We live in a remarkably exciting time, when leading scientific research has verified the existence of Neuroplasticity, identified as a natural potential for our neurological or mental lives to change over time, and lifelong. This is a breakthrough because until recently it was believed that our neurology – our brains – were ‘hard-wired’ by the […]
Imagine the look and feel of learning!
In SelfDesign Learning Community – the innovative school I helped co-found in British Columbia in 2002 – our praxis is to support learning in all its shapes, forms and guises. And since we started we have come to recognize that learning is as varied as each learner. To educators and parents perhaps it comes as […]
‘BC’s ‘Innovation Strategy’ breathes new life into Personalized Learning for BC schools
It’s amazing what a good look in the mirror and a fresh coat of paint can do to revive almost-forgotten projects. On January 29th, the BC Ministry of Education convened a remarkable forum at the Wosk Centre with headline speakers and a gallery of people from business, educational and social interests. The forum was staged […]
Busy fall – talks, conferences, etc.
This has been a super-busy fall for me – beginning with helping launch another learning year – our 13th! – in SelfDesign, and extending to attending the Holistic Learning conference in Ashland Oregon, leading a couple of SelfDesign retreat-workshops for learners and families and giving various presentations. Whew! This coming week I’m excited to be […]
“It’s time to Support Personalized Learning” (essay)
Self-Directed Learning expert Dr. Maurice Gibbons (emeritus professor, Simon Fraser University, Faculty of Education), has posted an essay of mine on his stellar website. Titled, “It’s Time to Support Personalized Learning,” (found here), the essay provides a sound and research-grounded basis for supporting PL in K-12 learning programs and schools. I’ve covered some of the […]
Daydreaming classed as new disorder – April Fools! (not)
What do Einstein, Nobel prize-winning scientist Barbara McClintock and Sir Isaac Newton have in common, besides being extraordinary scientists? They were diligent daydreamers who intentionally dropped into a state of reverie to enhance their thinking and conceptualizing. And were they alive today, and attending a conventional school, they might be diagnosed with a newly-minted disorder: […]
Personalized Learning aligned with Business and Healthcare
For those of us working to stoke Personalized Learning in education, we can take heart that the personalization movement is alive and well and growing in two other fundamental segments of society: Business and Healthcare. In business, the personalization movement has arisen in almost stealth fashion to surround us. Look about and you’ll see evidence […]
Innovation Valued & Revered in Business, MIA in Education
Innovation must wonder why it is as cast as society’s bi-polar child. On the one hand it thrives in business, technology and health-care, domains to which we flock to see the latest gadgetry, invest in start-up opportunities, even volunteer to join beta-testing groups. This past week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was a perfect […]
Help Make 2014 a ‘Year of Learning Dangerously’ – and how
Memo from the “Creating Our Best Future” Dept.: As a learning innovator I see widely divergent gestures toward the nurturing of learning across education, gestures that have significant implications throughout society. And in scanning the education landscape my emotions in the past year swung from arm-pumping enthusiasm to head-shaking discouragement. With this in mind and […]
Child-Centred Learning & Planetary Health
When I ponder the question: What kind of education system will best support a future characterized by the most robust and vital learning? I find the answer in the natural world. Check out any healthy ecosystem on our planet and you’ll see life sustained by rich, robust biodiversity and complex interactivity. This diversity helps systems […]
Michael's new book,