In late June, at this year’s AERO (Alternative Education Resource Organization), I gave a presentation on my late colleague, friend and mentor, Brent Cameron, who passed in 2012. Yes, it’s been ten years since Brent passed, but I continue to admire his many contributions to education – especially alternative education – and I think he’s […]
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 […]
Arising as regular as the whine of summer mosquitos are now annualized calls by school administrators and educators warning parents of the “summer slide“. The “summer slide” isn’t a fixture in the local playground but an imaginary bogey man that, allegedly, causes students to forget what they learned the previous spring in school. Believers in […]
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 […]
“Medieval“: pertaining to the Middle or Dark Ages, a period characterized by primitive practices shaped by ill-formed knowledge. Our society has evolved in remarkable ways in my lifetime, inspiring me to believe that human beings just might squeak through to survive another century or millennium. We have extended life expectancies, we have scientifically detailed the […]
Thanks to info pouring in from the frontiers of neuroscience, psychology and sociology, I’m increasingly aware of the opportunities we have – as parents, educators and advisors – to positively influence the directions of learning and wellness, and particularly among children and youth. To this end, new knowledge we have makes clearer the choices we […]
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: […]
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 […]
On May 5th, I am giving a keynote presentation at the BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Groups (BCCPAC) Spring Conference and AGM (link here) on the theme of Personalized Learning or PL. I thought I’d take this opportunity to provide a brief overview of the PL landscape as it exists in education today. What’s most […]
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.
