Shift to the Future

Many of us resist change.  We like our comfort zone.  However we are changing constantly as that is just part of living.  One of my co-speakers at the symposium Moving Educational Technology from Enhancement to Transformation held yesterday said that as soon as we speak, we change.  How true.  Change is inevitable so why do so many of us try to resist it? At the symposium I spoke about Transformative Change .  We crowd sourced ideas from the participants on what they can stop, continue, and start doing to increase success in shifting to majority adoption of innovations in their classroom, school, or district.  Y ou can view the audience contribution here along with my co-speakers audience feedback on What Transformation and Ecologies of Learning . Organizations and individuals have a choice to embrace change, grow, and become more than they are today.  Alternatively, they can fear and resist change and ultimately become less useful and potent...

The more I read about history, the more in awe I become of the numbers and types of transformational changes that have occurred.  I read (audio book) Niall Ferguson’s Civilization: The West and the Rest this past year.  Empires as we know, rise and fall but their stories are impressive.  A rise and a fall are both transformational events.  We humans experience transformational events personally and on larger scales, all the time.  Being born is a pretty transformational event don’t you think.  Something seems to happen to many of us along the way through life to reduce our tolerance of transformation, “a change or alteration, especially a radical one” ( free dictionary, Dec. 14, 2014 ). We become comfortable with the status quo and resistant to change.  Ruben Puentedura’s in his discussion of the SAMR model describes stages of change as Enhancement: Substitution to Augmentation and Transformation: Modification to Redefinition.  His context i...

Back in 1982 while still in college two friends and I formed a company called Tricom Computer Corporation to focus on writing software.  We took on writing software for the video rental business of the day.  We also offered training, seminars, and workshops.  I recall our first “big” workshop where we invited vendors to sponsor us in “educating” home computer users and buyers.  I don’t remember the specific topic, but I was on the agenda to speak for 45 minutes or so to the crowd of maybe 75 people.  I had never presented publicly before – I was terrified, my voice cracked, I broke out in a sweat, my heart was racing, I almost “died”.  I managed to survive… barely.  That simple beginning, although frightening, seemed to get me charged up about leadership possibilities.  Over time, I over came my fear of public speaking where I now really quite enjoy it. I have learned so much about what not to do as a leader, often through the school of hard kno...

I was asked to speak to a group of managers and supervisors recently about how technology can help them manage their seemingly ever increasing work load.  That’s an interesting question really given how technology seems to often be the catalyst for increased work load.  I shared some thoughts about how technological advancement is accelerating and creating whole new ways to manage our work and lives and then some tips on how the tools they use at work can help them (Outlook e-mail, calendaring, and OneNote).  As professionals who use technology every day in our jobs, we need to own the responsibility for learning about our technology and helping each other (and our staffs) use it effectively to manage our work. It is remarkable what we can now do with our phones… e-mail, text, tweet, Facebook, calendar,task reminders, search (for anything), maps / directions, record / share audio – photos – videos, read blogs – wikis – books, listen to music – books, watch movies - TV ...

I went for a mountain bike ride this morning at Sumas Mountain in Abbotsford.  It was a crisp 0 degrees, small snow flakes were falling on the ride up, and “Jack Frost” was present on the trails. I start to roll the tires down the mountain and I see frost, some ice, and I have a real sense of uncertainty and concern.  Will my tires hold on the turns (high speed…) or not?  I tentatively burn through the first few corners and thankfully the tires hold.  I release the brakes some more and increase the speed until I’m flying down the trail and not worrying (too much) about the frost and ice.  My trust grows in the bike, its tires, and my skills and I have an exhilarating and positive experience. So “what does this have to do with technology, education, and the future?” you might ask.  All three are fraught with uncertainty!  Technology is under constant change, often radical.  The options and possibilities available today didn’t exist only a few yea...

I know, a bit of a harsh title for this post but I got your attention…  Seriously though, networking has for the most part always been important to being successful in whatever you pursue.  I think technology though has significantly amplified the importance of networking.  I believe that increasingly, in our rapidly evolving digital work and learning places, those that figure out and embrace the new forms of networking will succeed at what they do more so than those that don’t.  If you’re not on the path to networking yet, maybe now’s the time to take the first step. Friday was my last day with Coquitlam School Board and Monday will be my first with Vancouver.  I didn’t realize how many social networks I had an identity in until I started to change them for this move.  I had used my Coquitlam email address for most so I had to update all the digital spaces I participate in.  My advice after this task is that you consider using your personal email ad...

Back in 1991 I began my journey as a leader of not only a function within an organization, but also of people.  For a computer science grad, that was a bit of a shift.  But you know, it has been the best embedded pro-D I could imagine.  I must admit, I seem to embody the “learn from my mistakes” model because when I reflect, I’ve made many and learned many lessons along the way.  What I’ve learned is that leadership for me is envisioning a better future, and carefully working through others to get there together. I attended the annual CIO Executive Summit in Vancouver last week where I had the pleasure of hearing several accomplished leaders speak.  These leaders, CIOs (chief information officers) of large sophisticated organizations such as WestJet, UBC , lululemon (also heard from Chip Wilson, the founder), and Best Buy, shared their success, challenges, and advice.  A reoccurring message for success included investing in people, process, and technology...

I remember the good old days when I used to have ample time to learn something new.  Back in the late 80’s I was working for the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans Canada as a Systems Analyst in the data centre of a fishery research facility.  I remember being given a project to plan for and execute, wait for it… upgrading the Fortran programming language on the mainframe.  Wow, how exciting is that.  I took a couple of months to learn about, research, and plan for this change.  Learning and change back then was glacial compared to now.  I remember worrying about a lot of details I didn’t completely understand and made sure to learn everything possible before acting.  Things have certainly changed…  Those of us engaged in the digital world are having to adapt, learn, unlearn, relearn constantly.  Essentially, I now subscribe to the “ fearless learner ” philosophy. A few weeks ago I was asked by the professional development rep for one of our sec...

My wife and I are heading off to Europe this year, specifically to Italy and Germany.  It’s quite an undertaking to plan such a trip.  I’ve talked to quite a few seasoned travelers to garner their wisdom about flights, hotels, car rentals, places to see, and to borrow Frommers travel guide books, etc.  But to be honest, without access to the Internet, I’m not sure how we would plan a trip like this.  We wouldn’t be able to do it without a travel agent/expert.  Note that the castle in this picture is located in Neuschwanstein, Germany and influenced the design of Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disneyland, cool hey.  After a short stop in Munich, we will drive to this small German town, near the Austrian border, and begin our Romantic Road journey through various medieval towns. When my wife and I planned our honeymoon over 26 years ago (yes, I’m getting old), I recall us consulting with a BCAA travel agent.  They helped us figure out which cities to sto...