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This is a vintage (1990′s) video on how one company managed creative and innovative processes. I think this will become the future of American work as we move further away from manufacturing towards creative and idea creation.
Tags: creative, ideo, innovation
We live in a time of chronic comparison. It is something that is bred into us from birth. From an early age we are grouped by our abilities in comparison to the average of our peers. In our standardized tests we are graded and ranked by the percentage of our testing peers that scored above or below us. We are levelled in sports, education, music lessons, and just about everywhere else. So it is no wonder that Harvard professor and researcher, Thomas DeLong recently found that in 500 interviews of successful professionals, more than 400 of them brought up the name of peers who were more successful than they were when questioned about their own success. In essence, we live our lives constantly comparing our success to others. It is trap that seems difficult to escape.
In all of this, I’m reminded of an ancient truth written by the Apostle Paul when speaking to Roman Christians who were comparing themselves to each other:
“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” Romans 12:3-7
We all bring uniqueness to the positions we find ourselves in. A uniqueness that only we can bring!
Over a decade of research has concluded that American companies are some of the best managed in the world. The study also found that management matters. Well managed companies consistently outperform their poorly managed counterparts.
Here are three of the factors of management success:
If you’re like me, you’ve always pondered why some of us get “ice cream” headache’s. Well, ponder no more. A blog post from i09 explains that it is part of our body’s survival strategies.
This is probably just useless knowledge, but every time you get an “ice cream” headache you’ll know why.
(via i09)
Recently, Kentaro Toyamo, wrote a refreshing blog article titled, “There Are No Technology Shortcuts to Good Education.” This profound article balances respect for technology in the classroom with warnings to implementing it without good pedagogical foundation. Toyama comes from a very rich technology background (he was a computer scientist for over a decade) but has a great deal of wisdom as to how and if technology can truly enhance learning.
One of my favorite quotes from Toyama’s article is:
“Computers can help good schools do some things better, but they do nothing positive for underperforming schools. This means, very specifically, that efforts to fix broken schools with technology or to substitute for missing teachers with technology invariably fail.”
This article should truly be a discussion point in Teacher Education classrooms worldwide.
(via EduTechDebate)
Tags: classroom, pedagogy, technologyAbout every decade, there is a new teaching and learning philosophy or initiative that comes along and is touted as the saving grace for education. For a number of years, technology integration into the classroom has been preached as the thing that will transform education forever. And who can argue with that? Technology has allowed things to happen in the classroom that could have never happened before. It has helped teachers reach their visual and auditory learners in ways that the transparency and filmstrip were unable to. It has also allowed a classroom to be connected globally rather than to sit in isolation. There is certainly no doubt that technology is changing education.
Clearly the scientific management model for education, of mass production and the assembly line, is outdated and ineffective. But is it classroom technology that makes a teacher effective or a student a better learner?
As is the case with most fields, often times we look for quick fixes or “sexy” solutions to difficult problems. Learning engagement and enhancement in the classroom is a critical issue in teaching and learning. My fear is that the field of education (both higher and K-12) is selling out for the “sexy”. We are neglecting the hard and hurtful work of true teaching and learning by preaching the “pie in the sky” gospel of technology integration. In my decade of teaching and working in learning environments, I have yet to see a productive and effective classroom run without a teacher who has invested their lives in relationship with their students. True learning comes from relationships. When is the last time a teaching conference drew in the crowds by focusing on that? The fact of the matter is, building mutually respectful relationships with learners is hard work. It’s a 24/7 job, it hurts, and there’s nothing “sexy” about it – but it works.
Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel
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