by Donna Miller Fry (@fryed)
If you are an educator, you need a blog. It’s 2015. Where are you creating your digital identity? Where do you share resources with other educators? Where do you reflect on your practice? Where are you having conversations about learning and teaching? Where do you model the learning we want to see in every classroom? […]
It won’t surprise anyone that I am a strong proponent of digital professional portfolios. I demonstrate how to create them here, and over the past year, George Couros has worked with Principal Associations in Ontario (CPCO/OPC/ADFO) to help our school leaders become connected learners, including the idea of using a blog as a portfolio. I’ve […]
Why would we want to exclude other educators from our professional learning network? Stephen Katz, in his book Intentional Interruptions, discusses the problem of confirmation bias when it comes to professional learning. It is our tendency to “only look for things that confirm rather than challenge our beliefs and practices“. We need to make […]
It’s harder to follow than it is to lead. Leaders have passion for what they do. They have practiced sticking out their necks, taking risks, trying new things, and failing. For leaders, being the lone dancer in the crowd is their norm. Dancing to the music is the right thing to do, even if […]
A few weeks back, I was asked to work with some educators who were at the senior management level in their board. They told me that they wanted everyone in the organization to model the kind of learning they wanted to see at the classroom level. We were specifically working on ways to make thinking and […]
Mark Carbone and I recently took advantage of the opportunity to share our passion for connecting education leaders at the TEDxKitchenerED event. If you are wondering about #OSSEMOOC, here is the story of how we are working to connect leaders, and helping Ontario learners, to thrive in the complexities of teaching and learning in today’s rapidly […]
This past week, I have been explaining the concept of “EdCamp” to a lot of people. It’s on a Saturday, it’s free, it’s open to anyone wanting to learn, and “everyone has something to share”. The program is driven by the learning needs of the people in attendance, and the smartest person in the room […]
What an exciting day! Educators gave up Saturday to meet in a school and learn together, and shared the learning online for all who wanted to join in the conversation. It’s powerful stuff, and as we all reflect on how best to meet the needs of all learners in the system, these success stories move […]
Last night during the Learning 2030 rebroadcast, one of the tweets that came across my screen was a statement that said, “Technology does not replace good pedagogy”. I see this quote quite frequently in my work, and I worry about it a bit. I worry because in the same way that “good” standardized test scores […]
As we celebrate the first anniversary of #etMOOC*, I am overwhelmed with the stories of growth and sharing and learning. * For those who hear about how MOOCs are a trend, a fad, a failure or a passing phase, here is the kind of MOOC I am referring to: #etMOOC connected people. It wasn’t about […]
