A Proposal For a Metamodern Business Model

Seen in the picture above is metamodernist & model Kaela Atleework. She offers unique experiences to her residents and guests at Montaia Basecamp.

   

Expert Content Strategist Reveals All: A Comprehensive FAQ on My Work

What is your background in content creation? 

After a career in teaching, I gained experience in creating content for websites, blogs, and social media. I have a background in different styles of learning and intelligence types, which I use to tailor my writing for diverse audiences. In 2008, I added social media to my skillset and began offering social media marketing and content consulting services under the name Zero Bubble Media. In 2014, I was employed as a Chief Content Strategist for a successful educational technology company, where I was responsible for creating a clear and easy-to-understand "common language" for their product. Today, as GliderCell, I offer content and copywriting services, including narrative creation, website content editing, manuscript writing, and content restructuring.

What kind of services do you offer as a UX Content Strategist? 

I offer a variety of content and copywriting services, including narrative creation, website content editing, manuscript writing, and content restructuring. I also have experience in technical writing, UI, UX, IA, and creating "story brands." My goal is to help clients improve their online presence through high-quality and SEO-friendly content.

Can you describe your role in a recent project? 

I recently completed a video editing project for Treasury Curve, a financial technology firm based in Silicon Valley. In this project, I was responsible for producing content and narrative around the CEO's experience as a panelist at a major financial conference.  You can see a sample of that here. 

What is the primary goal of UX content strategy and writing according to you? 

 

The primary goal of UX content strategy and writing, in my opinion, is to serve as a helpful guide to the user, making them feel welcomed and comfortable with the content, process, and navigation system. My aim is to empower and engage the user and help them take the necessary steps easily, always keeping the customer at the center of everything.This all requires clear, actionable writing, persuasion and attention to details. 

What is your process for creating UX content?

I follow these steps:

1. Discovery: Gather information from key players and clients to understand the background, message, desired user experience, and desired action to be taken. This is done through questionnaires, audio recordings, or conversations.
2. Verbalizing the design: Visualize the website and verbalize the design and content using Otter App.
3. Sketching/wireframing: Write or sketch the design and use graphical tools to create a mockup of the final version.
4. Collaboration with web designers: Provide the mock up to web designers to understand the intended design and functionality of the site.

How do you balance user and organizational goals in UX writing?

I approach UX writing with the user at the forefront, putting their aspirations, needs and emotions first. Inspired by the principles outlined in "Building a Story Brand" by Donald Miller, I aim to create a personalized and user-centric experience. This means considering what the user is thinking and feeling as they navigate the website, and making their journey as smooth and helpful as possible. By putting the user first, I can then effectively integrate the organization's goals into the content, creating a cohesive and effective UX writing strategy. I strive to create a website that feels like a conversation with a responsive and friendly customer service representative.

Yes, I have extensive experience conducting content reviews and audits. I have a proven track record of streamlining web and social media content to increase efficiency and effectiveness. I have a structured approach to content review, creating a "content matrix" to categorize information according to theme, purpose, usage, and intended audience. I have worked with teams including engineers, UX designers, graphics designers, sales, and management to revise and improve content for both SmartEdTech and Treasury Curve. I have even worked directly with CEOs, ensuring their vision is reflected in the final content. My skills in content review and audit make me well-equipped to provide valuable insights and recommendations for your organization. 

How do you work with UX designers? 

Great question! Communication is key when it comes to working with UX designers. I actually learned a lot about UX designers when I gave a presentation to the UX team at Cisco Systems in San Jose. I was there to talk about brainstorming techniques, and one of the topics we discussed was their communication challenges with the engineering team in China.

I understand that every person has their own unique personality, intelligence type, and way of processing information, so just like I would adjust my lesson plans to cater to different types of learners, I also adjust the way I communicate with UX designers. That's why I came up with the HikeStorming program, where people go for a hike and finish their thoughts or ideas on something while they're on the trail. It's a great way to communicate and collaborate with others in a unique and creative environment.

So, when I'm working with UX designers, I like to keep an open mind and be flexible with my communication style to make sure we're on the same page and that our goals are aligned. I also make sure to consider the language, culture, and personality types involved in the process, and I find ways to bridge any gaps in communication. And who knows, maybe we'll even incorporate some musical sound bites to convey the flow of the design!

Do you have experience crafting content for regulated industries?

Yes, I have experience in crafting content for regulated industries. I have written web content, social media content, and press releases for the launch of Umergence, a crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platform registered as a broker/dealer with FINRA. I also have experience as a content strategist for Treasury Curve, a FinTech company, since 2016. In both cases, I follow best practices for compliance and ensure that content is approved by the relevant stakeholders before release.

Any final thoughts on your style as a content strategist?

 I like to make communication as clear and efficient as possible. To achieve this, I use a variety of methods such as sending audio recordings with transcripts, sharing visual aids like Google docs, slides or Canva designs, holding Zoom meetings with sketches or designs, providing examples from other websites, having in-person meetings, or making phone calls. While basic text like email or messaging can be useful for certain things, I've found that it can often lead to miscommunication and miss the nuances that make humor and irony effective. That's why I prefer to use a variety of communication methods to make sure everything is clear and understood.

Let's Build Education 2.0

 

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Building a Bridge from Game A to Game B with Lee Chazen and Vladan Lausevic

Are we inserting old philosophy into new technologies? How do we improve globally when there is lack of imagination in our algorithms? Is there a serious disconnect between the type of person writing the code (and their type of intelligence and thinking) and the end user? I discuss this with a liquid democracy advocate Vladan Lausevic

#machinelearning #algorithms #intelligence https://youtu.be/5_l98-EClMc

What Does it Mean to Reimagine Education?

If you were given the opportunity to completely reimagine education, what would you do? Would you instinctively go back to what you know – the world of textbooks, memorizing content, standardized testing, moving from one class to the next without seeing the big picture of what this all means? Would you create pressure situations where a student’s life comes down to a single moment in time where they are held accountable for information? Would you create large facilities where everyone gathers between certain hours in order to learn at the same time and place? Would there be a disconnect between subject matter and the student and their capabilities and what they might do in the world? Or, might we really try something different?

If you are not familiar with the Bildung movement, that is a good place to start.

“Bildung is a combination of the education and knowledge necessary to thrive in your society, and the moral and emotional maturity to be both a team player and have personal autonomy. Bildung is also knowing your roots and being able to imagine the future.”

In other words, one can be an individual or part of a team. One can appreciate their heritage while also thinking globally. One can learn about the past while preparing to solve both personal and global problems in the future.

If we are to understand Bildung, we must also understand metamodernity. In a nutshell, it is saying no one thing is true to the detriment of all other things.

As Lene Rachel Andersen says in Metamodernity: Meaning and Hope in a Complex World,

“Metamodernity can allow us to appreciate the entire historical human experience as a meaningful and connected whole […] We belong in it and it can allow us to seek out different kinds of knowledge and wisdom in different places for different purposes. Personal intimacy, faith, cultural heritage, satire, facts, knowledge, personal freedom, responsibility, and a sense of belonging and connectedness are all crucial. They serve different purposes in our lives, and each of them provides an irreplaceable part of a meaningful life in a complex world. Metamodernity offers to contain and promote it all.”

Another way to say this is e pluribus unum (In many, one). But, you would also have to say e unum pluribus (in one, many) since every person is unique and offers something of value to the world.

Based on this understanding, here are nine starting points for reimagining education. 

1. Create more user-generated classrooms. People do best in environments where they have a “buy in” or take ownership or pride in their work — whether individually or collectively. This can reduce the stress level of the teacher and staff at a school to control behavior. There is a lot of evidence supporting the notion that heterarchical environments can produce more than rigid hierarchies. Students can work on building confidence and having tangible products to show, e.g. portfolios, upon graduation. Learning how to work in a self-organized environment is also a great way to prepare for one’s role in helping the world in some way.

2. Allow for student discovery outside of the textbook. Information evolves (see Calvin Andrus) and there are, obviously, multiple perspectives in the world. Yet, we believe in packaging or containing our content in textbooks. Wikis, blogs and some interactive texts allow students to actually interact with information. Keep in mind that up until blogs, wikis and social media, the Internet was sort of a “dead” environment, where all one could really do was read static websites. Think how much the internet exploded when we all found out we could participate in the “conversation!”

3. Move towards quality and away from quantity. Spreadsheets and numbers are nice. They keep classrooms and schools orderly (for the most part), but is that what we want? Automatons who fall in line with pre-existing categories? Grades and test scores look at a small percentage of who a student or person really is, so do we want to really mark someone for life with a number or letter grade?

Put another way, we know that people are diverse in their thinking, offer unique perspectives, come from different cultures, are part of a beautiful spectrum of humanity that has evolved over millions of years. Yet, we prepare our students for the world by neatly packaging educational content into textbooks. We compress and limit human thought through standardized testing and multiple-choice tests and assign value to each student in a centuries-old five-letter system (A – F). If problem-solving is what we need in the world, then why are we intentionally limiting the scope of human thought in our schools? Instead, let’s open up the door to portfolios of work, expressions of creativity or craftpersonship. Give every student a chance to shine in their own unique way.

4. Accept neurodiversity: We are learning in the 21st century how to acknowledge and appreciate cultural, racial, gender, class and generational differences. Might we also move in the direction of recognizing different ways of thinking and perceiving the world? If we all process information differently, we ought to be able to express those differences in understanding in an academic environment. Linear, logical, abstract, non-linear and hyper-creative students should all be welcomed in such an environment and need not fear a test geared towards just one or two styles of thinking.

5. Seamless learning environments: The idea that we all learn in a giant structure with other students at the same time and between certain hours of the day seems out of step with the world we are living in (especially in a post pandemic world). Though it’s great to have a school as a hub for learning, we could be more open to hybrid learning systems or systems where students collaborate with other students in different parts of the world who, for example, might be working on a similar project. A “global challenge” might be set up so that students from around the world work together to solve actual-world problems. At the same time, this could help create new opportunities for themselves and others in the future, e.g. partnerships. Using more game and project-like systems for learning, students would no longer be restricted to traditional schedules that may not be in sync with their sleep requirements. Seamless also merges indoor with outdoor so that students could participate in “place-based” or “experiential” learning programs like “HikeStorming” or school gardens. Quarterly “show and tell nights” might be a great way for students to show the community what they learned in these experiences.

6. Game and Project-Based Learning: We all grow up with games. Even animals play certain games as a way of preparing for their adult lives. There are very creative ways to gamify almost any assignment or unit of study. In fact, referring to number one above, students are probably the most adept at creating their own games. Token economy and level systems are also great ways to introduce students to both the positive and negative aspects of various economic systems. Numbers one and five above show how this can work.

7. Multipotentiality: Many schools seem to be designed in order to create experts or people with a specific skill set. Yet, is that what we need in order to solve problems in today’s world? Are we doing enough to produce students who can merge ideas together to form something new; who can bring in aspects of all areas of their interests and knowledge to form a new product or system or type of organization or method? Are we educating students so that they can find the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts? Will they be able to merge things together from different disciplines in order to find better solutions? Have we even thought much about interdisciplinary studies outside of higher education? You can read more about the value of a liberal arts education

8. Preparing for the Future. Visualizing our future affects what we do now. By learning with the future in mind, students would study things in relation to what they will most likely be doing in the future – whether that is a vocational school, college, apprenticeship work, travel, study abroad, uncollege, gap-year, entrepreneurship, etc. Assignments, classwork, games, projects, and tests could all be more geared towards these eventual outcomes. Adding some of the previous recommendations to this, one might encourage students to have an even greater hand in creating their own learning programs. Then, instead of tests, we might encourage students to develop portfolios of their work. One step further, they could get a head start on careers as athletes, artists, writers, entrepreneurs — even putting money away for such ventures through online fundraising or startup company revenue.

9.One Step Further. Under the heading of “needs further development,” we might even imagine something along the lines of [insert name of school here], Incorporated. Want to develop a scholarship program? Raise money for your school or classroom? Want to take a field trip to a faraway place? Would you or your class like to work on a program that addresses poverty, homelessness, or income inequality? Idea: Using the principles of self-organization and multi-potential, students and faculty emerge into “startup pods” and actually create real, monetizable products, ideas, and services.

Coming out of the pandemic is an opportunity to reimagine our institutions and what they can do. The ideas above are just some starting points, but it’s a conversation that will allow us to assess where we are and where we want to be.

Lee Chazen is an educator, writer, and musician based out of Sacramento, California.

Lee produced this video called “Thriving on the Edge of Chaos,” which tells a more personal story of how many of the above ideas developed.

Want to know how to harness the energy in your classroom? Join our discussion on the "User-generated classroom" over on LinkedIn.

Thriving on the Edge of Chaos: An Introduction to the GliderCell Theory of Education

In this video, Lee Chazen tells the story of how he turned a bad set of circumstances into a new theory for education. All classes and content can be adapted to fit your needs. For more information, go to: https://glidercell.com/.

You can contact GliderCell directly by writing to: info@glidercell.com -------- Contents of This Video ----------- 00:00 - Intro 00:43 - Purpose of the video 01:04 - My Teaching Story and How the Global Challenge Project Started 03:34 - Ready to quit teaching, but I had one idea left to try 05:24 - The moment of truth: pitching the idea to students 08:15 - The GliderCell Theory of Education 09:55 - The Story of GliderCell 11:49 - Three New Courses 12:12 - The User Generated Classroom 13:18 - The World According to Disc Golf 15:55 - HikeStorming 17:31 - Podcast and Conclusion For information about Global Challenge, HikeStorming and The World According to Disc Golf, see the following: http://theglobalchallengeproject.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/hikestorming https://soundcloud.com/glidercell/the-world-according-to-disc-golf/s-ggNKmiHKj3N Video editing by Ivan Juric https://octopod.productions/ Special thanks to the following for ideas, inspiration and feedback: Nordic Bildung @ https://nordicbildung.org/ Metamodernity by Lene Rachel Andersen https://nordicbildung.org/books/metamodernity/ The Sacramento Politics and Philosophy Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Sacramento-Politics-and-Philosophy-Group/ More ideas @ http://rightbrainworld.blogspot.com/