e-wot?

This is my post-earth-hour contribution. Only a link, but a good one: http://www.dothegreenthing.com/

This is a great collection of quotes about the transformative power of conversation. All are excellent.

I’ve just finished listening to two audiobooks (via iTunes): Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and The Element by Ken Robinson - one right after the other. They went really well together. Not only a good combination of compatible ideas, but each book also had something important to say that the other book didn’t quite capture.

Outliers shows us how good timing, opportunity to practice and hard work are often the most common characteristics of the most successful people. The Element shows how successful individuals are successful usually in spite of their education, a system that often focuses too much on curriculum planning and assessment and too little on nurturing human talent.

The example of the Beatles came up in both books. Gladwell cites how the Beatles had the opportunity to hone their live act, musicianship and song writing through hours of live playing on the Hamburg club scene (at least 10,000 hours is the magic number Gladwell cites). Robinson talks about Paul McCartney’s bad music teacher, and how he and John Lennon would instead mentor each other in their musical development. Robinson focuses on the diversity of talent, engagement, circles of influence and other social phenomena and inner reserves that support creativity and get people into their ‘element’. Gladwell focuses on the timing of opportunities and the advantage we get from being able to make the most of these opportunities.

All in all, a satisfying combination of books that I highly recommend.

It’s been a year, and I’ve decided to process-map how I set up a private Ning network for our teachers to use for their personal development. It’s been quite a success. The Google Analytics show good stats and senior teachers are asking me for info about the sites to add to their presentations, or to do more - and better. All good. So I think it’s time for me to outline how we got to where we are.

I’m going to start this next week. I think I’ll be using OmniGraffle to build the flow charts.

Google has been quite patchy these past few days. Even my wife’s been complaining. So it must be bad. Cos she just uses Google Search.

Well, I’ve just spent three hours trying to sort out a Google Sites account for a community of practice that I’m in using Google Sites, and it’s been really painful. Server error is the message I get. I’d prefer a nicely crafted Google message. Oh well.

If you’re into web usability and web analytics you should try Crazy Egg. It rocks.

I use Crazy Egg, Google Analytics , Google Trends, and the Firefox/IE addon SEOQuake. Essential tools I reckon.

This is a great one-stop-shop for all your adult learning needs. click for Adult Learning wiki

A few weeks ago I went to the Chinese New Year annual Yu Sheng Lo Hei at the Straits Knowledge office in Singapore. I saw a big pile of freshly printed books, and in a quiet moment, I picked one up. It was ‘KM Approaches Methods & Tools - A Guidebook’. It looked great, so I bought one.

Since then I’ve dipped into it and I must say that it’s the best compendium of KM tools I’ve seen. The tips for facilitation are particularly useful. So here’s the pdf version for download. But really, you should buy it. It works better in book-form. It’s on my desk at work and is great to dip into. Patrick, Edgar and Wai Kong have done an excellent job in making the book, so it’s worth buying, really. Get it here.

This report caught my attention. Mainly because of the point it makes that the fastest growing segment of new Facebook users in the US is women over 55. Mothers want to keep in touch with their kids.

I say this because after reading this report I had a brief conversation with a colleague (not 55 yet, I must say) who’s just got back from leave, sending her youngest daughter off to university. It’s been tough for her. She misses her daughters. And she told me she’s now spending most of her time on Facebook to keep in touch with them. I can only imagine how she must feel. I’ve got another 15 years or so before I have to deal with that heartbreak. It must be really painful.

Facebook is a poor substitute for being with someone you love. But it’s about the best thing out there I reckon.

I couldn’t talk to her for long, because I could feel how hard it was for her to come back to work. But I hope she gets the chance to move back home, to be near her daughters. Being selfish, I’d rather she didn’t, because she’s great to be with (one of my favourite people) and one of the best we have working for us.

A thought provoking post on Classroom 2.0 by Christine Southard who highlights one aspect of an upcoming World War II history special. The producers have asked the YouTube generation to record oral histories (frome their grandparents in other words) before we lose them forever.

Great potential. Great educational project.