Category: Impact on Learning
Education is about learning. But so is business. And so are relationships. Adapting, making decisions, gathering feedback – learning is everywhere – it drives success, it fuels life. The real question is, how do we impact our own learning and the learning of others?
Explore thought-provoking insights on how AI, creativity, and instructional design are reshaping education. From prompt engineering to evergreen content, discover strategies that elevate learning and challenge conventional teaching.
Share This Page:
Calling the Bluff on AI Doom & Gloom
The article argues that AI organizations use fear-based narratives about existential risks not to warn the public but to manipulate regulation for their advantage. Drawing parallels to political strategies employed by Obama and Trump, it suggests these companies aim to shape oversight, ensuring their interests are prioritized as they prepare for IPOs.
Stillness & Clarity in the Age of AI Speed
The post discusses how a small boutique retailer’s attempt to automate with AI led to a loss of customer engagement and brand identity. By pausing automation, the owner refocused on core customers and values instead of speed. The lesson emphasizes that to maintain clarity and identity amidst rapid automation, businesses must prioritize meaningful engagement over…
The Classroom Canvas: Designing Learning in the Age of AI
The rise of AI isn’t just about new tools for students; it’s demanding new “design methods” for teachers.
Prompt Engineering: The Art of Asking, Not Just Doing
Prompt engineering isn’t about rote commands; it’s about the sophisticated thinking skill of asking the right questions, akin to scientific inquiry or crafting an essay. The “human thinking” is still paramount, even as the “mechanics of producing words/designs” shifts to AI. The advent of AI doesn’t diminish the need for human questioning; it elevates it.…
The Algorithmic Echo Chamber: AI’s Quiet Influence on Critical Thinking
The rise of AI has significantly enhanced efficiency and access to information but also raises concerns about diminishing critical thinking. Studies show increased reliance on AI correlates with decreased cognitive engagement, especially among younger users. As AI shapes our intellectual processes, it’s vital to maintain independent thought and discernment in using these tools wisely.
Creating Content, But not creating it.
Whether you’re an educator with a blog, a traveler with a vlog, or a business owner with a website, there are times when you need to create content. Express your thoughts, communicate your message, and impact your audience. However, you don’t have to always create. Creation is energy-intensive. It can be exhausting (usually after, not…
Are Chemistry and Biology Relevant?
They’ve dominated the sciences taught in schools from grades 1-12 for at least the last century. But are they still relevant? Here are the facts. So tell me, why do we teach Biology and Chemistry as the two mandatory sciences in 2023? Wouldn’t it make more sense to teach programming and robotics in grades 1-10?…
Discovering Creativity in Everyday Moments
Whether I’m on a beach watching the waves, stargazing while on night watch at sea, or just picking up the guitar between blog posts – I’m also seeking ways to discover creativity in everyday moments. I figured it might be worth sharing a few ways to find creative inspiration in your everyday life. Creativity in…
The Good and Bad of Ruts
Everything we know about learning suggests that there’s a cadence between routine incremental knowledge refinement and the breakout of new conceptual awareness. Knowledge Refinement. So when you’re at work and you feel like you’re in a rut, consider whether you’re at the maximum of your growth or whether you’re just emotionally bored. The daily routine…
Ditch That Textbook, A Failed Hoax
Look, it sounded great back in 2005 and 2010 to ditch that textbook. Folks made good money off of the idea and there are good reasons for it. Heck, I’m guilty of helping many teachers on my campuses move beyond textbooks and into embracing digital platforms – moves that resulted in increases in student engagement…
The Case for Curiosity
If you have a strong desire to know something, it’s much like any other strong desire humans have – the desire to eat, to drink, to breath. Once that desire takes place, there’s no obstacle that’s too large. It’s curious then, that not one single teacher preparation program has a course on curiosity. It’s curious…
Sometimes Learning is Painful, A Quote from da Vinci
“Learning never exhausts the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci It’s true. Just like an hour of play, learning doesn’t wear us down. It invigorates, it energizes, and it enthralls us. Except for when it doesn’t. Remember that time when you went too fast on your bike and learned a lesson about inertia? That wasn’t energizing. Remember…
No One Can Help You
In yesterday’s post we looked at the quote that tied willingness to learn to helplessness. Essentially, without the will to learn, no one can help you. It sounds logical. You know the old saying, you can lead a horse to water… But it’s only half true. Yes, if you’re delivering a mandated curriculum in a…
Characteristics of Evergreen Videos
Whether you’re making your own or trying to find a good evergreen video for to communicate your message, here are 6 characteristics to look for: Scalable. An evergreen video can be made by one person, a YouTuber, a teacher, an author, and be used by thousands of learner each day. Short. Relative to the concept…
9 Tips for Evergreen Videos in Virtual Learning
They seem to be timeless, those videos of some of the world’s best teachers: Bob Ross at the canvas, Sal Khan teaching polynomials on his blackboard, and Bill Nye presenting scientific concepts like the one below. Let’s talk strategic pedagogy for a bit. Here are nine quick tips. When To Use Evergreen Videos Introducing a…
Pitfalls of Asynchronous Learning
Just so we’re on the same page, virtual learning environments and micro schools are the future of learning. That said, we currently face several pitfalls of asynchronous learning: We feel less accountable There is less accountability (this is a distinct from “feeling” accountable) In mandated courses, engagement will waiver and is difficult to assess Teachers…
Why Results Aren’t the End Result
Point A: Teach someone how to do something. Point Z: Expect them to get results. Everything A-Z looks like failure because that’s the learning curve – that’s where growth happens. That’s also where mistakes and failure occur. This is why results aren’t the end result. Instead, the growth and discovery process should be the end…
Do You Really Want To Be Sent Away?
You’re in a place in your job where you need help. But then, you’re sent away. “Check out this website. Read this book. Go to this conference.” Do you really want to be sent away? Sent away to stumble through your own answers. Do you really want to do the same for your staff? Wouldn’t…
What Makes Us Happy And Why That Matters To Curriculum
Let’s contemplate what makes us happy. In this peer-reviewed article, happiness is distinct from sustainable happiness. Happiness Happiness can be bought, for the moment. It can be achieved and repeated with effort and accolades. But these materialistic and task-oriented experiences of happiness are short-lived and require continual repeating and “upping the ante.” In a materialistic…
Readiness to Learn
In my home state, we have readiness standards and supporting standards. You probably have similar categories in your local province or region. If you’re in the U.S. and have Common Core standards, you’re familiar with the anchor standards. The idea is simple. There is a core set of learning benchmarks that must be minimally reached…
Learning and the Arrogance of Academics
We say that learning can happen anywhere at any time. But we educators build systems that require certification. That is, you haven’t officially learned until someone certifies you. You haven’t officially been schooled until an association accredits you. You haven’t officially been educated until a certified and accredited organization degrees you. We say that learning…
Summer Slide Starting Early
Several op-ed articles have been published warning of the impact of an early summer slide due to the current educational shutdown. They often posit that a whole generation of students will be lesser-educated due to large scale losses in learning. Summer slide is a peculiar thing. If a student “loses” learning after 8 weeks of…
Be The Change, But Not This Time
Sometimes we change. Sometimes things change. Sometimes we change things. But these three rarely happen in a single sphere all at the same cadence. The famous quote says, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” Knowing when to be the change, and when to adapt to change is a subtle insight that may…
4 Steps to Obliterate Obstacles
Whether it’s a thorn or a dam, an obstacle can stop progress. As a leader, it falls on your shoulders to remove obstacles. Here are 4 simple steps to obliterate obstacles: Find the consensus that something is truly an obstacle. Next, gain clarity on the obstacle and label it. Facilitate a shared vision for the…
John Dewey and Thinking
“We only think when we are confronted with problems.” – John Dewey Yes and no. Yes, our thinking is pushed into strategic cognition when confronted with problems. We engage in intention-driven critical thinking. No, it’s not the only time we think. We also think when we play, but it’s not the same type of thinking.…
Literacy Program Macro Red Flag
You don’t need test scores to evaluate the effectiveness of your k-12 literacy programs. Simply look at your middle schools. Do they need to double block ELAR? That’s all you need to know that your k-5 program is in need of help…regardless of how in love the director is with the model. It doesn’t matter…
Persist in Doing
Yesterday’s post focused on the permission to struggle, but why is that important to learning? Ralph Waldo Emerson gave an explanation some time ago: “That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.” ___…
Permission to Struggle
For teams, it’s the fringe of conflict where creativity is found. For individuals, it’s in the struggle where learning occurs. However, no one wants to be embarrassed about a struggle. No one deserves to be shamed for a struggle. The struggle is not moral or ethical or worthy of any type of judgment. It’s merely…
Goal-Setting with Students
We know goal-setting is linked to higher achievement in students. Yet many schools I talk to have no structures in place to facilitate systemic goal-setting among students. What’s more, when I speak with teachers, they often feel that the district-mandated goal-setting structures are ineffective, cumbersome, or simply a “waste of time”. I’m left with a…
Results and Decisions
School A: We bought xyz math program, and our scores went up 18% compared to last year! School B: We also bought xyz math program, but our scores went down 2% compared to last. These same two scenarios can be said if you replace xyz math program with anything… PLC norms SMART goals Collaboration time…