Disruptive technology via blended learning
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
Photo Credit: Nasir Nasrallah via Compfight cc
Since I was 21 teaching 15-18 year olds how to teach 9-12 year olds I’ve been a huge fan of learning & development methods that have access & inclusion issues at their core.
That’s why I’m so keen on using social media tools for learning & development.
That’s also why my attention was caught by Teach Thought’s article 10 Popular Blended Learning Resources Teachers Actually Use.
What is blended learning? No less than disruptive technology. Check out Knewton‘s definition below & the infographic at the same link.
I’ve been playing around with some tools to add to my toolkit. Tools like Learnist & Fabric. The latter is being developed by educational technology wizards Seth Tee & Ken MacAllister at Cogcentric.
In fact Ken & Seth are doing the mini-workshop at the monthly Learning & Development Roundtable I facilitate in Nairobi, this month on Oct 25th. Let me know if you’re interested & I’ll post resources that we get from the workshop.
What disruptive tech are you playing with lately?
Tags: blended learning, ken macallister, seth tee, social media
Home is a pregnant pause & expat ‘um’
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Travel
Kenya is my new home. I’ve moved here after living my entire life in Canada. I find myself asking people, on a regular basis, where’s home?
If you’ve lived overseas for any length of time you’ll understand the pregnant pause that happens when you ask someone where’s home?
A few ums are thrown in for good measure. The um is what the Shah brothers, authors of Club Expat – A teenager’s guide to moving overseas, call the expat um. A slight frown tends to furrow their brow. Silence ensues.
These are all sure signs that you’ve met someone who has spent a good deal of their time away from the place they were born.
It got me thinking about home. Some people spend a lifetime searching for it. Some, like ET travel very, very far to find it after they’ve lost it.
Your home brings to a distinct perspective to your life.
Is home where you are at the moment (whether or not you’re on vacation)?
Is home where you were born?
Is home where your family is?
Is home where you feel the best match to your culture(s)?
Is home a place or a feeling or a combination of both?
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
We give what we can, when we can. A very simple story.
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
Photo Credit: Victor Bezrukov via Compfight cc
I sketch out my future blog posts. Makes it easier to focus when it’s time to write them. Today I’d planned to write about a Popular Blended Learning Resources Teachers Actually Use but after the evil at Westgate I’m finding it a hard to focus.
So
Instead
Today
It’s
About
A very simple story.
We give what we can. When we can.
For, you see, I’m one of the five women mentioned below. (Reprinted from Danielle LaPorte’s post.)
This is a very simple story about letting yourself off the hook for not being able to give as much as you’d like when you’d like, or as much as the people around you are able to give.
I’ve been meeting every month with the same five women for seven years. Goddess Night, we call it. Of course it’s a divine lifeline. And of course, we bring food.
When we first started meeting my boy was a newborn and my first company was taking off, and I was five kinds of exhausted. I’d usually show up late to Goddess Night. My contribution to a beautiful potluck spread would be like, a bag of chips. Or half a sack of store bought cookies. One night, I actually brought a box of somewhat freezer-burned fruit popsicles. Classy, I know.
On the other hand, M. would make pots of incredible chilli and home-baked bread. She’d crack open a jar of her home pickled pickles. The other Goddesses would bring dips and drinks and casseroles. I’d plunk my tortilla chips on the buffet table and we’d get to unravelling our lives.
Our lives are different these days. New jobs, relationships, one of us moved to Kenya (she Skypes in). Now we have Goddess Night at my place every month (I have the best sofa for pile ups.) And — get this, I cook for everyone. Well, I don’t actually “cook”, I prepare food, usually an incredibly hearty salad with a side of yam fries — hold the popsicles.
And now it’s M. who’s crazy busy — caring for her older parents, and a young child, and a job, and she’s five kinds of exhausted. The last get together, M. brought … a half a pack of crackers.
You can always put stuff on crackers.
You’ll give what you can when you’re able to give it.
End of story. (A love story.)
So here’s to 1/2 baked, full on love & support. I take mine with crackers. You?
Tags: danielle laporte, Wellness, westgate
The ‘Middle Wife’ by an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Humor & comedy
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: Gabi_Menashe
I checked this story on Snopes & turns out it’s an urban legend, however, it’s too cute nonetheless. It’s a great example of how, when your perspective is different (that of a child) things can get turned around in the most hilarious of ways.
I’ve been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.
When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them.. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they’re welcome.
Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.
She holds up a snapshot of an infant. ‘This is Luke, my baby brother, and I’m going to tell you about his birthday.’
‘First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom’s stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.’
She’s standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I’m trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me.
The kids are watching her in amazement.
‘Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, ‘Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!’ Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. ‘She walked around the house for, like an hour, ‘Oh, oh, oh!’ (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)
‘My Dad called the middle wife.. She delivers babies, but she doesn’t have a sign on the car like the Domino’s man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this..’ (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)
‘And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!’ (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!)
‘Then the middle wife starts saying ‘push, push,’ and ‘breathe, breathe They started counting, but never even got past ten.
Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom’s play-center, (placenta) so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there.’
Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I’m sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it’s show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another ‘Middle Wife’ comes along.
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: humour, perspective
When evil licks your heels- reflections on the Nairobi, Westgate terrorist attack
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
For the first time evil came (knowingly) close. It’s licked my heels & those of friends & family.
I could see the smoke billowing from the Westgate mall terrorist attack from my kids’ school. For days I kept glued to my phone, SMS & Facebook feed for updates. When I saw someone I knew here in Nairobi after the attack, hugs were shared – the unspoken gratitude hanging in the air – ‘you made it, you’re alive.’
In the achingly long days until all hostages were freed some things didn’t change (my email box continued to fill up
It’s the proverbial perfect time to reflect on what’s truly important (hint: it’s not flat abs & amazing sex).
Day two of the attack my older son wanted desperately to do something. Which led to this result..
I came to wondering why I was baring my midriff in public & desperately trying to figure out where I was.
My son wanted to donate blood so we’d headed to nearby hospital. A bit of a madhouse greeted us so offered to dig in & volunteer. Worked with the medical team to get things going smoothly. Several hrs later it was our turn.
Those of you who’ve known me a long time know I’m phobic when it comes to needles so this wasn’t easy. Managed to donate my share & then managed to pass out cold (hey at least it was after the donation). Don’t think I didn’t hear the medics telling my kid not to laugh as he watched me sprawled out!!
Seriously tho very proud of him & his friend for doing this.
Feeling embarrassed but grateful to have helped a little
in a horrible situation. Grateful too to see Nairobi hospital FULL of people from all walks of life patiently editing to donate.
Much of my attention, of course, has been on my kids. I posted this on my Facebook feed on day 3 of the attack …
As another day dawns in this crazy mixed up world, & as the hostages have reportedly been released & the remaining terrorists killed, I’m thinking of all of our kids during this terribly difficult time.
May the kids who were held as hostages now be held with love.
May their families get the support they need to grieve, carry on & be well.
May we all give extra love & support to our own kids as they struggle to make sense of this tragedy.
And no matter where we find ourselves on this planet may we see more connections between fellow humans than divisions.
And may we all keep our hearts soft & refuse to yield to hate.
Friends & family have been checking in at an amazing rate from around the world. Friends of family have been checking with family. Are they ok? How are they? Facebook, phones, text, LinkedIn have all been channels for sharing information, processing & trying to understand the un-understandable.
From Bill Ursel ‘Not wanting to be a voyeur in the presence of human tragedy – however, is there any way you/RPS/colleagues in Kenya can, in time use this experience in some way to learn/empower? Excuse my feeble attempts to understand . .
After receiving an empathetic response from a dear friend in Vancouver (including empathy for the terrorists) I replied that she had more empathy than I at the moment. I finished my email with ‘where is God in all this?’, to which she responded:
Tragic beyond words. God is in the fact that more were not killed or injured, that people sacrifice to help others, that terrible events can and do plant seeds of hope, that we know compassion, love and forgiveness exist alongside evil, destruction, pain and sorrow, that healing is possible.
Stories of hope & inspiration have sprouted like this from I Am Kenyan Project. We will prevail because:
Little children pushed other children out of harms way. Children pulled children to safety.
Kenyan police run into harms way for us with no helmet, no bullet proof vests and regular shoes.
A Muslim man wrote a short prayer on a piece of paper for a Christian man he was hiding with and helped him to memorize it in case the terrorists asked him to say something from the Quran.
Secretary General of the Red Cross, put on a volunteers vest and went on site to work with his paramedics.
The Kenya Defense Forces went in there like superheroes.
No hospital turned a patient away.
Blood banks were full before they were empty again.
#KOT outrage on NY Times images made them pull those images off.
Heaven was filled with prayers and questions.
So how are things now?
While my privileged position, including but not limited to the fact that no one close to me was injured or killed in the attack may make my perspective easier to hold, I am consciously choosing to see the good in people.
I take heart that for the first time Somali religious leaders have issues a fatwa (religious decree) against al-Shabab.
I take heart that this attack is the exception not the rule.
I take heart that when I was giving blood, Martha Karua, Kenyan MP & former Minister of Justice, was right beside me doing the same.
I take heart that there are more bridges being built to understanding than chasms of difference.
And I take heart that we can all break free from molds that don’t fit, whether those molds are based in hate, ignorance or fear.
Tags: al-shabab, change, martha karua, nairobi, terrorist
Trait vrs Fate: Grandma’s Experiences Leave a Mark on Your Genes (via Discover Magazine)
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Training & development
For those of us intrigued by influence (whether that form of influence comes via learning & development, organizational development, change management, etc.) the article which I’ve included excerpts below, is a fascinating look at a newly discovered type of influence.
Darwin and Freud walk into a bar. Two alcoholic mice — a mother and her son — sit on two bar stools, lapping gin from two thimbles.
The mother mouse looks up and says, “Hey, geniuses, tell me how my son got into this sorry state.”
“Bad inheritance,” says Darwin.
“Bad mothering,” says Freud.
For over a hundred years, those two views — nature or nurture, biology or psychology — offered opposing explanations for how behaviors develop and persist, not only within a single individual but across generations.
Your ancestors’ lousy childhoods or excellent adventures might change your personality, bequeathing anxiety or resilience by altering the epigenetic expressions of genes in the brain.
Like silt deposited on the cogs of a finely tuned machine after the seawater of a tsunami recedes, our experiences, and those of our forebears, are never gone, even if they have been forgotten. They become a part of us, a molecular residue holding fast to our genetic scaffolding. The DNA remains the same, but psychological and behavioral tendencies are inherited. You might have inherited not just your grandmother’s knobby knees, but also her predisposition toward depression caused by the neglect she suffered as a newborn.
Or not. If your grandmother was adopted by nurturing parents, you might be enjoying the boost she received thanks to their love and support. The mechanisms of behavioral epigenetics underlie not only deficits and weaknesses but strengths and resiliencies, too.
Tags: epigenetics, influence
Women multiply
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture, Humor & comedy
If you’re a frequent reader you know the Life Lenses™ blog is all about perspective how we see things & how that view affects who we are, how we act & what we prioritize as important.
Our perspective affects what comes onto our radar easily, naturally & comfortably, as well as what flies below our radar, what we completely miss.
In the vein of perspective I like the image above – it made warmed my Heart Life Lens™ & me laugh. What about you?
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Rock Paper Dynamite
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Humor & comedy
And now for something completely different …
This caught my attention, well, because it shares the name of my company.
I don’t know who this guy is but he made me snort with laughter. His absolute sincerity. His complete seriousness. His total fascination with facts.
If you liked that one, check out his exasperation with the saying ‘the proof is in the pudding.’
Tags: humour, perspective, rock paper scissors
A perspective on gender identity
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture
This image is from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.
I think it speaks volumes.
‘nuf said.
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: diversity, perspective, worldview
Seeking sophrosyne
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
Sophrosyne: (n) a healthy state of mind, characterized by self-control, moderation, and a deep awareness of one’s true self, and resulting in true happiness.
Can’t you just hear the ‘ohmmm’ in that?
There’s a time for rising up & reaching out, for adventure & maximizing opportunities.
As the leaves are starting to turn back home in Vancouver, as fall approaches, with its fuzzy socks, cozy fires & equally cozy blankets, it feels like time to sink in, sink down & ‘sophrosynize.’
And you?
Tags: sophrosyne, Wellness