Thanks to Chris Layton for inspiring this post. We had a lovely conversation at #DENSI2014 and this is my reflection from that discussion. The conversations and ideas around these ideas and their role in society can make your head spin. They range from: “Awards for students are harmful” “Learning is not a competition” “There are no...

After every course I teach I receive an evaluation from my students. Typically 80% or higher provide with highly positive feedback. 10% are indifferent and 10% are less than satisfied. Most of the dissatisfaction revolves around lack of structure and and timelines. This is partly my personal flaws and partly student preference and partly a communication failure. I...

It’s no secret if you follow me on twitter I don’t take it all that seriously. In case you don’t know what I mean, I created this video I sometimes share with new followers warning them of my intent. While most educators talk about twitter as a great place to develop a personal learning network and even as a Professional Development resource, I...

As someone who travels a lot, I spend lots of time observing how people react in airports. I experience my share of flight delays and other travel issues an d almost all the time, it’s no one’s fault. Many people who don’t travel much are pretty uptight and nervous and the slightest problem can upset them. You can see it on their faces and...

My recent post and exploring on residents vs visitors makes me think about some of the problems around the conversations about digital citizenship. When schools and districts want to discuss digital citizenship they usually want to emphasize the dangers and problems of thoughtless online behaviour. The tagline for digital citizenship for many educators is...

Having spent the last 7 years teaching pre-service teachers and working with districts and schools across Canada it’s easy to see a disconnect with new teachers and the environments they are entering. In times of fairly significant change and disruption to varying degrees, the role of hiring and finding great teachers is much more important than ever before. At...

File this one under “thinking out loud” or “I need help” It’s no secret to readers, friends and my students that I have a thing with grading. Take your pick of posts and you’ll get the idea: Student Achievement is Not the Same as Learning More Than a Score The Deleterious Effect of Grading and its Offsprings I Don’t Give a...