Parents ‘n Schools

 (GLO — April 2010 — I wrote this two years ago now, and I realized that it’s not entirely come to pass… that new Minister has now been on the job as long as good ol’ PnS has… he has stayed as Education Minister for those two years, and that has been a good thing […]

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 On April 1, 2010, at his site www.shirky.com the most-excellent-thinker-and-explainer Clay Shirky published this description of institutions challenged by complexity when simplifying forces act upon them. He primarily related this to the TV industry.
We all know, Gentle Parent, what OTHER industry I believe most every word below can be readily translated to…
+++++++++++++++++
The Collapse of Complex […]

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I attended over this past weekend the annual conference of the Alberta School Councils’ Association, parents’ voice in provincial public education. I am a Life Member of ASCA, an honour bestowed a few years back in recognition of service as a board member in the early part of this decade. That service was the best […]

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When I hear talk of “increasing” parent engagement with schools, I am compelled to ask how much engagement, exactly, exists at present? How does that present engagement compare with past levels of engagement? How much more such engagement would be optimum? And then, finally… what’s “engagement” exactly, and what constitutes it at school and what […]

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(GLO — April 2010 — This was written a year ago. Fast Company magazine this past month published a front-page article on schooling technology. Macleans magazine had an article recently reviewing online learning opportunities for post-secondary schooling. It’s not just me making this stuff up, is what I’m saying…)
Why robotic-delivery, via the internet, of more […]

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Continuing the past few entries’ general theme of the value and logistical possibility of “parent engagement” in government schools… of wagging that “long tail” a little higher… of moving that power-law curve a little further out… I turn away from schools as I am wont to do and gaze out into the Big World Out […]

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(GLO — April 2010 — The annual meeting approaches for another year… the legacy of learning that are Mr. Buffett’s letters to shareholders is one more letter richer… and the “B” shares were split 50-1 to facilitate an acquisition, so even more people can afford to become BRK.B shareholders now.)
If anyone ever offers to buy […]

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Here in week one of the Edfutures free course described in the last post, we are invited to:
“… post an introduction detailing why you are
interested in this course and why it is (or is it?) important that we study,
through rigorous methods, futures in education?
Through out this week, we will build a case why it is […]

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Allow me to interrupt this string of posts on engagement in education to, perhaps, engage you in education.
Specifically, the future of education.
The good folks at Athabasca University (a distance learning academy centred in Athabasca, Alberta but, virtually, everywhere) are offering the following decentralized course free to all who may wish to sign up.
Promises to be […]

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Further to Wednesday’s “long tail” description of parents ‘n schools (and further to Clay Shirky’s teachings at TED.com and in his book “Here Comes Everybody”), efforts by schoolers toward “parent engagement” are too often efforts to “lift the tail”… to increase interaction/involvement with their children’s schools across the population of parents. To bring parents and […]

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