This Will Richardson talk really resonated with me. He quotes Dewey. You should really watch it. And in my curiosity, I thought I would record the process of creating an image – and you can check the results here.
Author: Bryan Mathers
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Offline
Oooh. Was that a buzz from the phone in my pocket? It’s probably someone tweeting me. Probably someone sharing an illustration of mine to their followers. They’ve probably got a bijillion followers… let me just check.
Nope – must of just been a tingle in my leg – back to reading with the kids…
(This is why I don’t have social media on my phone anymore…)
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Diffusion of Innovation
Aha! So it’s not just me…
When I first saw this, it face-slapped me like an un-hinged double hi-five. At the time, I was pitching an e-portfolio solution to different training organisations, which was really quite hit and miss. After a while, I realised the product I was selling was actually “Change” – and that change meant pain. Potential customers varied wildly in their appetite for change, but also in their ability to change…
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ART!
An empty page.
Create something.
But what? I can’t think of anything.
Why are you asking me? It’s your brain…
But it’s so daunting. It’s too clean. I’ll just mess it up. And anyway, I can’t draw.An empty page is daunting.
But it’s also an opportunity.
You used to draw when you were a kid – So what’s changed?Sit down and make some visual noise.
Express yourself – because creating, like anything worth doing, takes practice. -
Let’s just badge everything
This week, the team at the University of Southampton organised an excellent Open Badge conference, which I really enjoyed taking part in. Doug Belshaw (his slides are here) and Carla Casilli were keynoting.
“Let’s just badge everything” is probably not the best strategy in getting up and running with micro-credentials.
Here are two questions worth considering:
- What (behaviours, commitment, recognition…) would this badge help us encourage that we struggle to encourage currently? and
- Why would an earner of this badge show it to someone else?
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Reading – World Book Day
When it comes to reading books as a youngster, my experience was one of homework, context, someone else’s knowledge, questions and comprehension. I thought of reading as something that belonged to school. A tedious necessity. Not something I would do for kicks.
My kids experience is somewhat different. It’s choice, interest and curiosity driven, fascinating, a journey. They read and re-read.
Somewhere the purpose of my reading got skewed. I wish I’d figured this out earlier…
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Learning – to what end?
“Dad? What does this spell? F-L-A-P-P-E-R?”
My 5 year old is an engineer in the making. He has a book of how to make a whole array of paper planes. And so he starts his self-crafted apprenticeship.
“Dad? Can you help me with step 10?”
But this is the Expert Section.
“Can you just do it?”
Ok…A few weeks later, our house is full of paper planes. He has started to teach other kids. Some of the designs, he has modified to fly better (well, why wouldn’t he?). I just try to help out and follow orders. I can see his reading improving. He reads to decode the steps. I’m certain his maths and spatial intelligence has too. He creates, and enjoys his creation.
This is productive learning. I wish I’d figured this out earlier…
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Entrepreneurship
I remember being on an entrepreneurship course, not long after co-founding my first business. It was part of an excellent scheme that joined up experts, incubation space in Government buildings, and funding from the Scottish Government. It was just what we needed.
Each week a different expert spoke. Cash is King. David vs Goliath. Why you and your partners really really really need a shareholders agreement…
I remember the words the speaker spoke in relation to this drawing. “It’s the things you don’t know you don’t know that’ll kill you every time…”
I must continually gain exposure from other’s experiences. I wish I’d figured this out earlier…
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OER16 – Open…
What a distraction twitter is – especially if it means drawing something. I’ll see something on twitter, have a thought, and before I know it, I’m trying to create that thought. I came across Jim Groom tweeting the title for his keynote at OER16, and I couldn’t resist.
I highly recommend tuning in…
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London Underground
The London Underground map is a design marvel. It makes your paths straight. Just looking at it lightens your load. On seeing it for the first time (as a fresh-faced 20 year-old), I thought someone had intentionally worked a bottle shape into its design (essentially the outline of the Circle line.) After attending an excellent after-hours event at London’s Cartoon Museum this week, I saw the map I’m now so familiar with, and thought I’d use the Paper53 app on my phone to fill in that bottle. The bottle does seem more pronounced as the drawing disappears. But maybe that’s just my weekend eyes…
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What’s inside an Open Badge
It’s easy to talk about open badges without really understanding what’s inside (it’s just a digital badge, right?) There’s actually a whole bunch of stuff inside. The badge class is like the template. All badges issued from a certain badge class will inherit those properties. The assertion relates to the recipient of the badge and all the stuff they did to earn the badge.
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Pink…
The first time I went to see Mount Kilimanjaro, it wasn’t there. Get up first thing tomorrow morning, just as dawn breaks. So I did. And there it was, that awesome monster of a mountain. And it was pink.
I grew up in a colour-coded world. In Belfast, even the kerbstones are painted. I’ve realised that my brain is horribly colour-coded. It’s cultural. It’s sub-conscious. It’s worth reflecting on…