Stats can be fun! - Hans Rosling

This is worth watching. How does he do this?

OpenIDEO - new challenge

Calling on innovators! OpenIDEO has a new challenge out - "how can we improve sanitation and better manage human waste in low-income urban communities?" This challenge is a partnership with Unilever and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor to explore sanitation issues in Ghana.

Anderson Cooper - How schools 'Race to Nowhere'

Here is a CNN report by Anderson Cooper talking about the file 'Race to Nowhere.' In this short piece Cooper says, "some students really struggle with the expectations of success - how do we help them with that?" I think this is the wrong question. We need to be asking something like this... "Why are we defining success in such a narrow and restrictive way?" or "How can we value more types of success?"

If you want to feed this idea and learn more - take a listen to Sir Ken Robinson - RSA and Sir Ken Robnison

Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers

There are some great quotes within this video - worth watching.... Get involved with Conrad's work sign up here.

"This is just nuts... why are we using computers to show a student how to solve a problem (math problem) by hand - that the computer should be doing anyway? - it's all backward."

InnovationLab in Northern Colorado

I have been working with Monika Hardy to further the Thompson School District's (TSD's) effort to develop an InnovationLab for Northern Colorado Students. Although it is located within the Thompson Valley High School it is starting to attract students from other schools. Here is a video that demonstrates the learning process that they are following which is Notice, Dream, Connect, Do. In subsequent posts, I will write more about the InnovationLab and the ongoing research (joint research between Colorado State University-CSU and TSD) that I am directing. Meanwhile here is a link to a post that Adam Mackie (CSU graduate student) wrote for HASTAC that describes his observations.

OpenIDEO - join in... connecting ideas - at edges

Open IDEO - join the social innovation game. Join OpenIDEO.

Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing

Thank you to Jobhbir Singh for sharing this TED talk via a comment.

App for mapping your networks - this is the future of Edgility

Stop Bullying

If you haven't experienced this YouTube Video yet - you should. Yes and I mean experience. How did they do this. Note: I can embed it here - you will need to click on the link to get the "experience."

Malcolm Gladwell - Human Nature - returning to his insights

We often reject things we don't have the language to explain.

RSA and Sir Ken Robinson

RSA does an amazing job at taking good talks and making the better. Take a look at this Sir Ken Robinson talk - great in on its own and then watch the RSA animation. Creativity at its best!

You have to chuckle :)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Back in Black - Education Crisis
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

Ethan Zuckerman - talks about networks and importance of bridges

He talks about Global Voices his effort to build bridges through translation and world views. He wants to see more lasting friendships and understanding throughout the world.

Empathy - Rewired

Sir Ken Robinson - Education Revolution...

Rotoball 2008

Rotoball 2008 from The Carrot Revolution on Vimeo.

Sal Kahn - Another smart contributor

Sal Khan at Gel 2010 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

5 minute math

I love the idea of 5-minute math. What if all students shared these and the best of the best were selected by students. This could be powerful. Great job students from Thompson School District. Keep up the good work.

Dr. Riley Crane - using CI find red balloons

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Riley Crane
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

IKEA ARG - Interesting HASTAC presentation

IKEA as ARG - Steve Anderson HASTAC video 4_16_2010 from IML @ USC on Vimeo.

Anesthesia in America

Just watch... How do we change - each one of us needs to think! Chris Jordan's work is amazing.

Copyright - Interesting Atlantic article

In the digital age it has become very easy to sample others work. This is creating all types of problems with current copyright law. This Atlantic article titled, "How to make a documentary about sampling -- legally" brings some of these issues to ground - explaining for example,

"We asked what would it would cost at today's rates to clear the audio fragments that make up Public Enemy's classic 1990 album Fear of a Black Planet. We crunched the numbers, and in our conservative estimate the group would lose roughly five dollars per album. That's a loss of five million dollars on a platinum record!"

Copyright Criminals from IndiePix on Vimeo.

Digital content creates interesting shifts.

Housing installation - interact on the street

Here is an interesting way to get people to stop and think about an issue and to interact. I like this idea and can think of many ways that it could be used to generate awareness and action.



I found this video through Jason at PlanetYou- here is a link to his original post. Thank you Jason for sharing.

David Warlick's ideas on literacy true in 2006 and today!

I was invited to attend David Warlick's presentation at the Thompson School District yesterday. To say the least David inspired me with several concepts related to learning and 21st century literacy. Here is a list of several items I took from his presentation.

• Stop integrating technology and start integrating literacy
• Literacy today is not simply about reading, writing, and mathematics but about investigating those subjects in an digital environment
• This investigation can include URL backtracking, large dataset investigation, multimedia communication, and a growing list of others
• We are all competing for attention - students must learn to attract attention with their innovative and creative ideas

The statement that truly resonated with me as an educator and as a father was that, "their is no excuse for students not having access to digital content and media." His statement was in response to several complaints about limited access within the Loveland schools.

I have been following David Warlick ever since his keynote speech at the 2006 K-12 online conference. He was absolutely correct then... and he continues to make a compelling case that we are behind - my question is when is our country and our schools going to "get with it" and make the changes that are necessary? It is unfair to our students and to their future to educate them for our fathers future.

We need to redefine literacy - thank you David Warlick.

Dr. Gregory Todd Jones - innovation is in the networks

Dr. Gregory Jones gives an interesting talk about networks and creativity. He states that, "networks of people are creative and innovative and knowing how to structure those networks properly has a direct impact on productivity." He talks about how sharing, reciprocity, and even happiness (he provides reference to several research studies that warrant future investigation) are all products of the structure of the networks that we live in.

The concept of Edgility that I have been developing resonates with Dr. Jones' ideas. We all need to be thinking about how we structure or in most cases restructure our networks to become more productive.

From what I see this restructuring needs to go well beyond what most of us think of when we think about "networking." We live in a competitive world that requires creativity and innovation. I believe that these innovations will be driven from the edges of the system. They will be born by individuals working on the edge of networks who have ideas about how to do something better. These ideas will then be brought to reality through networks of people working together. It is how we structure these networks that is vital to this type of productivity. These networks are fundamentally different than the ones we have typically worked within, diverging from hierarchy and structure and even being thwarted by traditional incentives. In 2010 I will continue to restructure my networks, and discuss this process here (edgilityblog.com), in an attempt to increase my Edgility

Happy New Year everyone!