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Big Beacon Radio Ep. 4: Lassonde

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BB Radio HeaderEp. 4 – The Lassonde School and the Education of Renaissance Professionals

After years of relative stability in higher education, a small number of engineering schools are emerging around the world to forge a new vision of what it means to be a professional. In this episode host Dave Goldberg interviews Janusz Kozinski, founding dean of one of the newest engineering schools on the planet, the Lassonde School of Engineering in Toronto. Learn how Lassonde got started, about its vision for “renaissance engineers,” and the lessons learned so far. The show is also joined by guest commentator Athena Lin, chair of Students for a Whole New Education and rising junior at the University of Illinois. Athena is working to connect with students around the globe to promote transformative change. Together Athena and Dave explore some of the ramifications of initiatives like Lassonde for students. Join Janusz, Athena, and Dave for this important episode to better understand how the education of engineering and other professionals is undergoing tectonic shifts.

Listen on VoiceAmerica or download on iTunes podcasts.

Learn more about Big Beacon Radio, here.

Big Beacon Radio Ep. 3: John Kotter

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BB Radio HeaderEp. 3 – John Kotter: Leading Change in Higher Education

Organizations are facing unprecedented calls for change, higher education included, yet leading change in established organizations is a daunting task. One of the keenest architects and practitioners of effective change leadership processes and practices is John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor emertitus and Chairman of Kotter International. In this episode, John joins show host Dave Goldberg for a lively conversation to explore how Kotter’s famous 8-step process applies to the world of higher education, and how change itself has changed as the pace of change has accelerated. The show is joined by guest commentator Joe Tranquillo, Bucknell University. Joe is an educational change agent par excellence, and together Joe and Dave explore some of the practical ramifications of these ideas in higher education transformation. Join John, Joe, and Dave for this important episode to better understand how to bring more rapid, effective change to higher education today.

Listen on VoiceAmerica or download on iTunes podcasts.

Learn more about Big Beacon Radio, here.

Big Boys Don’t Cry

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The 21st century transformation of education is profoundly emotional, but why is “emotion” such an uncomfortable subject?:

The idea that we might acknowledge emotion directly in education runs up agains a taboo for men (in many cultures).  From an early age, men are urged to suppress their unhappiness, sadness, or other negative emotion that leads to the emotional display of crying.  Sometimes this is done with understanding and concern, but oftentimes boys are shamed if they do cry, and the shame continues until they stop.

Read more, here.

Sign up Now: Facilitating Change that Sticks, 9-11 June 2015 (Tu-Th)

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olin-college-logo@OlinCollege and @BigBeacon are pleased to announce the short course Facilitating Change that Sticks, 9-11 June 2015 (Tues-Thurs) at Franklin W. Olin College.

This three-day workshop develops participant skills and strategies for creating change that “sticks.”   In particular, we dive into a set of personal and organizational skills that will help participants develop both personally and professionally as effective change agents:

  • Developing coaching & negotiation skills, including noticing, listening, and questioning and 3 critical negotiation distinctions
  • Design and use of language in change processes, including sticky language, 5 speech acts, and the art and science of narrative analysis and design
  • Understanding and applying integrated change & culture change models, including those of Kotter and the Heath brothers.  The course also introduces and demonstrates application of the Big Beacon Change Model (BBCM) for effective engineering education transformation.
  • Leading from any chair, leading change both with and without title, authority, and responsibility.
  • Designing and implementing innovation structures within existing institutions, including incubators, respectful structured spaces, and change artifacts.
  • Using collaborative design process and facilitation as a change mechanism.
  • Understanding effectuation versus normal (causal) modes of planning for effective action when uncertainties are high.
  • Building and using culture and community to sustain change.

Through provocative readings, transformative experiential activities, and lively discussions we develop crucial frameworks for thinking about change, increase participants’ hands-on skills thereby enabling participants to return home as qualified change agents, and increase participants capability to be reflective and supportive in their teaching practice and their change leadership efforts.

More information is available at the link here or write deg@threejoy.com or sharon.breitbart@olin.edu.

5 Smooches of MOOCs

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I just posted a piece (here) about massive open online courses or MOOCs on www.bigbeacon.org.  The piece is entitled MOOCs, Moola, and Love: 5 Smooches of MOOCs, and in it I consider why students are signing up in droves for these courses and how these ideas connect to the emotional/cultural emphasis of the Big Beacon and ThreeJoy.  I identified the central question as follows:

Why are hundreds of thousands or millions of students signing up for “bad” old boring lectures taught to thousands or tens of thousands simultaneously when the future of education supposedly lies elsewhere?

The 5 answers to the questions I call MOOC smooches.  In short, students love MOOCs because they love (1) good lectures, (2) high status lecturers, (3) choice, (4) novelty, and (5) community.  The article connects these things to the pillars of the Big Beacon: joy, trust, courage, openness, and connection.

Read the full post here.

Brene Brown’s New Book: Daring Greatly

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Readers of these posts may remember a brief discussion of Brene Brown’s work and video on the Power of Vulnerability here.  Today, her latest book was released, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. In the following promotional video she talks about the book and its title’s origins in a Teddy Roosevelt quotation.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdN9-DN09vk

Our work in iFoundry and the Big Beacon points to the importance of these habits, you can download the Kindle version of the book here.

15 Ways to Engage Reluctant Learners

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I came across a nice post by John Spencer with the title above (here), and I thought I’d reprint his list of 15 ways to engage reluctant learners below:

  1. Be intentional.
  2. Know where we are going.
  3. Connect it to a real context.
  4. Or better yet . . . connect it to a really imaginary, creative context.
  5. Let them talk. Often.
  6. Allow for mistakes.
  7. Embed intervention and enrichment.
  8. Give more choices.
  9. Give more freedom.
  10. Let them move.
  11. Get rid of Try and avoid punishments and rewards.
  12. Make it meaningful.
  13. Push critical thinking.
  14. Create quiet spaces.
  15. Build trust.

This list was designed for sixth graders and it is remarkable how well it connects to and overlaps with the 31 points in the 51 posters of Big Beacon manifesto (in the viewer below).

[slideshare id=13127563&doc=beaconfinal-120529220334-phpapp02]

Print out the post (here) and the manifesto (here) and compare them side by side.

Help Make Cool Big Beacon Posters

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Check out the new Karen Salmansohn designed Big Beacon poster.  In working with the themes of the BB manifesto (here), a number of the posters played with whole brains as a theme.  Help us design the next generation of posters by answering a few questions:

  • What is your single most favorite web poster?  (send a link)
  • Do you like the ? (mind-heart-hands) poster (here) better than the on-switch poster.
  • What themes should we be using for the Big Beacon posters?
  • Describe in words a poster your would like to see.
  • What else should we be thinking about in poster design that I haven’t asked about?

We will use and credit the best ideas in coming poster designs.  Send your ideas to deg@threejoy.com.

 

A.B.E. – Anything But an Engineer

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Students in developed countries want to be A.B.E, anything but an engineer.  The deck below considers this difficulty.

[slideshare id=13393593&doc=abe-anything-but-an-engineer-pptx-120620093031-phpapp02]

It considers also the way in which the Big Beacon (here) may be a way to overcome this difficulty.