Who's Exercised? Robert Downey Junior Is! Ideas for Changing Education

Okay...It should have read "Sherlock Holmes Is!"..But I decided that since Robert Downey Junior played Sherlock Holmes it would be RDJ...the Lit Maven likes to take liberties...

So recap....


BACKGROUND

Today is a continuation of Monday and Wednesday's post.

The Idea Hunter is organized around this acronym:

I Interested – Be Interested, Not Just Interesting
D Diverse-Diversifying the Hunt
E Exercised-Mastering the Habits of the Hunt
A-Agile- Idea Flow is Critical
Today the focus is on "E"...just how do we "master habits of the hunt"?

Boyton and Fischer suggest "...people who excel at the Hunt immerse themselves both inside and outside their fields." (p. 72) So there is definitely a strong link to the last two posts in that you need to be interested and search out diversity.

Searching for ideas is an active process as suggested by Aristotle, "...What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing." (p.73) This is not a matter of relying on chance, but rather, "Chance favors the prepared mind." (Louis Pasteur p.74)


The power of observation that is the focus today. Just what are we looking for and how can we keep track of it?


When we observe? What do we notice? Are we "noticing the right things?


Educational Applications
Create a "Personal Platform of Observation" (p.80)

Step One: Observe your customer. In education, this would be a variety of audiences.., parents,students and other educators. (p.82)
"What do (parents, students and other educators) care about?"
"What are their frustrations?"
"What can we learn by talking to them, by paying attention to their body language?"

Step Two: Record Your Observations. Perhaps using a notebook, photographs, portable tape recorders, post its, index cards or even sending yourself an e-mail.

Step Three: Make a prototype. Boyton and Fischer explain prototypes as "very rough versions of an idea." The goal is to create, "...something that another person can evaluate." (p. 87)
Check out The Back of the Napkin and Unfolding the Napkin for more ideas on that.

Step Four: Observe Yourself. What are some of your personal experiences? (p.88) Are there some things that you think could be improved on?

Key Point
Create an Idea Portfolio (p. 91)
After recording ideas, how do you group them, other notebooks, digitally in a box. It is not enough to collect and organize ideas, it is also important to schedule a weekly review. Often while looking over ideas, common themes emerge.

Have you started to collect your observations? Does your hunt include diverse sources? Are there areas for improvement?

Here's a practice test!


Let me know how it's going!

Until Next Time,
Lit Maven Out!

Who's Diverse? Jon Hamm Is! Ideas for Changing Education

Jon Hamm is diverse:

Mad Men
Bridesmaids
30 Rock
The Town
Jon Hamm's Jon Ham (SNL)

We can all be Jon Hamm's here's how...

Today is a continuation of Monday's post.

To recap:
The Idea Hunter is organized around this acronym:

I Interested – Be Interested, Not Just Interesting
D Diverse-Diversifying the Hunt
E Exercised-Mastering the Habits of the Hunt
A-Agile- Idea Flow is Critical
Diversifying the Hunt

A narrow focus will not lead to Educational Change. By this I mean, looking only within in Education, and not outside at other businesses or institutions.

Which begs the question, Who is in your Idea Network?

Boyton and Fischer discuss networks having strong and weak ties.
Strong ties, as you might suspect, are the people you work with most days, perhaps team members or staff. A weak tie is someone who is in a different social circle, professionally or sometimes in another part of the organization.

An American socialist, Mark Granovetter, wrote an influential paper Strength of Weak Ties (1973). Based on the idea of job hunting, you are more likely to secure a job reaching out through weak ties, WHY?...because reaching out to those with Strong ties, resulted in a smaller circle of job leads. (p. 52)

It is important to note that weak ties do not not serve the function of experts but rather different voices on a subject. "Their role is to say things you might not otherwise hear, spark thoughts that otherwise might not come to mind. What they provide is not a substitute for expertise it is a supplement." (p. 53)

I think the best pop culture example is Undercover Boss, in which bosses went undercover as one of their workers and made discoveries that they would not have previously considered.

"Widening Your Intellectual Bandwith" (p.54) How To Tune in To Other Frequencies

Sure we need to have depth in our knowledge, and this comes from focusing on all educational themed resources (blogs, journals, conferences etc.) But there is also a necessity to look beyond because, "Innovation is fueled by diversity." (p.63)

I can speak from experience. Naturally I have a tendency to find interesting ideas but only recently have a tried to marry it with education. Here is a list of my new gems that are not considered to be in the field of Education.

1. Blogs
Many of the blogs that I subscribe to are focused on business or writing.
Seth Godin
Zen Habits
CopyBlogger
99%
Brain Pickings

2. Audio Books
Poke the Box
Trust Agents
The Element
The Laws of Success

3. Magazines
Motivated
Success
Wired

4. Books
Caffeine for the Creative Mind
Presentation Zen
The Art of Changing Hearts,Minds and Actions


This is just a peek at some of the ways I diversify. Do you have any favorites that you'd like to share?

Until Next Time,
Lit Maven Out!