing almost anything except reading what was on that list? Then later, after school was over, making up lists of bookd you wanted to read for pleasure while on vacation or just sitting outside enjoying the weather?

Well, my summer reading list has morphed into vacation blogging. I'm on vacation for the next few weeks and have a list of things that have been making me go hmmm... for a while. Now that I have time, I plan on getting these things posted. Here's the list:

• New skills for learning professionals
• Meta skills for learning professionals
• Informal learning
• Twitter signs of success - business and adult entertainment
  
• Can Community Colleges Save the U.S. Economy? (or any national economy for that matter)
  
• Twitter in the classroom - twitter clickers
• OS X plug-ins
• Sarah Palin's rant
• Version numbers
• Canadians and Traffic Shaping
• Wal-Mart and the Environment
• Must "read" audio books

And I'm sure there are more, but that's my list for now. Better get started, but I see the Sun - maybe a walk first. Hmmm...

Shambhala ALIA Institute 2009 - Some Additional Thoughts and Images

It's been almost a week since ALIA 2009 came to a close and I'm still pondering and reflecting - one of the highlights of the week for me was the focus on self, the reflections of just what my skills were when it came to hosting and facilitating. I learned a lot, met some incredible people and have taken away some amazing stuff that I will be sorting through for some time to come.

I have come to some conclusions though:

• for me ALIA 2009 was a great experience - it was both relaxing and restorative after a very long academic year, yet stimulating and challenging. I was definitely forced out of my comfort zone several times during the week and I think that stretching was good for me.
• I am a very good educator and facilitator and have added to my tool kit and practice through what I have seen and participated in at ALIA 2009
• There is still a ton of stuff out there to learn and distill
• There is a place for the arts - music, dance, art, and more in education - we need to expres what is in us and for many that is through the arts - amazing people at ALIA
• My reflecting and analyzing of my experience at ALIA 2009 is far from over...

I've also posted some photos from the week on my Flickr site in a Photo set called "ALIA Institute 2009".

I suspect that I will posting additional thoughts on my ALIA 2009 experience. Stay tuned. Hmmm...

Shambhala ALIA Institute 2009 - A Few First After Thoughts...

It's been a couple of days since the end of ALIA 2009, and my head is still full of "stuff" ("stuff" is the universal technical term :-)). Thought I'd spend some time getting some of that stuff down here along with some of the links and resources shared by others during the week.

One of the benefits of going to ALIA this year is that it brought me back to being people-focussed. It's not that I am not people-focussed, I mean as an educator if you are not people-focussed, you have issues. It's just that after a long academic year, working with processes and policies, and procedures, the people-focus can at times become a little fuzzy. Mine is now sharp and crystal-clear - good timing as we move into the summer and planning for next year - hiring, enrollments, academic advising - all people-centric activities. At its core ALIA is about people, as any form of leadership should be - it's about the people around you and how they all best fit together.

ALIA and the Shambhala movement are definitely people-centric and in many ways self-centric too - it was good to rediscover some of that self through the meditation practice, through calligraphy, and through the modules and rich conversations - for me ALIA was like a spa for my mind...

Lots of resources and links available for anyone looking to learn more about ALIA or thinking of attending next year (I highly recommend it). The ALIA Web site does a great job of describing the institute. The best resources though are the ALIA Community (a Ning site I think), and in particular to ALIA 2009, the Summer Institute blog. If you want to know more about ALIA, the ALIA Community is a great place to start. Sign up and engage in the conversations...

One of the most interesting people I met at ALIA 2009 was Thomas Arthur - juggler, filmmaker and coach, he was the videographer and photographer for the week. Here is the video harvest he compiled that was shown at the closing ceremony:

Shambhala Summer Institute 2009 from ALIA on Vimeo.

Amazing stuff - the original video is at the ALIA Blog (lot's of great pictures of the week from Thomas too), and at Vimeo. Also, check out Thomas's company Woven Essence. He is a unique individual who would bring something special to your space.

Still more "stuff" to reflect on, so I suspect that this will not be my last post on ALIA 2009. A great week and now it's back to the campus and seeing where all this "stuff" fits. Hmmm...

Shambhala ALIA Institute 2009 - Day Five

Can it be Friday already? The past five days have literally flown by - hard to believe that ALIA 2009 is over. Well, the institute might be over by the thinking, reflecting and general going Hmmm... is just beginning, so I guess this would be the end of the beginning...

A great end to a great week. The principle today in our last module session was Clarity - bringing things together - we did a circle of younger-elder-middle - very powerful stuff - each takes that role and says a word or phrase of what comes to them. Interestingly enough younger and elder are very close as both are about self, while middle is different as the middle is about others - cool stuff and a very neat exercise. Think that may be why youngers and elders get along so well - they are asking the same questions (look at the relationship between a grandchild and their grandparents...).

Ended the session with Barbara getting us to make a last mark using a big brush - all done in silence and very powerful (one of my big "takeaways" from this week is the power of silence - something I will incorporate into my practice). I drew an open circle representing the importance of community and being open to invite more in.

Then in probably one of the most spiritual and intimate moments of the week Barbara was asked to make the final brush stroke, but before she did, each of us in turn took a moment to touch her - a way of adding some of us to the stroke - a wonderful moment. The picture above is her stroke, or perhaps it is our stroke? Lots of hugs as we ended and lots of picture which I'll get up on Flickr this weekend...

After lunch was a wrap-up of the wealth discussions started at the world cafe and what can tangibly be done - it took a turn away from leadership and more into the Shambhala spirit I thought, which was not a bad thing , but for me, not what I came to the Institute for. The closing event was really nice, with a video of the week and the presentation of a Shambhala pin and its significance to all first year attendees got a - done with great sincerity and reverence. I admire those who follow the Shambhala principles and spirit and I think that there is (and I have) a lot to learn from them.

The institute ended from my perspective, the only way it could with Barbara Bash making one final mark - here it is and you can get from it what you will - it is rich and full of meaning and I am sure that everyone who attended ALIA this year saw something unique in the brush stroke.


So what does it all mean? The full answer will take a while, but here is some what I've got so far:

• Silence is powerful, and rich, and full of thoughts and deeds - in many ways better than voice or sounds
• I am very good at what I do - I had a lot to offer and I did - I think it was appreciated by many as evidenced by the hugs and comments as we parted
• I like calligraphy - I am not good at it yet, but that does not matter, and I love the spiritualism, the quiet, the mystery of the stroke, and the relationship with the brush. The only thing that I have found in my life that comes close is hitting that perfect golf ball through a morning mist...
  
• Questions are the key (which is great because my colleagues, friends, and learners will tell you that some days all I do is ask questions - no answers, just questions) - just need to be better at crafting and asking
• In many ways, answers are not as important as we make them out to be - sometimes the best answer is another question
  
• It's not about the tools, it's about the hosting - letting go and checking your ego at the door
  
• Give up control to the field or community
  
• The module hosts this week were beyond amazing - I spent a lot of time watching them and how they interacted with us and each other - they had a plan, but were also flexible and open to allow us , the field or community to go where we needed to be. So if your group or community wants to do some exploring or learning you need to get Chris, or Tim, or Barbara to help you with that journey. And many thanks to Caitlin Frost too for her insights and for sharing Chris and her children with us this week - the brought some cool things to the mix. Thanks to you all, I learned so much from each of you and from all of us - thanks all!!
  

I know there is a lot more and as I review my notes and thoughts over the next few days and weeks that there will be more to say here - I loved the exercises we did and I will be bringing them "home" with me to add to what it is I do (and when I have that figured out, I will know where they all fit too :-)).

I will be back at ALIA next year - the modules and sessions were amazing and it was a transformational experience - I would recommend the experience to anyone looking to do some stretching and expanding of their comfort zone. I got a lot of validation from the week too - I know I'm very good at what I do, but rarely think of it that way in comparison to others - it was nice to see that a lot of what I do is OK. I'm not ready to be a Shambhala warrior anytime soon, but they do offer a lot of things to think about and that is never a bad thing. Hmmm...

Shambhala ALIA Institute 2009 - Day Four

Another full and amazing day at ALIA. I missed meditation this morning because there was a bunch of us in a great conversation about everything and nothing - what to see in NS, education, fishing, we were all over the place - very cool people :-).

The module session principle today was ? (or the principle formerly known as ? with apologies to Prince :-)). The practice of asking questions. I was in my glory :-) - I LOVE questions :-). One of the first things we talked about was what makes a powerful question? Here's the list:

• Simple & Clear
• Thought Provoking
• Generates Energy
• Focuses Inquiry
• Challenges Assumptions
• Creates New Possibility
• Evokes More Questions
• Fearlessness (came from the group)

Also came to the conclusion that when hosting or facilitating don't work alone, work with all - helps with the hard questions and avoids ego. We then did a neat exercise around elder, adult, and younger - what kinds of questions do each of the groups ask - very cool - at the end could have switched the title of the Younger questions sheet to Elder and they would have been relevant (if you think about that explains the close relationships many of us have jad with grandparents and why your kids may get along so well with their grandparents - they ask the same questions :-)) - very cool.

I took pictures of the sheets and will get them up on Flickr this weekend. Questions should change and shift and cause more questions. I got a lot of value from talking about questions - and again silence came up as a good tool for use with questions - key I have found with questions is that in many cases it's not the answer that is important, it's the next question, and the one after that that gets everyone engaged in the journey...

We then did an open spaces exercise - would love to try one at the College - I see some real practical uses for the technique to get learners and others involved in solving problems and making issues their own. I love the principles of Open Spaces:

• Whoever comes are the right people
• Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
• When it starts is the right time
• When it's over, it's over

The Law of Two Feet - when you don't like it use your two feet and leave :-). Lots of great open space resources at Chris Corrigan's Web site - (in fact check out his whole site along with those of Tim Merry and Barbara Bash - all are simply awesome and very useful).

The afternoon session was our second calligraphy session with Barbara - we got big brushes and ink today! :-). Drew four different characters and all done in silence - a very spiritual, relaxing, connected, wonderful, anxious, amazing experience - felt like you were in a relationship with the brush (sometimes you drew what you wanted and sometimes the brush drew what it wanted :-))- so relaxing - I may have to investigate further. Hmmm...

BTW I have been saying "Heaven, Heart, Human" all week and it's actually "Heaven, Earth, Human" - that's OK because my Heart is my Earth - my grounding, and my centre - it's a very neat and spiritual way to look at things...

Last session was a world cafe on what we can do about the world and wealth and community etc. - actual solutions to problems. Run simultaneously in three places - at ALIA, in Second Life, and on Skype (I'm a big fan of both - been in Second Life (SL) for over 3 years - I'm hondomac Dalgleish in SL , and I've had a Skype account even longer - no more long distance charges...). I thought they might have better integrated them all with voice, but they just read the transcripts from SL and Skype - a good start though, and proof that you can use virtual worlds and other technologies to connect with people. Next step would be live interaction between the three technologies to have one slightly larger world, complete with two-way voice and video - the technology exists to do that now...

Here's a look at the world cafe, Second Life style...


Many thanks to LoriVonne Lustre (in SL) for the postcard. If you are ever in Second Life, track down LoriVonne - she will greatly enhance your SL experience...

The week is drawing to a close, but I think much of my learning is just beginning - there has been a lot of great information and discussion this week - now the distilling, reflecting and actual using of those principles, tools, and techniques that work for my situations begins. Welcome to the end of the beginning. Hmmm...

Shambhala ALIA Institute 2009 - Day Three

Another interesting day at ALIA - I even managed to keep my eyes open for most of the meditation session this morning :-).

Today in the module we looked at emergence, what is starting to emerge from our discussions on hosting etc. There was a lot of silence today - my God I never realized how powerful silence was - I plan on using it a lot more - again in the circle we were asked to say what had emerged for us - I said a deeper awareness and the knowledge that silence was as powerful or more powerful than voice or noise. The power and energy of the shared thoughts in the circle and in the room were quite palpable

We did a very cool exercise working with limiting beliefs. We were asked to pick a group (I picked learners), and to write down beliefs about them that were negative or limiting - so I wrote down things like frustration, lack of effort, not coming to class etc. The one I chose for the exercise was "Learners work hard at avoiding work". We then paired up (I got lucky and was paired up with Chris Corrigan - amazing guy...) and went through a facilitated discussion that was almost completely silent except for some guiding questions and gentle facilitating - I think it would be amazing to try with faculty or even learners. Some of the guiding questions asked were:

1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know it is true?
3. How do you react - what happens when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without that thought?

Then we turned the thought/belief around - very powerful stuff.


Balanced rocks - what do they mean to You? Balance, synergy, community - connectedness? Hmmm...

We were then sent on a 10 minute silent aimless walk after which we came back and made an ink stroke on a piece of paper - mine was a diagonal line across the page - meant journey and two sides and a lot more to me :-)



Had an interesting session this afternoon on complementary currencies - some of teh examples include LETS Local Exchange Trading Systems (here is a link to a list of LETS worldwide) , the Onion River Exchange, Global Community Initiatives, and LASER were some of the resources mentioned - brief economics lesson on the difference between currency and money and then a look at different types of complementary currencies - there are a lot of them around - seen by some as the salvation of the world economies (complementary currencies are not new - depression-era "scrip" was one of the examples shown). Annapolis Royal has set up a complementary currency. The concept of the various kinds of complimentary currencies and the power and stability they can bring a community are some things to think about. How would the introduction of complementary currencies in Canada (besides the business ones we know like Air Miles, Aeroplan, and Canadian Tire Money...) effect our economy? Or do we already have large scale use of complimentary ecomonies hhere - we just call is volunteerism? I like the idea of a time bank as a way to increase community activism and engagement.

Another great day at ALIA - I think I'm starting to get the big picture of "Heaven, Heart, and Human" and how I might apply it to parts of my life. Another full day tomorrow...

(Currency and Community Image from Gwendolyn Hallsmith)

Shambhala ALIA Institute 2009 - Day One

Day One of the ALIA institute was thought provoking, active, and a little overwhelming too - 7:15 AM - 6:00 PM - what a day! and it flew by! This is going to be a transformational week.

A great group of people - very eclectic and interesting - the Shambhala followers are very calm, very centred and very, very smart - they speak softly, almost in a whisper - slow talkers - you really have to pay attention to them - an interesting technique. It initially came off to me as pretentious, but that's not the case - very genuine and caring...

Silence seems to be valued almost more than speech and noise (although there was lots of that and movement too :-). Everything has a purpose and all has meaning - very significant and a different perspective for sure. The following guiding principles are the foundation of the ALIA Institute:

• Authenticity - there is a depth and clarity of attention and intention (this word has been used a lot at ALIA - intention is fundamental in any word or deed) as a foundation for leadership
• Clear Seeing - effective leadership begins with seeing situations clearly and directly
• Inherent Capacity - building on the inherent intelligence and creativity of people and groups. The module I am in "The Art of Hosting Conversations and Collborations Across Generations" speaks a lot to thsi inherent capacity in people, groups and communities
• Transformative Learning - leadership development is seen as an ongoing journey of personal and collective transformation. This has been my experience so far. The ALIA institute combines art, music, meditation and other techniques and disciplines out of my current comfort zone, resulting in quite a transformative experience for me so far
• Transformative Action - no sense having learning without action - it is an ALIA Institutre guiding principle that the programs and acticvities we are seeing this week will enable us to put into action items of change - I think that this will bevery true...

I have seen ecidence of these guiding principles in everything I have participated in so far.

After the opening address we began with a session of Mindful Meditation that went well except I couldn't keep my eyes open (I need practice). I found it to be a balancinga nnd centriung exercise, one that I will do every morning of the institute and possibly beyond.

There was series of "getting to know us exercises" - we were arranged in a circle by age (16-68), we went to the four points of the compass based on where we had come from (Hungary to Australia, to California to South Africa and back to Nova Scotia), and then joined in a dance of head, heart and hands - got warmed up and met some great people. I can see a great use for these exercises with any froup or classroom. Again the words intention, inquire and learn came up - a banner of intentions was created. My intention for the week is to inquire and learn...

One of the main themes of the week is wealth (in all its shape and forms) - we had a learning cafe on several questions around wealth and most of the discussions had little to do with money - the focus was on community and the wealth of the spirit and other forms of wealth and poverty - being rich and poor in many ways at the same time. An interesting perspective on complementary currencies as well. Some great stuff on complementary currencies here. Heard from Silas Louie from Zimbabwe on teh use of a complemetary currency that brought economic stability and a sense of community to his community

The afternoon was dedicated to the module sessions - mine as I said is "The Art of Hosting Conversations and Collborations Across Generations" hosted by Chris Corrigan, Tim Merry and Barbara Bash who are all great facilitators - at first I thought they were going to do all the talking, but they were just setting context - we did a talking circle - we were asked what our source was and who we served - my source was my passions, particularly my passion for learning and I serve my learners, faculty and staff, but also the economy and people of NS - several people were brought to tears by their stories - I think there will be a lot of tears and laughter before the week is out. Also got into a conversation about Choas and Order - I mentioned that I loved chaos over order in my classrooms because it caused learning - got lots of good feedback.

An amazingly full and eventful day that just flew by - it's taken me this long to digest things for this post - an amazing start to what wil be an amazing week. Hmmm...

Shambhala ALIA Institute 2009 - Day One - Opening Address

Day One of ALIA started bright and early with breakfast at 7:00 AM (I was fashionably late at 7:45). The opening keynote was "Bringing Authentic Leadership Into Action", by Michael Chender, a consultant and member of the Shambhala community. He spoke of several themes that will be explored throughout the institute - authentic leadership, complexity, and wealth.

Authentic leadership is a path or process not an ideal and will not be defined by ALIA - it's part of the journety of bringing the best to a situation and our current uncertain times demand authentic leadership. As you can see, lots of food for thought right from the top of the institute. I'm just starting to define authentic leadership for myself, but I think it inckudes being aware of everyone and including them in the process. There is more, but that's yet to clarify...

Complexity is ever increasing - the immediacy of the use of technology and the Web - authentic leadership is the essential ground from which to interact or work with complexity. ALIA is a relatively technology-high conference - it is being filmed and photographed, the site is tech-friendly with wireless and wired access, and several people in the audience were using Flip and similar style video cameras. In fact Michael specifically mentioned that he expected his address to be on the Web within the hour - more complexity and immediacy.

He talked about wealth and the need for appreciating natural wealth - I think there will be a lot of talk this week about wealth and most will not be about money.

Michael ended his address talking about meditation - the practice of doing nothing, and the ALIA approach of meditation and the arts bringing mind, body and action together - for me this will be the most interesting part of the journey this week as it is out of my comfort zone (not a bad thing). Finally, he wished us an unnerving week and I think it will be just that.

An interesting start to the week - lots to ponder on and lots to look forward too. Hmmm...

Shambhala ALIA Institute 2009

This week I am attending the Shambhala ALIA (Authetic Leadership in Action) Institute at Mount Saint Vincent University.

The institute started Sunday evening with an opening banquet and guest speaker. I had a great time - some absolutely fascinating people. Sat at the same table as Susan Szpakowski, the Executive Director of ALIA - a very calm, sure, centred woman - there may be something to the Shambhala way if she is an example - a very caring person - when I spoke with her it was like I was the only person in the room, and she was the busiest person in the room too!

The guest speaker at the opening banquet was Shauntay Grant, Halifax's Poet Laureate - very powerful writer and a great storyteller - there is a real story telling theme to the conference and one of the major themes is wealth - not just monetary wealth, but wealth of mind, and spirit, and knowledge, and sharing - it is going to be a very cool week.

I plan on Tweeting the conference when I can- I'm hondomac on Twitter and will be using the #alia hashtag. Here is the schedule for the week - http://www.aliainstitute.org/programs/2009summer/schedule.html.

I'm looking forward to an interesting, thought-provoking, challenging, and maybe even a little bit of an uncomfortable week - a week full of learning options and opportunities. I'm going to try and post at least once a day, but there is a lot here that makes me go Hmmm... so may not be a daily event...

Image - ALIA Logo from the ALIA Institute Web site.

CNIE 2009 Ottawa - Day Three

The first session I attended on Day Three of CNIE 2009 was "BOLD - Blended Online Learning Design - An International Research Initiative". The study Web site is BOLD-Research.org. The study was conducted at two universities ("X" and "Y"). Several things came out of study:

• A mix of synchronous and asynchronous online delivery was best - a psychological and sociological connection develops with faculty and learners
  
• Flexibility was a key element liked by faculty, learners and others surveyed
• Equity of access was important (comparing F2F and online)

Instructional Designer feedback included:

• Potential to create more active learning environments
• Important for ESL learners - can re-read and review multiple times
• Easier to monitor learner participation

Learner Feedback included:

• Flexibility
• Quality
• Group Reflection

Faculty Feedback included:

• Ease
• Flexibility
• Everything at their fingertips

There was lower attrition in synchronous courses as compared to asynchronous course - learners wanted a synchronous component to foster group and community.

An ongoing study, BOLD validate a lot of my thoughts on what works in any delivery method - we really do need to be delivery agnostic - focus on strong outcomes and course development that creates the best course possible that can be delivered in multiple ways. Hmmm...

The second session of the morning was "Computer Learning 2.0 - A (Re)Design" This seesion was presented by three librarians from Red Deer College. The team, resonsible for computer learning at Red Deer College moved to a project-based multiple modes of delivery system of computer training at RDC. They shifted to projects with rubrics - learners needed to apply learning and higher level thinking to complete projects as opposed to completing "Menu" style assignments. They came up with some really innovative projects that not only allowed learners to grasp and obtain the technical skills that they needed, but also developed critical thinking and problem-solving skills too.

They have developed a series of online "Lib Guides", including one for this presentation - very cool stuff.

The closing keynote, "Fuelling Innovation Through Millennial Entrepreneurship" was by Andrew Fisher, Executive VP at Wesley Clover, an investment vehicle for Terry Matthews, founder of Newbridge Networks and Mitel among other companies.

Much of his presentation had to do with how innovation and entrepreneurship went together and that as innovative educators there was much we could do with regards to commercialization etc. of our innovative ideas and products.

An OK presentation, but I felt that he didn't really "grab" the audience, probably not always an easy thing to do on closing a conference. He did have a valid point - as educators we do nee dto at least think about entrepreneurship and commercialization and organizations like Wesley Clover who could support further innovation. Hmmm...

CNIE 2009 Ottawa - Day Two Sessions

The first session the day that I attended was " Canada's e-PhDs". It was a review of current e-PhD programmes online - their challenges, retention and professional socialization. It is anticipated that the growth of e-PhD programmes will be exponential which is a great thing for someone like me who is currently exploring online doctoral programme options (if anyone know of an online EdD programme that costs less than $40 K, please let me know).

Interestingly enough, a quick comparison was done with residential PhD programes. Residential programmes have the following charateistics:

• No formal prep for teaching, service, or positions outside academe
• 50% completion rate
• 7-8 years to complet
• 4-5 years to withdraw
• Distance ed completion rate 60%

Some food for thought. All in all an interesting survey of online programmes from a retention perspective, but not the information session that I had expected.

The next session I sat in on was presented by my NSCC colleagues Carolyn and Kelly - An Online Chemo Prep Programme for Cancer Care Nova Scotia - this was an amazing programme delivered online to a total of 75 pharmacy technicians around NS on chemo preparation, to ensure standard approaches and practices in the mixing of these toxic medicines.

The program was delivered using Elluminate and a discussion board with a hands on "playbox" - inexpensively made up of the tools and equipment used in chemo prep. Learners used the playbox to practice and the theory was delivered and discussed through Elluminate and the discussion board. All participants got together face to face once to take an OSPE - and Objective Standardized Practical Exam.

This was an amazing programme that sets an example for delivering any intensive hands on course online through the combination of a "playbox" and an OSPE - very very cool and I will be definitely looking at this model for delivering such courses as IT hardware and networking. Great job Carolyn and Kelly!!...

The next session was "Developing a Community of Inquiry in a Mobile Learning Context" and was delivered by a team from Athabasca University. Much of the world (China was mentioned with over 500,000,000 mobile devices) is going directly from little technology right to mobile devices and this team has developed a model for mobile learning. One of the questions they are investigating is how is learning the same and different on a mobile device? To date there has not been a lot of research done on mobile technology and mobile learning, but as Clarke (1994) said - "learning doesn't change because the medium changes". Hmmm... I wonder if that is really true?

The remainder of the session discussed their evolving model of mobile learning which includes a device aspect, a learner aspect, and a social aspect with an information context (it's represented by a complex Venn diagram). Interesting stuff and something to think about. They did provide a great rubric and it's located here - http://galileo.org/research/publications/rubric.pdf - check it out...

The last session of the day was "Project-Based, Competency-Based Blended Program Innovation" by Dr. Michael Sutton of Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

This is an amazing accellerated professional degree completion program for business people looking for a BBA - no courses, but a series of competency assessed projects that run in project streams, each stream a major competency. a totalof over 40 major comptencies were identified in conjunction with business leaders and they were grouped in sets.

Learners need a miniumum of six years of business experience tp get in and the programme takes approx 18 months to complete if done in contiguous semesters.

This is the way adult education should be delivered - not hung up on courses and grades but focussed on applied project learning an competencies - a very cool presentation and a great way to deliver adult education...

Day Two was a little more mixed in the quality of the presentations, but the information was great and very thought provoking - a lot of learning that will take some time to reflect upon. Hmmm...

CNIE 2009 Ottawa - Day Two Keynote

Day Two of CNIE 2009 brought another full day of sessions and twittering. The day began with a keynote from Dr. Thierry Karsenti. A copy of his keynote will be available on his Web site. He talked about "ICT and Education - Information and Communications Technologies in Medical Education - The Major Challenges". Interesting method of presentation - most of the keynote was in French with English slides (and simultaneous translation) - a truly Canadian approach.

Dr. Karesnti identified four main challenges:

1. Preparing physicians for the changing behaviours of Internet savvy patients
2. Patients can readily interact with healthcare professionals without leaving home
3. To motivate physicians in training to use ICT to find information, learn, and develop
4. To change medical education practices

Patients are changing - now much more participative in their own healthcare and medical knowledge is no longer the perogative of health care experts. ICT needs to be seen as a way to get patients more engaged in their health care not as a nuisance - this creates serious challenges to the way initial and continuing medical education is done.

Telemedicine is becoming increasingly common, as are digital patient files and the increased use of handheld and other mobile devices. There is a need to raise the awareness of the benefits of ICT to physicians in training - ICT training should be manadatory in initial and continuing medical training (in any professional training for that matter).

Virtual communities and blogs are on the increase in medicine - Ask Dr.Wiki for example - that are directly targeting medical students and practitioners.

To better prepare physicians to deal with patients who may be better informed of their condition than the physician, ICT training needs to be compulsory inmedical education.

An interesting keynote that while not only pointing out the need for ICT training and skills in modern medicine, made the point that these skills and knowledge are pretty much required universally in all walks of life. A great start to the day...

CNIE 2009 Ottawa - Learning Is A Team Sport

This post is about the presentation that my colleague, Carolyn (randommind), and I gave at CNIE 2009 Monday afternoon (right after lunch in fact). The subject was "Learning Is A Team Sport, Or a Conversation About Learning In The New Millennium". Our presentation can be found on SlideShare if you want to take a look.

First just let me say that both of us had a blast presenting. This was the first time presenting at a national conference for both of us and quite frankly, I cannot wait to do it again. Much of the credit for that has to go to the incredibly engaged audience we had - the room was full and they played along with us.

The genesis of our presentation came out of a roundtable discussion that I had about a year ago at NSCC's Festival of Learning - many of our faculty come from a learning environment that was based on the individual - test, the term paper was king, a teacher told you what and how to learn, and that this is no longer where we or our learners are. As faculty we need to understand that learning is now in fact a collaborative process - between faculty and learners and between learners and learners and that we need to figure out what that means.

The presentation was interactive and participative, probably a good thing for right after lunch. I began with a simulation of the old classroom - "Sit down! Be quiet! Put your books away, pay attention to me, you are going to learn!". That seemed to get everyone's attention and allowed both of us to introduce ourselves and begin our conversation about learning as a team sport.

From there we moved on to a sorting exercise where my co-presenter asked a series of questions to separate the audience and to also get the audience to begin to know and understand each other. It's an amazing way to get learners to know each other and to get to know your learners. Carolyn did an amazing job of the sort - she owned the room and she was getting compliments well into today. For many of our audience it was the single biggest take away.

We then posed two questions:

1. Does this impact the way we teach?
2. What does all this mean to you?

The audience then did a Think-Pair-Share for 10 minutes (we only had one hour for the presentation). Once the time was up we asked for people to share their answers to our questions and the answers were quite amazing.

We heard the following:

• How do I do this with little or no support from my organization?
• How do I assess learning that's collaborative? (Maybe that's next year's presentation.)
• Lots of comments on how they could use the sort activity in their courses both face to face and online. The sort was the highlight of the presentation
  

There were several more absolutely amazing comments, but we were both so absorbed in the conversations that neither of us took any notes. Next time we get pwople to tweet :-). The line of the conference may have come out of our conversations around the questions when one of the audience referred to the old style teacher-centric model as "full frontal teaching" - it was an apt description and was quickly twittered across the conference and beyond.

The presentation was over before we knew it - what an amazing hour and thanks to everyone who attended for being so collaborative and giving - you all clearly demonstrated that learning is indeed a team sport. I learned so much that I will "collaboratively re-purpose" and use in my own practice. The greatest thanks though must go to my co-presenter - together we did an amazing job that we could not have done alone. Thanks so much Carolyn...

CNIE 2009 Ottawa - Day One And Twitter

Day One of the conference started off with a keynote from George Siemens. His keynote was titled "A Firm Foundation", and was quite interesting and thought-provoking, with some thoughts on education needing to be rethought and restructured. Some interesting numbers, including the facts that young users are not the greatest users of the Internet and that the 70-75 year old segment is the fasting growing sector (Pew Internet).

One important thing for me that came out of this keynote is the affirmation of the need to develop information literacy skills - the use of information literacy and information is critical and skills need to be developed. There is an issue where physical aspects haven't changed to meet the way information is being used - that is so true - just look around at information sources and how they are changing regularly.

Check out the presentation - very interesting.

Perhaps the single most important thing I have done at this conference was engaging in active twittering of the conference (tag #cnie) - it added such a dimension of richness and inclusiveness, along with immediate feedback and community - it was and is a spectacular way to engage in a conference (or I suspect any live event). Not to mention a great way to engage in conversation and get others' perespectives on what is happening around you.

Sat in on a presentation about critical thinking online - lots of good demographic numbers on internet use from the Media Awareness Network, a great resource on media and information literacy for K-12 (with some PSE application too). Talked aboutthe dominant reading pattern online is in the shape of a "F", and that a lot of really good content gets missed if it's outside the "F". One thing that was recommended to foster critical thining online was to separate entertainment from content and on eof the examples given was the Field Museum. Learners need to develop skills to successfully navigate and search he Internet - again that theme of information literacy came up.

The next presentation I attended was on "Web-Based Tools - The World Beyond The LMS" - much of the conversation was getting to the idea that Web 2.0 tools provide services beyond the ability of many LMSs, but that there needs to be a value add to use them - if the LMS will do most of what is wanted, then movingtos trange and unfamiliar Web 2.0 tools might not be the best. Ther needs to be a value-add to make the move. I am a strong believer of using Web 2.0 tools for learning, but like anything, use the right tool - the one that does the job and allows effective teaching and learning to occur.

The presenter also talked about how to train faculty in the use of Web 2.0 tools and build their comfort in their use. Web 2.0 has to be about ease of use and having the technology fade into the background. Personally I think that is the great advantage of Web 2.0...

The last presentation of the day was from Martha Burkle, the Cisco Chair in e-Learing at SAIT. It was a "Journet Through Second Life to Facilitate Hands On Learning". What SAIT has done is take their Robotics Lab and recreated it, along with other elements of their programs in Second Life - the SL Robotics lab is connected to Moodle through SLoodle and is a fuly functioning facility complete with testing and evaluation components - an entirely hands-on experience. I am quite sure that an entire online course could be developed and run this way.

Also took us on a tour of a TV studio set up for learners - they had full control rooms and camera setups allowing for simulated brodcasts and programming a great adjunct to their real world program. SAIT has creayed an engaging and creative learning environment in SL, but like a lot of them it has been driven more by "champions" that universal acceptance and adoption. Hmmm...

All in all an amzingly engaging and absorbing day - some incredible presnters and a lot of enaged attendees - twittering really was the icing on the cake. I can't s

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ay just how much more it adds to the conference experience - you have to try it!

For me the overwhelming themes of the day were information literacy - just how critically important it is, and that innovation in teaching and learning needs to be supported, but also needs to be done with an understanding of the effects of innovation on faculty and learners and that the supports must be there for both. Lots of Hmmm... from Day One...

CNIE 2009 Ottawa - The Crackerbarrel

My apologies for not blogging sooner, but between a wonky Internet connection (very little wireless in the hotel. Note to self - travel with a network cable...) and a very busy and interesting CNIE 2009, it's been an effort to post.

CNIE 2009 has been a great conference so far and I'll describe it in detail in future posts. The conference got off to a great start with a crackerbarrel - a combination opening ceremony and round table discussions. Some of the tables I sat at included:

• Web 2.0 - The Dark Side - an interesting conversation around what is difficult or bad about Web 2.0 - for me very little, but for many of the K-12 ecucators attending, the issue of cyber-bullying has become a big one. I wonder, is this something that we as PSE eductors have to be concerned about? Hmmm...
• Is Your Avatar Student Better Than the Real One? Learning Opportunities in Virtual Environments - a lively discussion on teh efficacy of Second Life as an educational and learning tool (I think it's an amazing educational opportunity).
• Graduate Study Online - Teaching and Learning Persepctives - we talked about graduate level education online - does the same rigour and scholarly work occur in an online programme - the consensus was that they did (which I agree with having an online graduate degree myself).

A great way to start off the conference and get to start that networking process that I always find so energizing...

CNIE 2009 Ottawa

I'm off to Ottawa later this morning to attend CNIE 2009. CNIE, the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education, is a national organization of professionals committed to excellence in the provision of innovation in education in Canada.

I am also co-presenting at the conference with a colleague - this will be my first presentation at a national conference and I'm really looking forward to it. We are presenting on "Learning is a Team Sport - Or a Conversation On Learning In The New Millennium". It should be a lot of fun.

I'll be blogging my conference experiences, and for the first time I'll also be twittering (hondomac if you want to follow along) during the conference as well, using the hash tag #cnie2009. That will be a new experience for me, and hopefully one that will help me better understand the use of Twitter as a learning tool.

Well, off to pack. See you in Ottawa!!...

(Image - CNIE Logo)

Strengths Advocate Training - Gallup University Omaha - Day Three...

Today wrapped up Strengths Advocate training here in Omaha. Today centred on strength coaching and ways to get others (and us) to better understand strengths, to begin to see some tendencies with strengths (although everyone is different, so tendencies should never carry too much weight), and start to think about next steps.

The biggest next step for me is that the training we have had this week is just the beginning - we need to keep the strengths-based conversations going and to have people share their accomplishments and what they have done.One way to do that is through Winner cards, a tangible artifact of a strengths conversation, particularly useful for talking strengths and performance.

took a look at the resources available for strengths and some of teh worshops and sessions that as an advovate I can now deliver to my colleagues - really looking forward to that opportunity.

We reviewed some other ways of looking at strengths keeping in mind that the outcomes need to always be kept in mind. One way to look at strengths is that they relate to:

• Strive
• Think
• Relate

Most of my signature themes are in the Think domain, with some in the other two - another way of looking at thngs. Strengths can also be looked at as how they rekate to time:

• Past
• Present
• Future

Some strengths rely on the past - information, experiences etc., some rely on the here and now, and some are future looking.

Finally strengths can be looked at as either being Initiators or Relators - all of these different ways of looking at strengths may help people take them on board and that is the key - developing a strengths language and culture in your institution that makes sense.

A lot of information over the last three days to take in and distill. My Input and Intellection themes will be working overtime the next few days as I assimilate what I have learned and my Responsibility theme will ensure that I will be posting about it here. I'm also going to go back and talk to the other strengths advocates at my College and start the conversation about developing an advocate network so we can be getting out our institution's message on strengts (my Achiever, Developer, and Contextthemes in action...). Hmmm...