(This is a copy of a my guest blog post published this week for the World Innovation Summit for Education – WISE, Qatar – on re-designing spaces for learning: http://www.wise-qatar.org/content/stephen-harris-redesigning-spaces-around-collaborative-teaching and slide show: http://www.wise-qatar.org/node/16860 RE-DESIGNING SPACES FOR LEARNING There is a clear movement occurring in education globally right now – a movement that is seeking...
There are a lot of great educational videos out there. One of the best lists, that I go back to time and again, was built by Alec Couros and it evolved from a blog post to a wiki page: 90+ Videos for Tech. & Media Literacy. There… is… a… lot… out… there! As a...
Cross-posted at A Principal’s Reflections. New Milford High School proudly joined 37 states, 15,000 teachers, and over 2 million students on February 1 for the inaugural Digital Learning Day. This day, however, was not really much different than any other day at NMHS as we have made a commitment to integrate digital learning into...
cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo shared by wadem “Directions are instructions given to explain how. Direction is a vision offered to explain why.” Simon Sinek As I am seeing a growing demand for schools to learn how to use social media tools in classrooms with students, staff, and parents, I have...
Rwanda 2012 Reflection #4 – do you use your role for a higher purpose? As Principals, Superintendents or school leaders, do you use your position to try and ‘be the change’? It seems like a straightforward enough question – but probably one that bears a...
“When the world is flat, you can innovate without having to emigrate” Thomas L. Friedman Last year, I was seconded as the Division Principal of Innovative Teaching and Learning. As innovation is a major topic at the conference I am at this week, I thought I would do a little research on the term...
“How do we get reluctant administrators on board with utilizing technologies to communicate, connect, and collaborate?” This is one of the most prevalent questions I encounter when chatting with educators on Twitter, through informal conversations, and in presentations I’ve shared. It came through loud and clear in the Connected Principals ISTE session that teachers...
Right now there is a conversation that is going on in #EDChat about the impact that social media has on education. As many posts in the last little while have talked about the urgency to adopt social media and technology into our schools (including mine), the “why” of this needs to be apparent. Now...
In October, I posted an idea here called FedEx Prep: Time For Innovation. Based on the ideas discussed by Daniel Pink, in his book “Drive“, the idea was to increase innovation in our school by offering something that is needed: time. Now, I realize that the FedEx Day (Based on the idea from Atlassian)...
Cross-posted at the Huffington Post. A few weeks ago I was fortunate to have the NJ School Boards Association (NJSBA) visit to produce a live event called Learn@Lunch: Technology as an Engagement Tool. You can view the archive of the event here. A little over two years ago something like this would have never happened at New...
Social media is a dominant topic in our society right now because of the large numbers of people and organizations using it to connect with people all around the world. The more that I have read books such as “Open Leadership“, the more I am seeing the alignment of using the Internet to connect...
Social media is something that has become so prevalent in our culture that I have seen everything from large companies to churches having their own Facebook accounts. When I first was presented with the idea that using Twitter, Facebook, or blogging as something in education I was wary of its application. As I have...
Perhaps my greatest professional passion these days is promoting innovative schools cultures, and particularly ones which facilitate our students in becoming innovators. So I am especially taken with a new article in Wired Magazine (January 2011), by TED curator Chris Anderson, on “How Crowd Accelerated Innovation Can Change the World.” (Or see Anderson’s...
I was very excited to be asked to write the introduction for an e-book that Richard Byrne is putting together to share with educators next week. I am really hoping that I can give that little push to educators to start using these free technologies to connect kids around the world. In the spirit...
There are always obstacles to innovation for teachers; time and focus on curriculum can often hinder creativity and design. After reading Daniel Pink’s “Drive” and listening to Tony Wagner speak, I reflected on Atlassian’s idea of “FedEx Day”,where …to spark greater creativity among his team, and to make sure Atlassian’s programmers were having fun...
In the last 8-9 months, I have really been involved in getting to know so many educators from all over the world, through Social Media. This has been through mediums such as Twitter and my blog, along with the “Connected Principals” website. My knowledge in several areas, has grown a tremendous amount through not...
New Comments