For those that know me well, I’m a proud papa to three young goats aged 8, 6 and 4. My beloved is also in the education ranks (we met in Montreal through our B.Ed program at McGill University) so our goats have little choice in the matter of an all-education smorgasbord upbringing. The goats may end up demented, but that’s another story. I’ve got a story to share for any education institution at any level out there that believes learning isn’t part formal, informal and social. This past Sunday, around 3:30pm in the afternoon, the 8 year-old cracks open a formal learning asset (a book on science experiments) and shouts, “Hey Cate, let’s do an experiment.” Cate is the precocious 4 year-old. Claire, the 8
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On the dates of 25 January through 26 January, 2012, I had the opportunity to participate for the first time in the Learning Without Frontiers “Future of Learning Conference and Festival” held at Olympia in London, England. As the title of this post suggests, I believe it truly is the TED of all Learning Conferences. And since 1990, I’ve attended roughly 100 different conferences of all shapes, forms and sizes so my sample size is relatively good. Over the duration of the two days, there were several keynote addresses sprinkled from a rich ocean of speakers. To complement the main event, several indoor igloos (termed ‘experience domes’ at the conference) housed vendors and sidebar discussions from other speakers and organizations. Why am I so smitten
Originally published to the January, 2012 Edition of T+D Magazine. Reprinted here with permission. by Dan Pontefract Frequent airplane passengers are likely to have read the following message prior to watching an in-flight movie: “the following film has been modified from its original version. it has been formatted to fit this screen.” for purposes of this airborne analogy, let’s fasten our seatbelts, power off any electronic devices, and firmly adjust our trays to the upright position. Better yet, let’s substitute the word film for new employee and the word screen for organization so it reads as: “the following new employee has been modified from its original version. it has been formatted to fit this organization.” Sound familiar? This is the precise moment when we hit
This is the follow-up post and answer to “The Fallacy of Digital Natives“. Let us agree, therefore, that regardless of age or situation, the learning process is one in which any learner can utilize formal, informal and social means to actually learn. It has nothing to do with generational divides. If we were to re-categorize the foolish Prensky and Tapscott terms of Net Generation, Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants into a classification that encompasses all ages and takes into account the realities of access and participation levels, we might use the following: The definitions presuppose we have consensus that learning can (and perhaps does) occur with the aid of technology mediums but regardless of age. Those that are Millennial have equal the opportunity to learn