Thursday, May 27, 2021

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.


Tuesday, May 11, 2021

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/

Monday, April 19, 2021

Can you be intelligent and superstitious at the same time?

Why is it that when things seem uncertain, we turn to the supernatural, i.e. things which seem to have mysterious or magical powers? Can you consider yourself to be intelligent or logical if you believe such things? If the placebo effect is real, how is that any different than a superstition?




Monday, March 01, 2021

The GliderCell Concept: A Weekly Brainstorming Session



Join us for a weekly brainstorming session. Share your ideas with people from different lines of work and get immediate feedback.

This meeting is for anyone wishing to share an idea, plan or project. One of the themes of GliderCell is to promote cross pollination or bring in people with multiple perspectives. In education, they refer to that as "heterogeneous" groups. Others refer to this with terms like "integrated thinking" or "consilience." Whatever you call it, it seems to work! This is your chance to meet others, network and try out your ideas in a judgement free, open and creative environment. A good mix of so-called Left and Right Brain people would be ideal. You might be an entrepreneur, teacher, writer, musician, scientist, researcher, architect, engineer, technologist, fitness guru, business owner, lawyer, physician, plumber, runner, hiker or gym owner. Polymaths (creative generalists) and project managers are encouraged to attend. For more information, see https://glidercell.com/join-us

The GliderCell Concept: A Weekly Brainstorming Session

Time: Every Wednesday at 3 p.m., PST

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 823 1375 7424
Passcode: 425591

Meeting ID: 823 1375 7424
Passcode: 425591

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kesw23EIVn

#PossibilityThinking #entrepreneur #teacher #writer #musician #scientist #hiking #business #philosophy #technologist #runner

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Are you looking for a sales position?




I’m a content writer / educator but I am not a salesperson. I need your help! 

Message me if you want to work together. If not, please share this post and you will be both helping the person who is looking for the sales job and me. GliderCell provides content, ideas and strategies to educators and businesses. 

More information here. https://lnkd.in/e8cbcVk Thank you, all.

#Sales #jobsearch #careers #jobhunt #employment #jobposting #work #staffing #jobopening #jobs #edu #RemoteWork #RemoteJobs #SocialMediaSales #salesjobs

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Bridging The Communication Divide in America


Note:
This message came out of a long Facebook Messenger group thread that was started before election night. As the discussion moved along, it became clear that none of what we were talking about would go anywhere unless the two sides had open lines of communication or, possibly, a safe middle ground where they could share ideas and information. Shane's message is what finally moved me to propose something, i.e. actually attempt to work on the problem.

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” -- Hunter S. Thompson. 

Some thoughts and a proposal 

by Lee Chazen


We are in a strange time. There was an election in the U.S. that, as of this writing, has still not resolved peacefully. So many things have gone askew in the last several years. Yet, this can also be a great time for creatives, thinkers and problem solvers to step up. That’s why I’m writing to you. I have an idea of what we can do.

There is a huge communication problem. It is everywhere. Between people with different identities, groups, cultures, nations, haves, have-nots, political entities and on and on. We don’t have what I think Daniel Schactenburger recently referred to as an “information commons” or words to that effect. We don’t all go to the same sources for information.

Coming from a background in academic debate (high school, college, and coaching) I know that half of a debate can often just be about the criterion -- or having a clear understanding of what it is the two sides are debating about. If they do get to that sweet spot, it’s a fantastic debate! If they don’t, the judge will usually give them poor marks for having a lack of “clash.” One side is talking apples. The other side is talking oranges. It’s damn confusing! The problem we are having in America right now is that we don’t even know what the topic is or how to approach it. We are having a hard time even asking the right questions. And, even if we have the right questions, we don’t know how to ask them, how to frame them or the kind of language to use.

What are we talking about? What are the facts? Where did we get those facts? There seems to be less discussion around that and more discussion about the thing or trigger that just set us off.

That brings me to what I’m working on and why I’d like to invite you to a Zoom call.

I started a group about four years ago called GliderCell -- that emerged out of discussions with Ed Mulder. We both had ideas in the field of “emergence” and “self organizing systems.” l thought the group could be some kind of consultancy, solving problems in education, business or government. We would design frameworks, games or projects in order to make these systems more productive, engaging and democratic.

But, it’s a hard sell. People don’t know they need this kind of thing until they first understand the underlying concepts and WHY they work so well.

And, there’s an even bigger problem than this. There are people who have a great analysis of society and all its various malfunctions, but are not able to communicate this in plain language. Or, they can't seem to communicate the message to the right people -- whether they are in politics and business, where these things are sorely needed. I mean, absolutely needed!!

What if we were to strengthen this consultancy by bringing in top thinkers, educators, former journalists and “explainers” to help us get out of the mess we are in? Disinformation, poor educational models and not understanding how to critically examine information got us into this mess. An effective group can get us out of this.

If you would like to have a discussion around this, we will put together a Zoom call. Just leave your contact information in the comments section so that we can invite you.





Friday, April 24, 2020

Episode 3. Shelter in Place: An Audio Journal by Lee Chazen

More thoughts, ideas and stories to give your mind something to do during the global lockdown. On Episode 3, you will get answers to these and other questions... perhaps. 
  • A bathysphere? Really? 
  • Why do we need themes and formats? Some of our brains are more like hyperlinking systems. 
  • What is consilience? 
  • Why do we have to be one type of person? 
  • Can a cello player be an MMA fighter? 
  • Why isn’t there an olympics for people who can think and do athletic things? 
  • What happens when a comedy routine dies. Can you turn jokes into public service announcements? 
  • Why does someone yell “dead ball” at a basketball game?
  • Will I perform with Carrot Top? 
  • Why did the folks in Hollywood tell me to go back to something real? 
  • The interview to work for a U.S. Senator. Is there a question they can ask you that will get you to sabotage the interview? 
  • Do musicians have a secret code for complimenting each other during a performance? 
  • How did an eye dropper ruin the musical career of a french horn player? 
Website
Blog
Facebook Group

Special thanks to Dune Thomas. He is a great person to bounce ideas off of, as well as a superb comedic bantering partner. Dune helped with sound engineering and gave me special privileges in the podcast booth, a.k.a. "the bathysphere."

Royalty free music from Fesliyan Studios.
Content and Artwork by Lee Chazen and
 GliderCell

Note to audio distributors: Please DO NOT add this audio content to the Youtube Content ID System. I have used background music which is owned by FesliyanStudios.



Episode 2. Shelter in Place: An Audio Journal by Lee Chazen


In Episode Two: 
  • Is that guy talking to someone?
  • 50 million people all playing the same note.
  • Pressurized cabins?
  • Share your idea. 
  • Walking around was already awkward. 
  • Heterosexual is not always sexual. 
  • What is the protocol for shaking hands with a naked dude?
  • Is Piper gender neutral?
  • Can we crowdsource the science of Covid-19? 
  • A pandemic game show -- but, seriously. 
  • The Barbizon School of Modeling in the NCAA Tournament.
  • An idea of a conversation app. 
Website
Blog
Facebook Group

Special thanks to Dune Thomas. He is a great person to bounce ideas off of, as well as a superb comedic bantering partner. Dune helped with sound engineering and gave me special privileges in the podcast booth, a.k.a. "the bathysphere."

Royalty free music from Fesliyan Studios.
Content and Artwork by Lee Chazen and
 GliderCell

Note to audio distributors: Please DO NOT add this audio content to the Youtube Content ID System. I have used background music which is owned by FesliyanStudios.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Episode 1. Shelter in Place: An Audio Journal by Lee Chazen

It started off as an experiment. I was walking around a local park early one morning and started recording some notes into my phone. Sometimes I do that to remember good ideas. The further I went, the more the ideas and stories started to flow. It felt like this might just be a good routine to get into during the whole lockdown.

So, I decided to keep it going.

Then I wondered what would happen if I just didn't care if others listened in. I mean, I might stumble onto something funny... or interesting or maybe something that others were also thinking about. As Hunter S. Thompson would say, "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." And, I started to think that maybe this thing that we're going through -- the whole "shelter in place," might just be time for creative people -- people with ideas or "edgy" thoughts or even bizarre stories to step up... maybe entertain people or inspire some kind of action. I mean, these are unusual times, so why not?

And, that's how this started.

The first two recordings were just on my phone. I did what I could to improve the sound. Then, I switched to a professional mic... so the recordings do get better over time.

The first episode includes the following. 
  1. What is HikeStorming?
  2. Dealing with isolation
  3. What you can do to make use of this solitary time.
  4. Stranded on top of Mt. Tallac, near Lake Tahoe
  5. Anxiety and getting psychosomatic while listening to the news
  6. Video chatting
  7. Retreating into tribalism
  8. Unseen opportunities
  9. A call for creativity and ideas
  10. An idea for homeschooling based on game-based learning
Website
Blog
Facebook Group

Special thanks to Dune Thomas. He is a great person to bounce ideas off of, as well as a superb comedic bantering partner. Dune helped with sound engineering and gave me special privileges in the podcast booth, a.k.a. "the bathysphere."

Royalty free music from Fesliyan Studios.
Content and Artwork by Lee Chazen and
 GliderCell

Note to audio distributors: Please DO NOT add this audio content to the Youtube Content ID System. I have used background music which is owned by FesliyanStudios.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Genius on a Fool's Errand: Elon Musk's Mission to Mars

Dune read this to me the other night and I thought....wow, someone needed to say this. Someone needed to point out that we are looking outward at a time when we need to be examining ourselves. Without saying any more, here is Dune's take on Elon Musk's mission to Mars. 

Genius on a Fool's Errand: Elon Musk's Mission to Mars

By Dune Thomas

Imagine, life on Mars. What would this look like? If you really peer into it, it's about as depressing as you can fathom. To escape the extreme temperatures and reduce the constant exposure to dangerous levels of radiation, you'd spend your entire life there locked indoors.
The desire to make life happen outside of earth is fine-- but it is not much different than trying to get a human heart to keep living outside the body... to what end? A lung or kidney or heart suspended in some plastic box of fluid and electrodes... as if the rest of the body were just extra parts. It's a testament to the disconnect between us and reality that we so easily think of ourselves as so separate from the Earth.
So much genius and talent directed towards a goal that, frankly, appears as an abject denial of what is most human. By all means, play with your billion dollar toys. But don't do it when your house is burning down. The world needs us to repair the damage we have done to the environment. Instead, we look to some other rock in space, as if the Earth were no more than a lifeless object we can discard in exchange for another lifeless object. This mentality is the poison. Every world we inhabit will become lifeless and dead so long as we continue this narcissistic fascination with our own cleverness.
Getting someone to Mars isn't going to solve shit. The destruction of our planet is not the result of too little technology. The problem is a psychological, social one. Taking humanity to Mars isn't going to solve anything-- you're not escaping your problems or the challenges of humanity, you're exporting them to Mars!
Please: STOP. Turn around. Your fixation to escape this world and discover another is a result of your refusal to travel to the one place that matters: inward. It is the last place most people ever look or want to go. But until we go there, we will meet this life with dissatisfaction. We will treat the Earth like a dead, disconnected, empty resource we can take from in order to distract ourselves from the dead, disconnected, empty sense of self we identify with. Please, stop. Look closer.
You're not the dead, lifeless matter that's leftover when your body sputters away its final breath. You're the animating force that made it get up and dance in the first place. And it doesn't end at your skin. It permeates everything, knows no boundaries, and sets every spinning planet and exploding star into motion. When you spend all your time looking outward, and none of it looking inward, you cannot recognize that they are the same thing. So hold still and discover yourself. Discover what is more fundamental than the endless stream of input rushing in through your 5 senses. Behind it all is the vast deep of consciousness, taking in every experience in unwavering silence. Make contact with the heart and soul of your existence.
Before you seek to colonize new worlds, inhabit the one you're already on.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Was this the turning point when presidential politics took a weird turn, leading us to Donald Trump?

Strange But True Stories From The 1988 Presidential Campaign.

Part Two of Gary Hart’s Run For President. 
Sacramento, California, USA January 27, 2020

February 3rd marks the beginning of the Presidential Primary Season when the first voters in Iowa begin assembling for the Iowa Caucuses. Thirty two years ago, two young political science graduates went out to Iowa from California to work for presidential hopeful Gary Hart in what would be “part two” of his campaign for president. Could they make a difference? Would Hart be able to recover from the scandal with Donna Rice? Would this one time presumptive Democratic Party hopeful surge to popularity like he did in 1984 or are there no second chances in American government and politics? Outside Chance by Lee Chazen takes us on a whirlwind tour in this "Inspirational, entertaining, fast-moving, insider's view of the campaign trail."*

There were several driving forces that got Chazen to write the book. The first was disappointment and anger after reading the November, 2018 issue of The Atlantic where James Fallows wrote an article titled “Was Gary Hart Set Up?” He would rediscover the painful fact that he had discovered back in 1988 -- that a career of study, good ideas and service can be nullified by one scandalous story. Making it worse was the idea that it was a setup.

The second thing was that there was another side to this story that was not being told -- that there is a lot of activity beneath the surface that no one knows about -- ideas, policies, thinkers, idealists -- people who make great sacrifices on behalf of someone they believe in and that there are solutions that never see the light of day because of dirty and disgusting political practices. 

Lastly, there was a second part to Gary Hart’s campaign after his six month break from the campaign trail that is rarely if ever documented - not mentioned in Matt Bai’s book All the Truth is Out and not portrayed in the movie The Front Runner, starring Hugh Jackman. 

One of the last of the true intellectuals to run for President, a scholar who understood and often quoted the Founding Fathers, Hart toured the country, rolled up his sleeves and gave lectures across the country. Chazen wanted to write a story that recaptured the spirit and imagination of this campaign - something that would also push ideas and strategies into the present. 

Lee Chazen is an educator and content developer who does consulting work under the name GliderCell. A former high school social studies teacher, Lee’s primary focus is in applying his research in self-organizing systems to education, politics and society. He is also a musician and Young Artist competition winner (on French Horn), founder of Global Challenge (a game-based social studies project) and HikeStorming - a method for getting people to think and brainstorm better through hiking.

Outside Chance is available on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/2RyIbKi and the Google Play Store: http://bit.ly/37DN5va




If you would like more information about Outside Chance, or to schedule an interview or presentation, please contact Lee at lee@glidercell.com

Background Information and Links 



*Amazon reviewer

Monday, January 06, 2020

Understanding and Valuing The Liberal Arts


I Went to a fascinating Meetup last night hosted by a local TED discussion group. The topic was reinventing liberal arts. I couldn't help but get angry as I realized how valuable a liberal arts education is and just how far we've gone away from understanding the value of a well rounded person in our society. I went home from this and started rewriting my LinkedIn profile. I mean, imagine if we were allowed to truly show who we were and what we were capable of, aside from these narrow areas of focus. I started working on it, but the first few lines sounded more like a blog post. 

The point I wanted to make was that, sadly, we live in a world of specificity. It serves a purpose and we do need experts in such areas as medicine, law, technology, journalism, finance, engineering and education. But what, if anything, is said about the person 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? What is said about the person who can look at a room filled with different people and different perspectives and find the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts or the idea that will effectively merge things together to form a better solution? 

The world of standardized tests and content memorization has served us well to a point. But, now we are living in a time talked about by Daniel Pink in his book A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. It is an age of conceptual thinking, and there ought to be a way to represent this on our resumes or LinkedIn profiles. I'm sad, somewhat, because Pink wrote about this in 2005 and I was really hoping we would be there by now - that we would value a liberal arts education more and appreciate people like this in our workforce.