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Showing posts from October, 2012

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I am sealed in this capsule

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  I am sealed in this capsule The transition from the static concrete of that waiting room to the pressurised cabin of this jetliner changes the entire physics of my wait. I’m no longer pacing floors or slouching into plastic seats; I've been sealed inside a capsule, and soon to be hurtling through the sky toward China. Now that I'm finally buckled in, my restlessness hasn't disappeared, but at least I’ll soon gain altitude. I look around and can see exactly how this emotional shift plays out in other lives. There is an initial sense of order and quiet relief. I see the neat rows of seats, the soft symmetry of the aisle, and the steady, reassuring presence of the flight attendant, offering the illusion of control. The ceiling washes into soft, atmospheric blues and teals. I imagine the sky outside. I can feel the collective breath of a hundred passengers all transitioning into the same forced pause. For a moment, my world feels structured, clean, and neatly aligned. I know ...

Project Management - celebrate small achievements

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Purpose of this Blog To encourage professional workers to recognize their small achievements, celebrate the small achievements, and share the small achievements across the work unit. Project Management - the importance of celebrating small wins at work Managing projects can be a complex process involving time, risk, and priority management. Managing multiple projects that involves working with a multitude of clients and within a hierarchy of positions, over distance, and involves "wicked problems" requires strong hard and soft management skills. Soft management is more difficult to identify and yet it has a significant impact on the success of a project. This blog discusses soft management skills. It focusses on enabling achievement recognition to benefit the individual and the work unit. Recognizing achievements and failures affect the personal attachment to the project and in general the potential successful outcomes. Most importantly it affects the ...

21st Century: The Learning Challenge Part 2

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PISA (Programme for International Student Assessments) results are aligned with 21st-century skills (critical thinking and problem solving) The future of learning will focus on problem-centered instruction and will dismiss the 20th-century methods and curricula that are based on basic skills. Teachers need to dismiss instruction that outputs master memorizers, regurgitation, and fact toters (testing for the correct answers). Teachers need to enable instruction that outputs problem solvers.   Teachers need the skills to manage “ill defined" problem-based learning programs. Students as problem-solvers need to have critical and creative skills. Students need to access technologies that support problem-solving. Technologies cannot be limited to a standardized "one size fits all". The present situation in schools is that instruction is largely 20th century based.  Most teachers prerequisite learning ...