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Godliness in Stone

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  Scene 1 It smells like… time down here. Not just damp earth or rot, but something older. A primal scent that’s been waiting in the dark for a millennium. I’m recording this at the bottom of the scar somewhere in the anomaly. In my mind, it's called the Necropolis Gully . My helmet is trying to map it—casting these sterile, digital grids over the moss and the stone—but the data doesn’t make sense. It’s glitching. It’s shuddering against the reality of this place. I don't know why I'm here, looking at ruins. Just... debris. But in the ruins, I found the ghosts of a future that never happened. I was walking over shards of polymerised memories . This was once a city.  It was meant to be the heart of a new world that... simply stopped. It wasn't an engineering failure. It was a failure of existence. Holding that slate, I felt this... weight. The grief of the architect. The "wounds of unbuilt dreams." I realised then that this isn't a graveyard for people. It’...

Education Drivers, Innovation, Culture and Targets

Education Drivers   (Fullan) personalised student centred capacity systemness System Needs & Change   (Clayton Christensen) efficiency (faster & cheaper) sustaining (improve current system needs), disruptive (make complicated solutions simpler) Enabler Technologies  internet ubiquitous mobile efficient (cost and HR support) rich content Purpose and Target Doing the same things the same way will not work Move from a centralised authority to a discreet and   targeted system focus on targeted client audiences (not at the system middle) view schools as interconnected cottage industries focus on teaching and learning work practices (Hattie) Why, then how then  what  Innovation and Culture innovation is as important for leaders as strategy and operational excellence Innovation to enable continuous improvement (not big bang) Disciplined, deliberate, relentless Developing business units cultur...

Strategy and Culture

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Culture eats strategy  Culture can be identified in a business unit's artifacts : vision,  norms,  symbols,  beliefs,  behaviors, and  traditions. Strategy - successful strategies need supportive cultures.   Issue Q : How does a business unit get the best out of strategy in periods of uncertainty and structural change. (How do you get buy-in to achieve what needs to be achieved?) ---------------------------------------------------   The Culture of a Business Unit   Business Unit Questions: How do our artifacts describe us? What artifacts actively attracts people to use our services? What artifacts actively discourage success? Immediate culture questions Vision and Mission  how is the vision made evident throughout all of our activities? is the vision and mission persuasive?  Collaboration  how do our projects cross support and benefit each other? Education  how do...

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 ...

Open and Free: Forget privatisation of knowledge (it's so 20 centryish)

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Why I like freedom Open Linux Open Ubuntu Open Google Forget privatisation of knowledge (it's so 20 centryish) If NASA can send an open source robot to the moon why can't you? One-off sponsorship You Tube

21st Century: The Learning Challenge

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These notes are abbreviated; ebook text highlights and notes by JJFBbennett. I do promote the reading of this book to gain a deeper understanding of 21st C teaching and learning. 21st Century: Rethinking how students learn : Whilst the following notes are inspired by the book they are not directly associated with the book. The challenge To equip students with 21st Century skills. The connection  The link between skills and knowledge are interdependent Effective teaching requires students to learn skills  Life long learning ability requires adaptive learning skills Students need literacy and numeracy skills to have the fundamental capacities for lifelong learning Plan for the future Foreseeing what future skills students will need - is essential.  Teachers need to plan for adaptive learning skills. Teachers cannot focus only on present-day skills. The relationship between the educator and learner needs is key to students gaining 21st Century skills...

What needs to change in cricket to engage me

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As an Australian, my cultural heritage was embedded heavily in cricket - through many hours of listening to, watching, playing, supporting, and discussing. I have now lost interest in the game - well more specifically test cricket, one-dayers, and now 20 20. Test cricket is just out of touch. One day games are too long and take too long to get engagement. Simply putting, I cannot dedicate one day to watch a game.  20 20 is slightly better but my interest falls from one 20 to the next 20 sessions. It is like reading two books one after the other. It is not a game it is two games connected by a score. So................. Get rid of test cricket. It is too centered on the players, ex-players, and a hand full of die-hards. It is tedious, there are too many non-events draws and is biased by climatic conditions. Borrrrring One day games just take too long. There are better things to do with a TV, mp3, or tablet. My day is too interesting to waste on one game. 20 20 is...