Hope you have a great week and do something special for February 29th 🙂 Here are some great links that I would like to share; some new and some old.
1. The Myth of the Echo Chamber – In this post that is almost two years old, Karl Fisch discusses the idea of the “echo chamber” and debunks the myth through social media.
There is no “echo chamber.” It’s a myth.
Do you follow at least one person on Twitter? Then you’re not in an echo chamber.
Do you have someone’s blog other than your own in your RSS aggregator?Then you’re not in an echo chamber.
Do you teach/work in a building with at least one other person that you talk to? Then you’re not in an echo chamber.
Do you have a family? Friends? A neighborhood? Then you’re not in an echo chamber.
As this is something that I have struggled with tremendously, it is important to not only understand that there are many different opinions on Twitter, but it is also essential to go out and seek those opposing views. Through the conversation, many great ideas are shaped. It is also important that if you disagree with someone that you speak up and share those opposing views. This is necessary to not only the growth of individuals but education as a whole. The way we do it is important, but more important is that we have those conversations.
2. Wine and Education – Cale Birk, a principal in British Columbia discusses how we often talk in terms not understood by the general public, leaving many of our students and stakeholders behind:
I realize that oftentimes, I speak in ‘educationese’, in terms that are puzzling (and sometimes outright offensive) to people in business, industry, the trades, or to the general public (including our students). In order to create positive partnerships with our ‘consumers’, we need them to be very knowledgeable and informed about what we do at schools and the value of this education for our students as contributors to society. We need to be able to clearly articulate the skills that kids are learning in our buildings and how these will be transferable not just to something such as post-secondary education, but to business, industry, the trades, or whatever our students may choose to do. And perhaps most importantly, we need to articulate this for our students in our buildings TODAY.
Cale’s focus on partnerships is so imperative to our school system. We do not just work with students to do well at school; we work with them to do well in life.
3. The Trip Advisor Tail Wagging the Dog – In this Seth Godin post, he discusses how industry has changed and how the consumer is really driving the way we do things and get better. I related with this post as I just recently planned an entire trip using the Trip Advisor site, and the comments were so imperative to where I booked. Here is a quote from his post:
Today, it’s sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp (among many others) that are transforming the way service businesses operate. Here’s how it works: at first, a business might try to ignore the system, but then they notice their customers talking about the reviews and their competitors. So some stoop so low as to attempt to game the system, sending sock puppets and friends to post reviews. But that doesn’t scale and the sites are getting smart about weeding this out.
The only alternative? Amazing service. Working with customers in such an extraordinary way that people feel compelled to talk about it, post about it, and yes, review it. It’s not an accident that Hotel Amira is one of the highest rated hotels in all of Turkey. They didn’t do it with the perfect building or sumptuous suites. They did it by intentionally being remarkable at service. And yes, the Holiday Inn in Oakland has the same story. They took what they had and then they deliberately went over the top in delivering on something that never would have paid off for them in the past.
Amplifying stories causes the stories that are built to change. Outliers are rewarded (or punished) and the weird and the wonderful are reinforced. Once people see what others are doing, it opens the door for them to do it, but with more flair.
I wonder how this type of site will impact education. Sites like “Rate My Teacher” already exist, but have they hurt or helped our profession? It seems that more sites will continue to pop up like this in education as social media continues to grow.
4. Literacy in the Digital Age – This is just a great site and wealth of resources from Kathy Schrock regarding the continuously evolving nature of literacy. Definitely take a look at all of the resources she has compiled.
Have an amazing week!
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by mrsdkrebs
