School 2.0

Cory @ school

Cory @ school

So today marks the official first day that my daughter is attending cyber charter school. It was a rocky transition – the orientation started last week, but the brick and mortar school down the street slammed the kids with end-of-semester assignments. In fact, Cory has to go back on Friday for a final presentation to complete one of her courses.

So far the verdict is: “I love this!” Cory is completing the orientation (a week’s worth of activities) in one day … but slept in several hours later than normal and then hung out in one of the administrator’s virtual office.

As parents, are we nervous? Yes, of course. But seeing a high-achieving kid relaxed, confident, and eagerly doing school work without anyone standing over her shoulder and saying, “This is due tomorrow …” – that speaks volumes. As an educator, I’m fascinated by the opportunity to observe this process.

Now … will she find the time to pursue her independent music and art activities? Will she continue to be as motivated about school? Will she maintain her social relationships without constant F2F?

Stay tuned …

Recently found … 01/27/2010

  • “WHAT IS A VOOK? A vook is a new innovation in reading that blends a well-written book, high-quality video and the power of the Internet into a single, complete story. You can read your book, watch videos that enhance the story and connect with authors and your friends through social media all on one screen, without switching between platforms. Vooks are available in two formats: As a web-based application you can read on your computer and a mobile application for reading on the go.”

    Interesting … not free

    tags: book, vook, video

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Recently found … 01/26/2010

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Recently found … 01/24/2010

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Recently found … 01/23/2010

  • “Goalbot helps you to achieve your goals by bringing together community and technology. With Goalbot you can:
    -Learn about and research your goals and the tools you need to achieve them.
    -Plan your goals using our smart goal planner and track your progress with your action plan and journal.
    -Connect with people interested in similar goals and people who have achieved them.”

    tags: goals, planning, collaboration, collaborative

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Recently found … 01/22/2010

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Shirky’s Rant about Women

Okay, so I’m vacillating between “Duh” and “Hmmmm” regarding Clay Shirky‘s recent blog post “A Rant About Women” … but I think there’s enough in there that educators should at least ponder …

Some of the most important opportunities we have are in two-sided markets: education and employment, contracts and loans, grants and prizes. And the institutions that offer these opportunities operate in an environment where accurate information is hard to come by. One of their main sources of judgment is asking the candidate directly: Tell us why we should admit you. Tell us why we should hire you. Tell us why we should give you a grant. Tell us why we should promote you.

In these circumstances, people who don’t raise their hands don’t get called on, and people who raise their hands timidly get called on less. Some of this is because assertive people get noticed more easily, but some of it is because raising your hand is itself a high-cost signal that you are willing to risk public failure in order to try something.

So we need to encourage women to raise their hands and put themselves out there – even if it’s not in their nature. But, then Shirky states:

That in turn correlates with many of the skills the candidate will need to actually do the work — to recruit colleagues and raise money, to motivate participants and convince skeptics, to persevere in the face of both obstacles and ridicule. Institutions assessing the fitness of candidates, in other words, often select self-promoters because self-promotion is tied to other characteristics needed for success.

So if it’s not in their nature – simply “behaving” in an aggressive manner might get them the job, but will they be successful in the work? My daughter is a young musician and artist … and incredibly reluctant to self-promote fearing that she’ll be seen as pompous or bragging. How can her teachers and mentors coach her to balance that line between humility and overblown self-aggrandizement?

(Of course, as her mother, I am completely at liberty to engage in shameless bragging: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/CorinneHite)