Instead of my annual list of 'edtech books I want for xmas,' I thought I'd try something different. Besides, the inspiration for innovative teaching and learning leadership probably won't come to you through a book specifically on that topic. And I want to sneak my provokations past the defenses of those who say they don't have time to read. Fine. Listen.
Podcasts are teaching people new things all the time. Think of it like a radio dial with every station being chock full of engaging and inspiring directives and explorations of every topic you never knew you needed explained. For our purposes, we're going to start with education and technology. But because there are so many issues bound up with those and to overcome that perenial complaint that these aren't specific enough to adult education (and you might still say you're stuck in a rut anyhow), I built this list of lists of podasts to light a thousand fires under you. One way or another, they are all about teaching and learning. Not only are you the student, you are getting one-on-one tutoring by listening to podcasts.
Please comment to share some of the gems you discover. What podcast was your favorite? What are the common threads across all of these lists? Note that I included the full URL here for you to see instead of embedding the link in the text. Look at all these sources talking about podcasts! They're talking about learning. They're sharing the content that people created to educate one another and to put the life lessons in the pathway of those who might need it. It's marketing with a social or even viral exponential expansion. Maybe one day, we can get our messages leapfrogging across these platforms. Now dive in and listen up and share.
Best Education Podcasts
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/best-education-podcasts-betty-ray
Best Edtech podcasts
http://www.educationdive.com/news/5-ed-tech-podcasts-you-should-listen-to/218968/
More Edtech podcasts
http://blog.greenlightlearningtools.com/2015/09/16/best-edtech-podcasts/
Best Learning Podcasts
http://www.gettingsmart.com/2015/02/60-podcasts-check/
Best Self-Improvement Podcasts
https://player.fm/featured/self-improvement
Best Change Your Life Podcasts
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/09/the-10-best-podcasts-to-help-you-change-your-life/
Best Get Off Your Ass Podcasts
http://www.xojane.com/healthy/5-motivational-podcasts-to-get-you-off-your-ass
Best Motivational Podcasts
http://podcastpals.net/the-best-motivational-podcasts-2016/
Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts
http://podcastpals.net/the-best-motivational-podcasts-2016/
Best Leadership Podcasts
https://stuffyoucanuse.org/10-best-leadership-podcasts/
More Leadership Podcasts
http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/5-podcasts-that-will-give-you-a-leadership-edge.html
Best Entrepreneur Podocasts
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-carbary/best-podcasts-for-entrepreneurs_b_8828900.html
Best All-Around Podcasts
http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/the-30-best-podcasts-right-now/risk
Okay... maybe just one book for Xmas.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Thursday, September 22, 2016
We Need to Talk
I'm not here to tell you how to do your job or cry foul about every detail of adult education programs' way of doing business using technology. But some or the core messages of progress that online learning has brought are not reaching everybody and not transferring from ideals to practice. I routinely see small, regional and even statewide organizations operating in a silo, as though there aren't similar silos all around... within earshot. We need to talk to one another.
I've been negligent of late about posting some of the blended and distance resources that Essential Education has been a part of recently. Here are a few of them linked below. Please share widely. But the big one that I wanted to mention is a group previously known as Project IDEAL. As long as I've been in the field of adult ed, there has been a national group that centralized the basic know-how of facilitating online learning. When I worked for the state of Virginia, we looked at the IDEAL handbook, borrowed from their website, but mostly used it to calibrate or confirm what we were already doing. That was a long time ago. Much has changed in the field (WIOA, ahem) and edtech innovations have made some of the tech integration by teachers second nature. In an effort to catch up and revitalize (my word-choice), Project IDEAL has been moved under the World Ed umbrella and become part of their EdTech Center.
I don't know what will come of the new IDEAL Consortium or what direction it will take. But I do know that it has always been meeting place of states doing or interested in doing distance education. I hope that continues and that information sharing is more immediate, so the field of adult ed can ride the wave of innovation instead of feeling that it has passed us by. Now more than ever, states need to compare policies and best practices and lists of approved publishers, etc. We can't afford to have any size adult ed provider operating in the dark with know-how from the dark ages when a white board was cutting edge teaching technology. Otherwise, learners will find other ways to meet their needs or fall prey to opportunistic scams. So, let's talk and then take action.
I've been negligent of late about posting some of the blended and distance resources that Essential Education has been a part of recently. Here are a few of them linked below. Please share widely. But the big one that I wanted to mention is a group previously known as Project IDEAL. As long as I've been in the field of adult ed, there has been a national group that centralized the basic know-how of facilitating online learning. When I worked for the state of Virginia, we looked at the IDEAL handbook, borrowed from their website, but mostly used it to calibrate or confirm what we were already doing. That was a long time ago. Much has changed in the field (WIOA, ahem) and edtech innovations have made some of the tech integration by teachers second nature. In an effort to catch up and revitalize (my word-choice), Project IDEAL has been moved under the World Ed umbrella and become part of their EdTech Center.
I don't know what will come of the new IDEAL Consortium or what direction it will take. But I do know that it has always been meeting place of states doing or interested in doing distance education. I hope that continues and that information sharing is more immediate, so the field of adult ed can ride the wave of innovation instead of feeling that it has passed us by. Now more than ever, states need to compare policies and best practices and lists of approved publishers, etc. We can't afford to have any size adult ed provider operating in the dark with know-how from the dark ages when a white board was cutting edge teaching technology. Otherwise, learners will find other ways to meet their needs or fall prey to opportunistic scams. So, let's talk and then take action.
- Blended Learning in the Adult Ed Classroom is a webinar by David Rosen, hosted by World Ed and introduced by me. It's also a print resource that you can download for free right here.
- Making the Most of Distance Learning is a free professional development webinar that I gave with Dan Griffith, VP of Sales at Essential Education. We put on a different topic every month. Use this link to sign up for future Tuesday With Essential ED (TWEED) webinars.
Friday, January 8, 2016
If We're Not Lost, Where Can We Be Found?
Over the holiday break, it occurred to me that newspapers and websites would soon be posting their year in reviews and their predictions for the year ahead. We need those kinds of bookends in the field of adult education, especially with so many changes afoot. We need to process, discuss, reflect and gear up to tackle new challenges. Alas, I feel like we're always in reactive mode, struggling to catch up and adjust to our circumstances. That's why we need to rely on more modern communication tools than the phone tree.
When trying to come up with my list of INs and OUTs going into 2016, I asked for input on Twitter using the #adultedu hashtag. No response to multiple attempts. I tried my Linked-In network of 500+ connections and I think I posted it on an adult education interest group as well. Obviously, holiday break isn't the best time to get a hold of educators. Or maybe I was using the wrong medium. I tried Facebook, but I only have a few professional connections there and the one who responded preferred to table all work-talk until class was back in session. During the same time, I've been deluged with notices about people broadcasting from Periscope. And others telling me that Snapchat is the next big thing. Neither indicators were from adult educators, but it piqued my interest and made me a little jealous. Instagram is the platform that I've taken to the most in 2015, but haven't found any adult ed angles for professional development. Going into 2016, I've vowed to learn Snapchat and Periscope... or at least try my hand at them.
So this is where I pose the question to you: Where in the digital world can you find adult educators? What is our preferred platform? Where are the professional development discussions happening? How can you take the pulse of adult educators and high school equivalency teachers? Please chime in with a comment. Any insights are appreciated, not just by me, but also by the isolated educators who wonder onto this site and perhaps have some of the same questions and a desire for more input, camaraderie and interconnectedness.
When trying to come up with my list of INs and OUTs going into 2016, I asked for input on Twitter using the #adultedu hashtag. No response to multiple attempts. I tried my Linked-In network of 500+ connections and I think I posted it on an adult education interest group as well. Obviously, holiday break isn't the best time to get a hold of educators. Or maybe I was using the wrong medium. I tried Facebook, but I only have a few professional connections there and the one who responded preferred to table all work-talk until class was back in session. During the same time, I've been deluged with notices about people broadcasting from Periscope. And others telling me that Snapchat is the next big thing. Neither indicators were from adult educators, but it piqued my interest and made me a little jealous. Instagram is the platform that I've taken to the most in 2015, but haven't found any adult ed angles for professional development. Going into 2016, I've vowed to learn Snapchat and Periscope... or at least try my hand at them.
So this is where I pose the question to you: Where in the digital world can you find adult educators? What is our preferred platform? Where are the professional development discussions happening? How can you take the pulse of adult educators and high school equivalency teachers? Please chime in with a comment. Any insights are appreciated, not just by me, but also by the isolated educators who wonder onto this site and perhaps have some of the same questions and a desire for more input, camaraderie and interconnectedness.
Monday, January 4, 2016
What's IN and What's OUT in Adult Education in 2016
There is no double that the field of adult education is going through BIG changes. Out with the old and in with the new is the only way things change. But, what are those changes specifically? What are the buzz-words and terms that need to be on the tips of our tongues in 2016? What practices do we need to put on the shelf indefinitely? We've banished digitized worksheet to the dustbin in past years. We've learned that practice testing is not teaching, at least not for obtaining any long-term skill development. Technology has made those tests both more and less accessible from various sources, but how we use the results is clearly innovating. So, please chime in with your new and old ideas and practices. I'll get the ball rolling with a few of my own.
OUT with 2015
-------
- Common Core
- Traditional, single-medium, instruciton
- Fighting against implementing technology
- An isolated field of adult ed
- Heads on desks
- Tired unresponsive social media
- WIA
- Mind-numbing Power-point style learning
- Cut scores
- Stopping out and retention problems
- Race to the bottom with ever-lowering expectations
IN with 2016
----
- College and Career Readiness
- Blended Learning
- Fighting our biggest challenges with technology as our weapon of choice
- Adult ed as part of workforce development
- Heads in the clouds
- Exciting participatory social media
- WIOA
- In-depth activities for building critical thinking skills
- Skill mastery
- Bridging time/place gaps with distance ed solutions
- Raising results by raising expectations and setting ambitious goals
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