http://laurieodonnell.co.uk Laurie's Learning Log Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:20:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="414" caption="Milton Chen of The George Lucas Educational Foundation"][/caption] I promised to return to Milton Chen’s 'Education Nation' once I had taken the time to read it properly so here goes. This is book with an international flavour but its focus is on the largely dysfunctional US K-12 system.  ... http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=469 My former employer LTS, under instructions from Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, has just published the address made by Jimmy Reid when he was elected as Rector of Glasgow University in 1972. The address on the subject of 'Alienation' is an impassioned plea for a more humane society The speech, described at ... http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=453 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Milton Chen, Education Nation"][/caption] This lovely book has just arrived through the post. The author is my good friend Milton Chen, former executive director and now senior fellow at the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF). Those with a long memory may recall that George Lucas, the Star ... http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=442 Living beside the sea on the sunny and (relatively rain free) east coast of Scotland means that on most Sunday mornings I can play golf. I was up as usual just before 6.30 but the rain was just too heavy for me today so a good opportunity to get back ... http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=424 Also love this video with words from the wonderful Carl Sagan - who I remember reading 30 years ago when I was a student at Edinburgh University. I found this posted with some very thoughtful comments from my friend and colleague John Connell. http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=378 I love this TED Talk from Charles Leadbetter - who in my view is one of the best radical thinkers on the future of education. Charles covers a lot of ground including how the 19th Century Prussian ('Bismarckian') model of education that dominates the developed world is not scalable ... http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=356 In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell  suggests that opportunity plays a significant part in someone becoming an expert. He suggests that a 10,000 hour rule applies as much to the success of The Beatles (opportunity to play live 7 days a week in Hamburg) as to that of Bill Gates (opportunity to ... http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=335 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Disrupting Class"][/caption] Wearing my Futurelab Associate Director hat  I was invited to speak at the CoSN Annual Conference in Washington DC earlier in the month. I picked up one of the big themes I have pursuing for a number of year -  'Technology Push v Learning Pull' ... http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=323 Had a busy start to 2010 -  which tends to be a good thing when you are self employed.  Already been to London three times including a week at BETT2010 and the Learning and Technology World Forum which has been great but my blog has been suffering. My aim is ... http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=315 What a year it has been. Every year is significant but some years seem to me to be more memorable than others. These years stick in my mind, at least in part, because of a big step I took in my life – usually a step that felt pretty scary ... http://laurieodonnell.co.uk/?p=310