This past month, mainstream media has cranked up its ‘Back to School’ reporting, as per usual, concentrating for the most part on trite issues promoting consumerism. This is mainly a vehicle to sell advertising for B2S features. I suppose this exercise makes media editors and producers feel they are providing meaningful content but I think […]
Tacit, Constructivist, Mobile Learning – More, Please!
I’m just finishing an exciting book, A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change (2011) by Douglas Thomas and John Brown, in which the authors say pithy things like: “In our view the kind of learning that will define the twenty-first century is not taking place in a classroom […]
Graduation 2009: from, to where?
The return of late-night drag-racing on my street and broken alcohol bottles on beaches tells me it’s that time of year again: graduation. Another orbit of the sun, another group of kids spilling out of local schools, many near-delirious with their new-found freedom and a view of the open-road called summer or life, with nary […]
Global mess offers us a choice
A question: Is the (westernized) human race most akin to: a. boiling frogs unable to detect rising temperatures, and escape certain peril?b. a herd of deer transfixed in headlights of onrushing traffic and paralyzed in place?c. a drunk who thinks it best to stay intoxicated to avoid the discomfort of non-intoxicated reality?d. all three??? After […]
Education = Ecstasy? A worthy equation!
Happy New Year! When I wasn’t shoveling snow during the recent silly season I had a chance to read a book that I’d been hoping to read for a long time. Published in 1968, George B. Leonard’s ‘Education and Ecstasy’ is a tidy little book of under 250 pages, probably consigned to be shelved with […]
Nurturing Self-Responsible learning – Obviously Important
Under the theme ’Giving Students Ownership of Learning’ the November issue of ‘Educational Leadership’, a leading journal for educators and school administrators, serves up many profiles of innovative programs and approaches to nurturing self-responsible learning. Self-responsible learning, according to the lead editorial, is one of the golden keys – post-high school – to college, citizenship […]
High School (unfortunately) remains tedious exercise
Prior to this year my daughter Robin, 14, attended conventional school for one year when she 10 (grade 5). Subsequent and prior to that year, which she didn’t consider very valuable, she fit the bill as a ‘free-range’ homelearner. Her learning world during this time reflected back to her her keenest interests and she excelled […]
Hello and welcome to my Blog!
Hello!This blog is meant as a place to express and share BIG opinions on learning and education. What can you expect to read about here? Well, I have been working on the pioneering fringes of innovative, enthusiasm-based learning for many years, I’ve recently won a major award – a ‘2006 Prime Ministers Award for Educational […]
Michael’s book, Learn Your Way! SelfDesigning the Life You Really Want, Starting Now is an ERAC-approved middle and high school textbook for career planning and health education courses (British Columbia), and it has received many endorsements. Contact Michael directly to obtain a pdf copy of the book.