Future of Learning Top Reads for week of Mar 9 2020
The COVID-19 edition…
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“Preparing to Take School Online? Here Are 10 Tips to Make It Work,” by Reshan Richards and Stephan Valentine, in EdSurge News
“In Allen and Kusky’s 2011 book, The Little Book of Leadership Development, they wisely suggest a preliminary step before designing, managing, evaluating and refining a new system: get your shop in order.
“Such practice, with the deliberation it implies, is not always easy in times of managing crisis and responding to quickly changing conditions. Regardless, it is essential, even in a rudimentary way, to raise awareness about the items that need to be in order and to assign responsibility for oversight of those items. Leaders must be invested in, if not passionate about, such orderliness.
“Here’s why. Orderliness allows users—in this case, faculty members and students moving online—to feel comfortable, to feel like they can make a space of their own, to know where to find what they need and desire. In the case of online school, such comfort allows all the necessary transactions and transformations to happen without the benefit of the kinds of human presence you would find in a brick and mortar school.
“A sense of order breeds familiarity and predictability, and sets the stage for human-to-human learning.”
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
The Coronavirus Pandemic presents challenges to organizations on almost every level, starting with leadership in a VUCA moment (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous).
Whether you’re a Head of School, Division Director, Teacher, or something else, start by getting your house in order.
…once you have done that…
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“What It Takes to Run a Great Virtual Meeting,” by Bob Frisch and Cary Greene in Harvard Business Review
Use video.
That said, always provide a dial-in option.
Test the technology ahead of time.
Make sure faces are visible.
Stick to meeting basics. Prior to the conversation, set clear objectives, and send a pre-read if appropriate. During the session, use an agenda, set meeting ground rules, take breaks, and clearly outline next steps (including timing and accountabilities) after each section and at the end of the meeting.
Minimize presentation length. The only thing worse than a long presentation in person is a long presentation during a virtual meeting.
Use an icebreaker.
Assign a facilitator.
Call on people.
Capture real-time feedback.
Don’t be afraid to tackle tough issues.
Practice once or twice while you’re still together.
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
Now more than ever it will be essential to keep leadership teams and Boards of Trustees aligned. Since those conversations are likely to take place virtually, be prepared to practice the art and science of running effective online meetings.
…and once you have those meetings organized…
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Tweet by Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering
“Watching gathering after gathering get cancelled, we may be entering a (hopefully short) IRL gathering recession. Time to collect ways to stave off a loneliness boom.
“Tell me what you’re seeing and thinking in your various gathering corners...”
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
After you’ve put your house in order (reading #1 above) and after you’ve established norms for your leadership meetings, consider the deeply human need to be connected. Then scroll through the replies to Priya Parker’s tweet to see what others are doing to create connections, which are the fertile soil within which we plant the seeds of our conversations.
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