Dreaming of Connected Classrooms
Ever since I started teaching at the college level a few years ago, I’ve been dreaming. My first dream was to design a course that discussed emerging technologies, social media, and communication on the Web. I took my dream to the powers that be at the college and they gave me a shot. The course, […]
How I Learned About Social Media (and how you can too)
Most of the links in this post are to the people I have learned the most from over the past three years. Please click on their links and check them out. They offer a great deal to this space, and I am forever indebted to them, for they have taught me so much and made […]
Want to Learn? Learn to Teach
I sort of fell into the whole teaching thing. I never had aspirations to actually BE a teacher. I wasn’t a great student, after all. Sure, I didn’t skip classes, mostly got my homework done on time, but my grades were a mess – partly from being a military brat (Canada’s education system is not […]
On Teaching
Yesterday was the last class of the semester prior to the Christmas break. For the past 15 weeks, I’ve been teaching video production to 84 first-year future web developers and designers. It’s designed to be an introductory course, covering all the technical basics of lighting, shooting and editing but also emphasizing video as a visual […]
First You Learn the Lesson….Then You Teach
Life is full of lessons. Every day I learn at least one thing that I didn’t know the day before. I would say we probably all do. The past 5 years or so have been a time of tremendous learning and growth for me. I’ve bought a house, gotten married (yes, in that order – […]
Why It's Important to Keep the Well Full
I spend a lot of my time teaching other people things. I might be teaching my clients how to envision their perfect web or video project, or teaching them about what options and technologies are available to them. I might be teaching (more coaching) staff on projects. This Fall, I’ll be teaching college students the […]
Kids These Days: Can We Really Say They are "Dumb"?
In our local paper yesterday there was an article about Mark Bauerlein’s book “The Dumbest Generation”. Now, I’d like to start off by saying I have not read Mr. Bauerlein’s book. Based on the article, I probably still won’t read it. Mostly because I think it’s a load of crap. The article points to a […]
Are you a Great Teacher?
I was never the greatest student back in high school. I was miserable at math (still am), and miserable at English. I had to take makeup classes after school when I was in Grade 11, because my grammar was “atrocious”. Ironic that I’m now a writer (take that, Mrs. Dicresce!). I muddled through high school, […]
Curiosity Killed the Confusion
I’ve recently come into contact with a lot of people who don’t know a whole lot about the whole social media thing. When I try to explain the stuff to them, I either get a yah, but….or just a blank stare. It’s true, there is SO much going on in this space right now that […]
Oprah's Web Event
I have a confession to make. I watch Oprah. I LIKE watching Oprah. It’s my unwind-from-a-long-day, think-about-something-completely-different, guilty pleasure. But at this moment, I’m glad, I watch Oprah. For all you non-watchers out there, Oprah is doing something cool these days in the online media space. She is touting a new Book Club Book, called […]