I Am Now A Published Author!!!

#Democracy

NSA reform falters as House passes gutted USA Freedom Act So-called reform measure still grants NSA broad access to phone metadata.

You cannot have a democracy without a right to privacy, where is the outrage?

Related TED talk: Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim

#Future

Is the Future Out of Date?  via Plexus Institute

Why the Cost of Living Is Poised to Plummet in the Next 20 Years via Singularity Hub

Will Richardson's latest talk:

The Surprising Truth About Learning in Schools | Will Richardson | TEDxWestVancouverED

Beliefs about how we can help students develop into powerful learners versus how schools work 

We know how to help kids develop into powerful learners. Now, we just need to make that happen in schools. "A parent of two teen-agers, Will Richardson has spent the last dozen years developing an international reputation as a leading thinker and writer about the intersection of social online learning networks and education. Will has authored four books (with two more on the way), including ""Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information are Everywhere"" (September, 2012) published by TED books and based on his 2013 TEDx talk in Melbourne, Australia. ""Why School?"" is now the #1 best-selling TED book ever. A former public school educator of 22 years, Will is also co-founder of Modern Learner Media and co-publisher of ModernLearners.com which is a site dedicated to helping educational leaders and policy makers develop new contexts for new conversations around education.

moon glow

About Education

During the UN High-Level Political Forum I attended this morning the moderator of the event shared a quote with us...

Education is the transmission of civilization.  

Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew.

Consider education not as the painful accumulation of facts and dates and reigns, not merely the necessary preparation of the individual to earn his keep in the world, but the transmission of our mental, moral, technical and aesthetic heritage as fully as possible to as many as possible, for the enlargement of man’s and woman’s understanding, control, embellishment, and enjoyment of life: the pursuit of happiness.

If men and women are fortunate, they will, before they die, gather up as much as they can of their civilized heritage and transmit it to their children.

And to their final breath they will be grateful for their inexhaustible legacy, knowing that it is our nourishing mother and our lasting life.

~The Lessons of History, by Will and Ariel Durant

David Byrne & Neil deGrasse Tyson Explain the Importance of an Arts Education (and How It Strengthens Science & Civilization)

What do you think is the purpose of education?  

Some of my thoughts on that.... I believe that my job as an educator is to inspire students to be curious, passionate, and life-long learners.  Education is more than just preparing students for the workforce.  Educators share the simple yet sacred joy of learning.   See also, My Education Philosophy page

Related Links and Information

Is Human Progress Real or An Illusion?

View PDF of timeline image

The Big History Project

UN High-Level Political Forum Side Event:

ICT-Integrated Innovative Education for Global Citizenship to Eliminate Poverty

Reading list

Don’t read all in one sitting... I’m working on an updated on an updated version of the Information Age timeline and also ruminating on themes running through these articles.   

Why we need a 21st-century Martin Luther to challenge the church of tech

'The goal is to automate us': welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism

The end of capitalism has begun

psychopath

2008 Called. It Wants to Know What Happened to Barack Obama.

One of the many little thrills of being a part of the Obama campaign four years ago was a deep and abiding sense that, finally, a political leader had come along who could live up to our highest aspirations. Yes, Obama was cool and played basketball and was conversant in ironical youth culture, but when it came down to it, he was overwhelmingly serious. The other guys were hauling unlicensed plumbers onstage and suspending their campaign at the drop of a hat, but Obama kept his eyes on the prize and played the grown-up. Now he's talking about "Romnesia."

Wikipedia-Based Project Learning

Netflix party of 1

Decided to splurge and buy Galaxy Quest (Amazon) for $2- I had a $3 credit and the sale price was $5.  Good deal either way!  It’s a fun movie!  

Zoom Projects

I’m working on a couple of projects.  One of them is to organize some zoom lunches, dinners, netflixparties, art nights, and other fun social activities on zoom.  I need to fix the survey on the new page of my website, stay tuned.

Zoom Art Night:  4-5 people, 60 minutes, theme #1 Collage Night Collect papers you like, or magazines More directions to follow

Some thoughts

If you write it down you are more likely to do it

Community, Care, and Communication

New workshops coming in April

Working on an AI bot to support scalable, effective online learning

Teachers touch tomorrow today

Wikipedia updates soon

#WOL 

The night before, I reflect on what are my top three goals the next day, and before starting to work, take 10 minutes to reflect on what I need to do and when I need to do it by.  Work in order of priorities.  

Fake it until you make it

These are difficult times, but in time of crisis is also a time of great opportunity.  The field of education, and of education technology, has a lot of change in a short amount of time through the ages.  

link to full size map by Vicky Earl

link to full size image from tweet by @justintarte

And here is a timeline I created based off of an article on EDUCAUSE that highlights one new technology or trend.

link to full size image from Flickr 

I have a set of slides I use at the beginning of most of my presentations.  It starts with a timeline that gives an overview of the information ages, and puts into context, just how new the age of the Internet is.  This is the Wild, Wild West.  As an instructional technologist I help guide faculty through their own explorations of leveraging tech.  

link to larger image from Flickr

Note, I plan to use this and other updated graphics in the sequel to the Tech Trends talk (fordham.edu/techtrends) I gave last year.  Working title:  A New Information Age. 

I’ll also be talking about things like growing your PLN, using curation tools, the history of online learning at Fordham, effective pedagogy, hybrid/online learning, and more.

One more teaser....  YouTube channel launch coming soon...

Recent Recipe

I made during the last Zoom Dinner I had and it was delicious!  Can’t wait to make it again.

Fish, adobo light, cracked lemon pepper, garlic olive oil spray, garlic powder in the nuwave Toasted, with a little melted butter Light mayo/sour cream + lots of relish Lemon juice

Optional:  With a raw pepper in place of cheese

 I’ll leave you with a quote from Galaxy Quest 

Never give up. Never surrender.

be well, k