It’s that time of year again! I love back to school. I’m excited to meet my new group of students (I always have first-years in the Fall), and look forward to helping some future web designers and developers learn some new skills. Teaching is one of the most rewarding things I do.

With all of the other stuff I have going on – my business, speaking, blogging commitments, and volunteer work – prepping and managing a 6 hour a week course load with 80 students can easily get overwhelming. Fortunately, I’ve found some online tools that have helped to make things not only more efficient for me, but more interesting for my class. Here are a few ways I’m bringing online tools into my classrooms.

Google Docs

One of the major issues I had when I was first starting out with teaching was I was always having to move files around. I’d prep my PowerPoint slides, write my notes and prepare handouts, then I had to either copy them remotely to the college network (which can be slow and unreliable), save them on a USB drive, or email them to myself. It was an extra step that could wind up in catastrophe if I forgot to do it (which I did, once or twice).

Enter Google Docs to save the day! Google Docs, if you’re not familiar, is a web-based word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet suite from Google. With Google Docs, I keep all my class files in one spot, and I can access them from anywhere with an Internet connection (even on my smart phone!). Now, I just do my prep at home, and when I get to school, I call up my documents in Google Docs and off I go. One less step, and less risk I’ll forget something important at home.

The best part about Google Docs is you can share documents with others. So, instead of printing handouts, why not save some paper and share a handouts folder to your class? Or, have them write their assignments in Google Docs, and share them to you for marking? There are plenty of applications. Once you start using Google Docs, I promise, you’ll never go back.

Class Community Sites

Maintaining good communication with your class outside of class can be a big challenge. LMS systems like BlackBoard only go so far, and can be clunky and time consuming to use. I’ve taken my classes to a collaborative space outside the LMS environment, creating a Class Community site around my course. In this space, which is invitation only and not available publicly, I can post announcements, share links and videos (it’s a great place to post the YouTube videos I talked about here), and it provides a forum for dialogue not only between you and your class, but between classmates as well.

My students love the interactivity, and I love the convenience and easy updating. I have used Ning in the past, and am now experimenting with Google Sites. You don’t have to be a web designer to set up a site using these tools. If you can create a Word document, you can have a Class Community Site.

Often as teachers we can feel isolated – we’re not always sure what other things our students are learning in their programs of study. Having a space to connect with other teachers could go a long way towards creating a better learning experience for our students. A Community Site can be taken a step further to a Faculty Site as well. Imagine being able to share with teachers in the same program or department as yourself. You can share tips, ideas, discuss challenges, and help each other out. I think there is huge potential in creating dialogue between teachers, especially teachers within the same program.

Skype Video

My students love guest speakers. A couple of times a semester, I will bring engaging and inspiring folks from industry into class to present and do Q and A. It adds another viewpoint and dimension to the class, and they get a break from listening to me yammer on. Often I bring in local people, but since I’ve been out here on the Internet, I’ve met so many people in other cities and countries who have so much wisdom and experience to share. Since I don’t have a budget to bring them to my class physically, I use Skype Video, and it works beautifully. The students enjoy it immensely and I think my guest speakers get a charge out of it too.

Skype is free and many college classrooms have web cams now. Why not give it a whirl?

Those are just three simple ways you can make your teaching life easier using technology. All of these options are absolutely free and available to anyone online.

What’s in your online teaching toolkit?

[photo credit: AllanCaplan on Flickr]

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I’ve been musing here for over 3 years. It seems like much longer! But, it IS Internet time after all, so that’s like, 15 years, right?

I’ve often thought of my blog as my playground. It’s the space where I can feel free to mess around with ideas and concepts, get things clear in my head, and spend time enjoying the process of writing. I’ve not paid much attention to the so-called “experts” who say one “must have a theme, or topic for their blog”. I have written about everything here, from life to productivity, to work, self employment and creativity. I’ve been fortunate that the topics I’ve covered have opened up new opportunities for me to write for great blogs like Thoughtwrestling and Ottawa Tonite. I’m even exploring some new blog writing opportunities now (to be announced soon!).

It’s time for a change.

As many of you know, I’ve been a teacher in some capacity for much of my 20 year career. It all began back at the cable station, when part of my job as a Producer was to run training workshops for the station’s volunteers in such things as camera, lighting, audio, directing and editing. After I went back to school in ’97, I started work at a training company. I helped to design one of the first Web Design certificate programs offered at Algonquin College, and worked as a program coordinator and course designer for corporate training outside the college as well. During my high-tech hayday, I designed training and awareness programs and wrote help documentation. I spent some time traveling across the United States teaching software at corporations. Then, about 3 years ago, I was hired part time to work for Algonquin college, where I currently teach video production and Web Media, and am designing an online course in Digital Communication.

The best part is…I absolutely adore teaching. Some of the most fun I have is creating learning environments for my students – interesting ways for them to get their hands dirty with new ideas. And the best moment…the BEST moment…is that moment when you see the lightbulb go off over a student’s head. The moment they really GET what you’re teaching them, and they are inspired to move forward with their new knowledge and make things happen. It’s just about one of the most rewarding things there is.

I’m changing things up here on Suzemuse, because I want to talk more about teaching, and training, and education, and how technology plays into all of it. How our experience as both teachers AND students is changing. How emerging technologies are opening up new ways to learn and experience and explore things.

Digital technologies such as social media are rapidly changing the landscape of education. Many teachers and educational institutions are facing big challenges with trying to keep up. Students are demanding more interactivity in their learning environments all the time. The tools are there, and ripe for use inside and outside the classroom, but as educators, we need to figure out the most effective ways to use them. One of the ways I want to do this is by opening up a space where we can all talk – students, educators, administrators, corporate trainers – about ideas, best practices, successes, and failures.

So, starting today, Suzemuse is transforming. I am going to shift the focus of this blog to talking about education and emerging technologies, and I hope to start some interesting conversations around the shifting landscape and the future of education. I’m going to engage with other educators and hope to provide interviews, guest posts, and maybe even a podcast down the road.

This is where I want to be right now. It’s an extremely exciting time and I’m looking forward to exploring this with you.

Thank you for your attention and time and contribution here the past three years. Here’s to next steps!

xo
Suze

[photo credit: Matt Packer on Flickr]

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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 such a huge contribution to my success. There are others too, of course – far too many to mention here. You all mean a great deal to me. From the bottom of my heart, friends….thank you.

The weekend of February 19th marks my 3rd anniversary being involved in social media.

Three years since I wandered in off the street to Podcamp Toronto, was warmly greeted by Two Guys Named Chris, and the first thing I asked them was “What the heck are all you people doing here, anyway?”

The rest is, as they say, history.

Three years later, and I am sitting here, like I do most mornings, connecting, laughing, sharing, and learning. I have achieved much – amazing friendships, a rapidly growing business, and a much more global perspective on helping other people and truly making a difference.

Several times a week I am asked how I know what I know about all this new media stuff. Do I ever step away from the computer? (Yes.) Do I have a life? (Of course.) How do I find the time to stay on top of everything? (I make time.) Do I ever get any real work done? (This is real work.)

There are no quick fixes in social media (or in anything considered real work, for that matter). No $300 “Learn to Twitter in a Weekend” workshop is going to teach you everything you need to know about social media. Books are great, read them all…especially these ones. But books are like the measuring tape and laser level in your tool box. They just give you information.
So, are we ready to begin?

Be curious. I didn’t end up at that first Podcamp because I had researched it for weeks, tried to figure out who was going to be there, what their credentials were, if they had criminal background checks done, if they were in the country legally. In fact, I didn’t know a single person there. I saw “Free” and “Unconference”. And I was planning on being in Toronto that weekend anyway. What did I have to lose? I was curious.

Being curious is probably the most important thing you can do to get on the road to understanding this new medium. Don’t know where to start? How about Google? Do some searches on Twitter. Find some friends on Facebook. Pretend you’re 8 years old again and you are exploring the woods at the back of your house. Look in all the little crevasses and nooks. Peek under rocks. Climb a tree and survey the scene from above. Fall out of the tree once in a while too. Before you know it, you’ll start to find the adventure you came for.

Read and listen and watch voraciously. Once I started to realize how many smart people there were out here in this world, I started to consume everything I could. I subscribed to blog after blog in Google Reader. I watched videos. I listened to wonderful podcasts.

All of these people are out there, every day, working hard, giving you FREE content and advice that, if you listen and do the things they say, will get you up and running in social media in no time. Trust what these people say. They learned the same way you are….by consuming the information that is available to anyone. Don’t tell me you don’t have time. Don’t watch that rerun of Friends every night, and there you go…you’ve found 30 minutes a day that you can be filling your brain with smart stuff.

Experiment. All of these smart social media types got to where they are because they are not afraid to experiment. If you’re looking for best practices drawn from years of experience and comprehensive research, you’re not going to find them. The medium is not old enough to have tried, tested and true. There’s a certain level of experimentation going on all the time. Some of us experiment on our blogs (I know I do). Others are the super early adopters (I’m here too), trying out things like Google Wave and buying the latest gadget and then proceeding to play around with it, figure out how it fits (or if it fits).

But I’m afraid I’m doing it wrong! Here’s a news flash. You’re not going to break the Internet, no matter how hard you try. So if you see a link to something that looks interesting, click it. Sign up for an account (you can always cancel it later). Try a new plugin, or a new method of communicating. Find friends to try along with you. Play. You’ll see pretty soon that the rewards you reap are far more significant than the failed attempts.

Curiosity, consumption and experimentation. Those are the three steps I used to get where I am. (And no, it didn’t happen overnight.) Yep, I learned most of this stuff for free, from reading blogs, watching talks, and participating in free webinars. I paid a little money to buy books by smart people (see above), and I paid a little more to travel to Montreal and Toronto to see people speak live (at free conferences) and connect with others.

What I didn’t do was bombard the smart people with questions. I Googled, I absorbed, I understood, and then I contributed to the space. Feedback came in from the smart folks in my communities (blog comments, @replies, and emails) and I learned some more. Then I contributed more. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But, aren’t you a teacher? Now, a word on education. I’m a college teacher, for Pete’s sake, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least spend a paragraph or two talking about the merits of formal education. If you are seeking to be immersed in a subject, to be able to really focus all your time and energy studying so you can apply, then yes, formal training is very valuable. I am not talking about the snake-oil, Twitter in a Weekend “workshops” here. I’m talking about training given by qualified instructors in reputable environments that cover techniques over tools. I’m talking about courses that can not only teach you important technical skills, but can allow you to connect and learn with and from your peers.

There is great value in formal education, however it’s not always financially feasible or easy to manage going to school full time with work and family. That’s why doing things on your own can be a great supplement, or even a replacement sometimes (depending on your goals and personal situation.)

The final word. A smart friend told me once, at the beginning of all this, when I was struggling to find answers… “you have a whole network available to you now. Use it.” Those words have stuck with me. We really do have all the information and knowledge we could ever want at our fingertips. But most importantly, we also have the ability to share what we know. The most important thing about social media is not learning what tools to use. Just dive in. Write a blog, record and post a video. Talk to people. Make a contribution. Start today.

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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 really set up for transients), and partly because I simply didn’t have an aptitude for things like math and grammar (though my Art, Music and Drama marks were always stellar).

When I graduated from high school I wanted to get as far away from it as possible. I couldn’t wait to get into college – where I knew I’d be much more successful in a less book-learnin’, more hands-on environment. I was right about that.

After college I fully expected to get a J-O-B, maybe as a junior editor in a newsroom or a production assistant for a local show. I certainly didn’t expect my first job to be as a producer.

I’ve said before, that a producer at a community television station (public access TV for you all down south) is something quite different than a producer for a regular TV network. I was a camera operator, writer, director, editor, sound person, and much more. I had 7 shows to produce, not just one. Like other TV producers, I worked 80+ hours a week. But unlike them, a HUGE part of my job was teaching.

You see, about 90% of the people that worked at the station were volunteers. People from all walks of life who shared a common interest in producing TV shows. They helped out in all areas – camera, audio, lighting, editing, writing, producing, directing – you name it. But most of the time they came in green – having little or no video experience. It was part of my job to ensure that they knew the proper techniques. This happened through formal workshops (I was required to teach one per week in various disciplines) or on the job training (like, during a live TV show).

Having just come from being a student myself, I wasn’t entirely sure that I was going to be successful at this whole teaching thing. But, it was my job, and I’d best be getting the hang of it. My friend, mentor and boss at the time, Andre, gave me some good advice. “Just tell them what you know. Don’t overthink it.”

So really, my only job was to figure out what I already knew.

Seven years and hundreds of workshops later, I landed in college again. Back to being a student. Back to filling my brain with new ideas – I traded in my video camera for a computer and was off to the races.

Upon graduation from College 2.0, I was fortunate to be hired by one of my instructors. She owned a technology training company. She had some web projects and video projects to start me off, which was great. But one day, she came to me and said she needed someone to teach this new software called Dreamweaver (this was 1997). She handed me a book called “Learn Dreamweaver in 21 Days” and told me in 4 weeks I’d be in front of 40 students eager to learn this cutting edge technology. Gulp.

The teaching gig (ironically in the same classroom where I’d just spent the previous 7 months) went pretty well, and boy did I learn a lot. I learned pacing and timing. I learned how to read the class and gauge by number of blank faces how well they were following along. And most importantly, I learned that it’s okay to not always know the answers, as long as you are willing to find them out.

So really, my only job was to figure out what I didn’t already know, and then get to know it really well.

Flash forward to 2008. I’d spent a good deal of time in the previous 10 years doing corporate training and software training, writing training documentation, designing curricula, and coordinating programs for adult learning. I felt as if I was catching on to this whole teaching thing.

I decided to connect with my old classmate who was now running the same program I’d taken at the college in ’97. I expressed an interest in teaching and provided some suggestions on the kind of courses I’d like to teach. I was accepted to the part time faculty and again, I was off to the races, teaching video and web/social media. I was given pretty free reign to design the courses how I wanted them, and more importantly, given a really talented bunch of people to teach. What I love about teaching at the college level is learning about the people in my class – who they are, where they come from and most importantly, what drives them. Their passion for video and multimedia is what drives me to be a better teacher.

So really, my only job is to help others understand what they already know and equip them with some tools so they can be successful.

Teaching is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. It’s the thing I look forward to, and I miss it when its not there. I love it when my students get as fired up about this stuff as I am. I love seeing the results of their hard work and mostly, I love it when I see that lightbulb go off over their head – the one that shows me that they don’t just know it…they understand it.

I learn more from being a teacher than I ever learn from being a student. You can too. You just need to focus on three things in order to become a better learner, and a better teacher:

1. Figure out what you already know
2. Figure out what you don’t know, then get to know it really well
3. Help others to understand, and equip them with tools to aid their success

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My Algonquin College Web Media class this year is doing some amazing work. I wanted to take this opportunity to showcase, with their permission, a few of the blogs and web site projects they have been working on. Please take a moment to click on the links and if you like what you see, get to know them. These people are the future of our industry. What they are doing and what they have to say is very important. Listen to them.

Interactive Multimedia Class of 2010 Blogs:

Noriko Natsume
http://www.eyestir.com/nnproject

Jason Derouchie
www.handtobrain.com

Alexi Dumochel
Tokyo on the Brain
http://aricoukaze.wordpress.com

Al Morrison
http://corloveaduck.wordpress.com

Jacqueline Brinsmead
http://randomthoughts63.wordpress.com

Brandon Brule
www.brandonbrule.com/blog

Sheila Sugavanam
http://sugabam.wordpress.com

Calgar-C
http://calgarc.com

Brendan Shaughnessy
http://welljackson.wordpress.com

Servillano Poserio
http://www.mindhackers.net

John Warren
http://www.thebestjohn.com

Matthew Lavigne
http://mlavgn.wordpress.com/

Tom Martineau

http://tmartineau.wordpress.com/

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Tomorrow I begin teaching my first video production class to a group of about 40 future web and new media designers. I have another 40 to teach on Monday. I’m pretty excited about it. We’re going to have a ton of fun, learning to write, shoot, and edit video and discovering the power of video as a Web medium. 

At the same time, I’m thinking about some serious things too. It occurs to me that this particular group of students, at this particular time, are squarely centered on the sharp, bleeding edge of the Internet. Social media is a burgeoning industry, and every day new and innovative ways to interact online are revealed (Chrome and Ubiquity are two that I’m pretty fired up about right now). Computers are smaller, faster, and more connected than ever before. And that’s only going to continue to grow and evolve at lightning speed.

As information disperses more and more widely, there is a real danger that the line between content and creator will become blurred. This is risky business. It’s so easy now to just mash it up, plop it on YouTube, and walk away. Peer to peer sharing is widespread, without a second thought to the source of the content. In our copy-and-paste world, plagiarism is at epidemic levels in our secondary and post-secondary schools. 

I know that the whole issue of copyright and ownership has been beat to death out here in the Blogosphere. But it is critical that the content creators of tomorrow understand the gravity of the situation. Nearly all of the knowledge in the world is now available at the click of a button; this is a dramatic shift from even 5 years ago. And more content is coming online every day. According to this article, Technorati alone tracks more than 110 million blogs. 

Today’s students are the people who are going to be creating the Web of the future. At some point we must begin to consider the continued integrity of the content on this future Web. I believe that those of us who have been in the Web industry since its inception about 10 or so years ago and in other forms of “traditional” media before that, have a responsibility to these up and coming creatives. We must ensure that they understand how to create good content. But we absolutely must pass on the utter importance of creating content that is real and true and unique, for this is the underlying motivation that will generate that good content. 

It’s up to all of us to maintain the integrity of the Web, by upholding copyright and plagiarism laws and by not tolerating content that is racist, hateful or harmful to others. Now that the Internet, social media and new media are becoming more common on the curricula of our schools, we must instill more than just a knowledge about what is hot and new. We must instill a sense that we are all ultimately responsible for what the Web becomes.

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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 basics of digital audio and video production.

Whatever I am teaching, in whatever capacity, it’s a lot of output. I’m spewing forth a ton of information each day, week, and month. I’m not complaining. I love to teach. I get a real kick out of showing someone something new, of helping them to see things in a different way. It’s a real high for me.

But the absolute key to being a good teacher is being a good learner. To love teaching, you must love learning. To be able to have the kind of output that teaching requires, you must keep inputting new information all the time.

I find that my input/output goes in cycles. I will have cycles when it’s all about output…I’m teaching classes, teaching clients, teaching staff, all at the same time. But then I have times, like right now, when I’m in the learner’s seat. I’m online, learning about new technology. I’m attending things like Podcamp Montreal. I’m attending train the trainer sessions at the College. I’m working on my inner self. This input is critical. I NEED to learn. It is something I crave. If I spend too long on the output, I get tired. It’s almost as if my well of knowledge empties out. I need to fill it back up again before I can continue.

I guess that is true about everything in life…you need to empty out once in a while, so you can fill back up – whether it’s knowledge, work/family balance, or technical work/creative work.

How do you keep your well full?

Photo by szlea, from Flickr.

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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 few quotes from the book.

“Something insidious is going on inside their heads.”

“Young Americans today are no more learned or skilful than their predecessors, no more knowledgeable, fluent, up-to-date, or inquisitive, except in the materials of youth culture.”

“They care so much about the trappings of cool, are are so conversant with pop culture. But they blink uncomprehendingly at the mention of the Reformation, the Second Amendment, Fellow Travelers, or Fellini.”

Ummm…Mr. Bauerlein, with all due respect…have you MET the average teenager?

Back in the 1980′s, when I was a teenager, cable TV was the big new technological marvel. We now had 24 hour a day movies, 24 hour a day news, 24 hour a day music videos. Music videos were a HUGE distraction for me. All I wanted to do was watch music videos. I didn’t want to do my homework. I didn’t want to read King Lear. Michael Jackson’s new video was coming on. I HAD to see it. I HAD to call my friends and talk to them about it. It didn’t mean I was flunking out of school. I still graduated with honours. But, my priorities were a bit off. Just like every other teenager out there. And guess what. I didn’t end up some dumb, unworldly oaf. I came around.

Mr. Bauerlein wants to blame the Digital Age for the dumbing down of children. But his argument can’t hold up.

People now have more opportunities to learn than ever before. It’s not that they aren’t consuming the information. They are. They are just doing it differently. Yes, no longer does one have to go to the library, check out 10 books on Fellini, pore through them, and hand-write a 2000 word essay. Nope, they can go to Wikipedia, look up Fellini, and find the basics. Then they can Google Fellini, find a bunch more info. If they really want to get serious, they can use social networking to contact someone who is an expert on Fellini and talk to them. Then they can type up their report in Google Docs, and use the word count tool to know when they have enough. Does that make them dumb? Because they didn’t read a bunch of books? No. In fact, they may actually know MORE about Fellini once they are through with their essay.

The fact is, the ability to search for and scan information online makes research more effective. I can Google, scan, pinpoint exactly the most important information, and throw away the irrelevant stuff. Try doing that with a stack of library books (I have – it’s a pain in the butt). This makes me think that kids these days have something on us. They can find anything they need to know at the click of a button. Therefore, is it really necessary to retain it all in your head for all time? Not really. And for the digitally-focused, right-brained generation, it’s not the secret to their success, either.

Sure, there will always be a place for the academics of the world. Those people who get their PhD’s, specializing in one subject or another. We need those kinds of thinkers. But we also need the kind of thinkers who can absorb information, and invent new and creative ways to work with that information. And this is what our young people ARE going to be able to do.

Just because someone sees the world in a different way doesn’t make them dumb. And this seems to be what Mr. Bauerlein wants us to believe. He significantly underestimates our youth. In my estimation, students who ARE able to disseminate vast amounts of data, be it on their cell phones, Instant messengers, Google searches, iPods, video games, etc, will be in a better place to succeed in what IS going to be important in the future: what author Daniel Pink calls the right brain qualities of inventiveness, empathy, and meaning.

What do you think? Is the Digital Age making people “dumb”? Or making them learn smarter?

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I’m very excited about a new opportunity I’ll be embarking on this Fall. I am going back to teaching part time at our local community college. I taught web design at the same college about 9 years ago, for the Continuing Education and Corporate Training programs, so some of this will be very familiar to me.

The major difference this time is I’m teaching for a diploma program. In fact, it’s the latest evolution of the same diploma program I graduated from in 1998 – Interactive Multimedia Developer. It was a 7 month program when I took it, now it’s 2 years. The fact that it’s a full time diploma program means that my audience is going to be fresh-out-of-highschool NetGenners. This is quite a dramatic change from the semi-computer literate adults I’m used to teaching. The young people that are going to be in my classes have been using computers since they were old enough to talk. It’s been embedded in their culture for their entire lives.

This has me thinking about how the Net Generation is going to fare once they are out in the real world. After all, college is not just about learning some new skills, it’s about figuring out how to apply those skills in a way that will enable your success once you are out in the workforce.

I’m teaching Video and Audio production (as it relates to New Media). I’m going to teach them how to operate a camera, set up 3-point lighting, do a paper edit, edit their stuff in Premiere, and export to various media. Given that most of the students will have plenty of computer and technology experience, I don’t forsee the vast majority of them having too much trouble catching on. But in order for them to be truly successful, there’s got to be more than just “push this button to make this happen”.

The real world is not just about knowing what buttons to push. The real world is hard. College is supposed to prepare you, as much as possible, for the real world. So, in addition to the button pushing, I think these are some things that should also be taught in college:

Communication
I’m not talking about IM, Facebook or SMS texting. I’m talking about how to write a business email or a resume that gets noticed. How to pitch someone on an idea. How to cold call. How to conduct yourself on the telephone. In the real world, these kinds of communications are a daily occurrence. You’ve got to get it right from the outset, because as the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Networking
Whether you’re a CEO or an entry-level cubicle dweller, being comfortable with networking is a critical real-world skill. Whether you’re the new junior in the company or just want to meet and socialize with like-minded people, knowing how to introduce yourself, strike up conversations and even interact through social networks will have a tremendous positive impact on your personal growth and ability to learn. It will also open up a whole lot more opportunities.

Continuous Learning
Hands up. How many of you graduated from university or college and thought “Now I know everything! Are you ready for me, world?” How shocking it was to realize that after all that hard work and money spent, you really didn’t know much at all. The real learning begins the moment you walk out of the school corridors and into the working world. And it never stops. Students need to learn how to LEARN. After being spoon-fed knowledge throughout their high school careers, college needs to teach them how to think for themselves – to discover, explore and be curious all the time. They need to know that graduation is the START of learning, not the end.

Be Passionate
I’ve talked about passion before. It is perhaps the most important thing that we need to be teaching our young people. I’m crazy passionate about video. I’m crazy passionate about the Internet and new media. I’m extremely enthusiastic when I talk about both. And I want my students to share my enthusiasm and passion. If they go through this course with me and don’t feel as strongly passionate about these things as I do by the end of the semester, then they will need to seriously consider if this is the right path for them. They need to be excited and amazed every day by this stuff. Developing that passion will be a cornerstone to their future success.

Now it’s your turn. Do you think students are getting enough of this kind of preparation in college? Do you think it’s necessary? Or not? I would love to hear what you think.

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I came across this statistic in a post by Steve Olson and it outright shocked me:

• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
  (original source Jerrold Jenkins www.bookpublishing.com).

58% NEVER read another book??? I can’t even imagine going a DAY without reading. If you look around our house, our bookcases, end tables, bedside tables are overflowing with books. Who are these people that NEVER read another book after high school? And why aren’t they reading? Reading is an essential skill for understanding the world around us. I can’t comprehend what someone’s view of the world would be if they never read a book.

It seems to me that if the school system was doing its job, nearly everyone would be passionate about reading. What are we teaching our kids, if not to love learning? And what better way to learn than to read? Yet over half of the population couldn’t be bothered to pick up a book. Is it possible that our school systems are not doing their job? I want to share with you my experience with public education in the hopes of shedding some light.

My Dad was in the Canadian Armed Forces and we moved around a lot when I was a kid. Over 13 years, I went to 3 different elementary schools and 2 high schools, in 2 provinces and 1 territory. In Canada, education is governed provincially/territorially, so every time I switched to a different school in a different province, I was forced to fit in to the curriculum and level of a new school system very quickly. It was detrimental to my ability to keep up. In six months, I went from being an “A” student in British Columbia to being a “C-” student in Ontario. The reason I wasn’t able to learn French in school was because 10th grade French in B.C. is equal to 3rd grade French in Ontario. When I asked if I could take French, the school administrators simply told me I was out of luck.

In the end, I was able to work really hard and overcome. I graduated high school with a B+/A- average, and to be honest the benefits of the life I had growing up, being able to live in so many different places and meet so many people, far outweighed the struggles I had with my education.

My point is, that the education system is not set up to be conducive to learning. As counter-intuitive as that may sound, it’s absolutely the truth as I see it. Here is a list of 10 things that I was never taught in school that I think should be on any curriculum. If you were taught any of these things at your school – that’s great! I’d love to hear about schools that are doing it right. Here’s the list:

1. How to start and run a successful business.
2. How to cope with disappointment.
3. How to love books and reading.
4. How to think for oneself and draw one’s own conclusions about things.
5. How to communicate with a spouse/partner.
6. How to manage finances and invest wisely.
7. How to speak in public.
8. How to write a business proposal.
9. How to apply for a mortgage.
10. How make wise choices when buying a car or house.

These are things that I only learned after I graduated from high school (and college). Why did I have to figure all this stuff out once I was out on my own? Doesn’t it make sense that arming our young people with this kind of information from the jump would help them to make better decisions in the long run?

What do you think – are our school systems doing their job?

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