Andei and Adam In Town

Its great having my kids here with me after being separated from one another for almost a year. We are having a great visit catching up on old times, sharing adventures and enjoying each others company. Adam just got back from his foreign exchange program in Argentina and Andei is here for a few weeks after living and going to school in Sicily.We had a fun reunion dinner at Floyd’s restaurant the other night and last night we went out to the Royal James Cafe and shot pool and ate burgers with 2 of Andei’s girlfriends (Lilly and Hanna) and Adam. Here are a few photos…more to come later!

Andei at the top of CMAST and her and I being silly in my office.

Reunion Dinner at Floyd’s Restaurant

After dinner at Floyd’s

Andei, Hanna and Lilly at the Royal James Cafe

Adam watching the girls play pool

Andei and I at the Royal James

I’m looking forward to an enjoyable and special time with Adam and Andei over the next few weeks. We don’t have much of a plan besides hanging out and enjoying each other’s company.

We are Empowered

As an educator teaching college students in the year 2007, I feel so incredibly empowered now that I’m finally “getting it”. Yes… I’m truly starting to harness, incorporate and channel technology (rich media content) and synthesize it with my teaching style, personality and instructional methodology.

I’ve been climbing the digital learning curve for over ten years years, but it’s only been recently after a great deal of reading, research, attending distance learning conferences and presenting online teaching workshops that I recently experienced a personal epiphany. WOW!!! I have more tools, options and diverse (high quality) media content at my disposal than ever before. I’ve been teaching for 25 years and its as if I have been completely recharged, rejuvenated, inspired and absolutely jazzed about these powerful new tools that I have literally at my fingertips.

To think I can embed a U Tube video clip about a famous artist or art style into my online Art Appreciation class after a quick google search or an enhanced podcast with Kevin Bacon narrating the life and times of Van Gogh or an interactive web site about Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions….link to the greatest art museums in the world and I’m only talking about art. My personal empowerment also applies and transcends to every discipline (and instructor/professor) from mathematics to science, literature, engineering, sociology, psychology, etc………….Click and watch…TeacherTube.com.

I’m almost overwhelmed by this new “flattened” world we live in and how advances in technology have changed all the rules – and given everyone with a computer and web access some serious input into where we go from here.

Today anyone can write and publish with nothing more than a web blog – anybody can be a media producer, designer, news reporter, poet, critic, philosopher, artist, photographer, documentarian or even a comedian. Yes…the rules are changing everyday and I have no idea what this this country will be like when my daughter Andei graduates from college seven years from now. What skills will she need to succeed in the new millennium?

One thing is for certain…My daughter Andei and her generation will need to be flexible, multilingual, versatile and life long learners – in fact, anyone trying to compete in the global marketplace from this point on will have to be creative, entrepreneurial and innovative. The old days of learning one trade or skill are over. We all (students and teachers) must be upgrading our skills constantly to stay competitive and viable in today’s economy.

Yes these are very exciting times, however we cannot be complacent in any way because our counterparts in India, Japan, Russia and China are “getting it” too in a big way and are catching up to us in the fields of science, engineering and mathematics – in fact, in some instances they are surpassing us, so it is time to wake up and crank it up a notch if we don’t want to lose ground and get left behind the eight ball in the flattened world.

Any Thoughts??? Click and Comment.

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Thoughts on Flat World

I’m reading a book called The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman and it reinforces everything I’ve been, hearing, thinking, learning and teaching about over the past year concerning technology, education and the impact of globalization on every facet of society. The old rules no longer apply in business, industry, communications and our individual lives. The book addresses all the variables, and events (such as Y2K & 9/11) that have come together to “flatten” the world and level the playing field across America and throughout the globe to empower India and China to be major players – players that we can no longer ignore, in fact market forces are making them more our partners rather than adversaries.

There is no doubt that the internet has been a catalyst for so much dramatic change over the past ten years. The web has impacted and empowered every aspect of business, education, health care, education, governments and interpersonal relationships and what is so amazing is how rapid and wide spread these changes have occurred. Most people can’t even keep up with the technological evolution, yet once you buy in to this tsunami of digital connectivity there is NO going back to the old ways of conducting business and that includes your personal affairs as well.

Technology is growing, expanding, evolving and flattening the world in ways we can’t even predict. What will things be like in 5 years? 10? 20? Yikes! Who Knows? We used to be able to prepare our children for good careers because we as parents basically knew the kind of skills our children and students needed to succeed in life. Now…all bets are off!

We really can’t predict what skill-sets our children will need (they may not exist yet) to compete and excel in the global “flattened” marketplace. Sure…they may be literate, but our children MUST be extremely computer literate and it would help if they were multi-lingual and multi taskers to boot. We are living in an entrepreneurial “fast paced” world and those highly creative right-brained thinkers are going to be the ones who survive and thrive in this newly flattened world of ours.

I believe we are living in a non-linear, fluid and constantly changing society. Versatility, flexibility and creative thinking are attributes individuals (and companies) must have to break into the complex global marketplace that feeds on change and entrepreneurialism. We live in a world where you can no longer sit back complacent in your knowledge and skills because every time you blink there are new innovations taking place in education, business, industry and every facet of society.

The term life long learner is now a cliché but still very relevant if you want to survive in the “flattened” world. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by it all yet, I’m also exhilarated by the incredible challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for me, my students and children IF they are willing to prepare themselves for this new social/cultural dynamic and prepare for the intense challenges ahead. The World is Flat is an excellent and eye opening book by the way. I suggest you read it if you want some true insight into what is in store for us as we move forward into 21st century.

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The World is Flat

To Moodle or NOT to Moodle…..Continued

Here are some video resources I found about Moodle such as how to upload files and an explanation (overview) of the interface + another Blogger who is writing about Moodle. Check it out. Scoll down to my earlier post concerning my Moodle Workshop experience – please feel free to get involved in our Moodle conversation.

Another Moodle Blog