Posts tagged education

An Army of One (Video)

notaquarterback:

I’ve been thinking a bit about this topic and decided to make it the maiden voyage of the videoblogging edition of my blog. There are tons of good ideas out there, lots of brilliance happening in the higher ed space. But how much of that thought is geared towards one person or small organizations? 

I think there’s a penchant to believe that everyone is hearing everything that’s out there. That if we’re producing it and if the myriad of conferences out there are talking about it, that people are going to go home even at the smallest places and be able to implement all of these awesome ideas at a high level.

Of course, it doesn’t work that way. What does that mean for the tastemaker/thought leader types out there? I don’t really know, because most people have their own schools to worry about and despite all of the collegiality that goes on, things can be competitive to the point where only so much can be truly be shared. 

Who I’m really targeting is all of those firms and startups out there who might trying to ship something or fulfill a need or close a gap. Having spent the majority (gah) of my career thus far in rural areas around the country, it’s become increasing apparent that there’s a low-to-mid range institutions that most of the top firms aren’t going to waste their time with and that smaller firms outside of their regions can’t get to because they don’t often know those people are there.

I am talking with my hands. But preferred you look at my posters. 

It’s Not Enough To Have An Idea, You Have To Own It

notaquarterback:

Brainstorming can yield some great ideas. When we put our minds to it, we can come up with all sorts of things. But unlike playing in the playground, the sand castles we build in real life have to be things people can live in.

Sometimes in a frustrating situation, I find that it’s easy to reflect on the course that would’ve been the easiest and in retrospect, it seems like what should’ve happened. Maybe because it seemed like the most logical thing at the time or rather because I didn’t consider it more seriously. The reasons are plentiful, but hindsight is 20/20.

When you’re working at a glacial pace or trying to introduce something that’s never been done before, it’s critical that as the person proposing the change that you understand the path. It’s your responsibility to be a sort of tour guide, project manager and leader without making the “tourists” feel like they lack control of what they see and when they see it. Of course, there’s a reason for “guided tours.” You know the path and if it’s a safari, it’s better to have you there than to have someone untrained walking you through a place where wild animals live.

This came up in the classroom once and a student asked me, “How do you not doubt knowing what’s really right if you’ve never been in that exact situation before?” It was one of those oddly timed questions that I needed to think about, because it wasn’t immediately relevant to the discussion even. But when I came back to it, I was able to say very simply… “It’s not enough to have an idea. You simply have to own it. And if you can’t own the idea, then it’s probably not a good enough idea for what you’re trying to do and you need to head back to the drawing board or seal the fissures where they exist as you find them.”

I felt like one of those “easier said than done” kind of things. But the more I reflected, the more it made sense. As an idea person, you can sometimes fall in love with all sorts of possibilities that seem right at the time or that you don’t “market test” thoroughly before proceeding. In an institutional environment, I’ve always done this, recognizing how critical buy-in can be. But it’s a lesson applied well to all aspects of life, I believe.