June 2nd, 2009
Chaos pilots is a Danish alternative educational project that is getting more international attention. You will find their description of goals and methods on their website here. Key words are
Sustainability
Cultural diversity
Social innovation
There is a definite connection to entrepreneurial learning.
From their website: The ambition is to be co-creators of a global agenda concerning ”next generation business and social innovation” by creating, testing, displaying and unfolding great ideas, products, services and learning. An agenda and a movement pushed forward by the six values of the KaosPilots.12 cities have initially been chosen aas a potential home base for these learning, exploration and entrepreneurial spaces: San Fransisco, Toronto, Berlin, Istanbul, Moscow, Shanghai, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Bangalore, Welington, Hanoi and Tokyo
These ”Showrooms” will vary in form and content, but will contain educational programs, incubator environments, different comåpanies and NGO’s, technologies and social and cultural venues.
June 2nd, 2009
Jonas Himmelstrand is an international consultant based in Sweden who publishes a bi-weekly newsletter about personal growth, alternative orgnizations and alternative learning methods – among other things. You can get information about the Strategies to learn and grow – the newsletter the www.stratletter.com.
June 2nd, 2009
Please discover the work of the British consultant and author, Mike Pegg. He is, in my mind, a world class mentor and practical thinker about organizational development and personal growth. Always insightful, to the point and creative, Mike helps leaders and business rethink their purpose, meaning and approaches to developing the best in their people and their businesses.
You will enjoy his blog, book and thoughts via www.strengthsacademy.com.
June 2nd, 2009
http://www.hyperisland.se
Hyper Island is getting a lot of attention in Sweden and around the globe for its unique attempt to redefine approaches to digital skill training. It’s a post secondary program collaborating with the business world and helping students not only learn relevant skills but also connect and work with business. At least students don’t seem to have a problem getting jobs afterwards and the instructional methods seem to work.
June 2nd, 2009
www.21stcenturyskills.org
Here’s a wide initiative to redefine the purpose, themes, skills and approaches used today in education. Thank goodness. I am not sure of the agenda. Lots of corporations and the government seem involved, but here’s a site with lots of informaton, invitations to conferences and that helps us rethink schooling.
May 26th, 2009
It’s sure a mouthload – but what is it? Well, basically it is the attempt to transfer motivation from outside forces (the teacher, curriculum, grades) to inside forces (owning my own learning). In practicality it means organizing learning in structured project groups where the students learn to plan, structure, analyze and present themes they themselves choose within the overall themes of school curriculum.
Most people associate the term entrepreneur with business. Sure, we need more entrepreneurs. But society really needs people in all sorts of positions and fields that take great individual responsibility. Schooling often does a very poor job of training this because it is asking the students to learn things that are not their own choice, not according to their own learning styles and in a time and place that they have little control over.
There are interesting experiments with another approach and two of the most interesting thinkers and practictioners in this area are Christer and Marielle Westlund who live on the west side of Sweden. Their site is in Swedish, but they will surely answer mail in English if you are curious. Among other things they can tell you how everyone in their high school class was able to support themselves before they even left school. There is no end to what students can do once they are given the right structure, encouragement, methods and opportunity. EL presents a very interesting and important alternative structure.
http://www.meuniveristy.com
May 26th, 2009
Yesterday I had a good visit with Hans Renman, principal of a new high school outside of Stockholm where all the students are equiped with Apple computers. Hans was able to plan his school from scratch with the vison of transferring motivation from teachers to students. The new technology helps, giving the students more control of what, where and how they learn, but, of course, it is a process for teachers and students alike to think differently. The environment was very unusal with lots of open spaces, meeting places and rooms of various sizes. The days are divided into seminars and project groups. With Hans passion, vision and obvious excitement I am sure good things will happen. Already the school is attracting visits from around Sweden and so far eleven different countries. It is time to look for new solutions to learning and schooling.
Sweden, where I live, is an interesting school country, partly because Swedes are good a technology but also good at humanistic values. That combination is rather unique and there is a honest attempt (not always successful but they try) for a democratic education based on the whole person approach and getting the students involved in their learning.
http://www.ybc-nacka.se
May 24th, 2009
http://www.uopeople.org/
Free (or small fee) online courses at university level in development by Shai Reshef, Israeli educational online pioneer.
Things are moving fast in the digital educational world, or maybe I am just in act of discovery. Here in my outpost in Sweden the cutbacks at the physical universites mean that in some fields students are only in physical classes about 3-4 hours a week. Okay, tuition free here, but still. There is certainly a good point to physically interact, meet and discuss, but soon we will wonder what we are paying those tuition bills for. Information is becoming free at a very fast pace.
First the music industry, now the publishing and newspaper industry. Soon the university industry?
May 24th, 2009
http://www.futurelab.org.uk/
http://www.virtualschools.net/folders/about_us/
http://www.inacol.org/
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/
I am just beginning to hunt interesting alternatives for digital education, mobile education, virtual schooling. In other words, learning where you want, what you want and how you want it. It could be a complement to schools, but it could also be an alternative. Since 1969 (!) while in college I started being interested in alternative education. The time is certainly ripe now with over 2 million children being home schooled just in the USA and a spreading movement of taking education back from the formal schools.
I would be grateful for your links, help and ideas.
May 23rd, 2009
When a friend of mine told me about this book I said, “That’s for me”. It was. But not just for me. Who doesn’t like to whine, complain, criticize or back-talk? I do. But I won’t as much anymore, because Will Bowen is right. It is simply not constructive and he is doing his part to build a complaint free world.
The method is simple, but hard. Through his church in Kansas City he distributes purple bands. You put one your wrist and switch it to the other wrist when you discover that you have uttered a complaint. This makes you aware and this awareness will lead you to other ways of handling the situation.
Ridiculous? Perhaps. Will I do this? Probably not? Does it work? Probably. Benefits? Loads. It’s not that we should criticize or try to improve things that need changing, it’s just that whining and complaining are not good long term strategies and in the long run doesn’t help us to feel better about ourselves or others. Naïve? Yes. Worth the effort? Definitely.
Bowen’s simple is spreading around the world. Interviews on Oprah help, but the idea has great value. Try it!