Online classes are a great way to learn new skills. SlideRule makes your search easier by letting you browse and search through over 17,000 online courses. READ: SlideRule Searches for the Best Online Courses in Any Category | LifeHacker
Category Archives: Education
Sarah Lewis: Embrace the Near Win | TED.com
At her first museum job, art historian Sarah Lewis noticed something important about an artist she was studying: Not every artwork was a total masterpiece. She asks us to consider the role of the almost-failure, the near win, in our own lives. In our pursuit of success and mastery, is it actually our near wins that push us forward?
A Brilliantly Simple Design Transforms Old Boxes Into School Desks And Bags | Co.Exist
Most schools in rural India can’t afford basic supplies like desks, and most of the students attending them can’t afford backpacks. The Bombay-based nonprofit Aarambh worked with designers to come up with an ingenious solution to both problems: Their simple stencil transforms old cardboard boxes into a convertible desk and school bag.
READ MORE: A Brilliantly Simple Design Transforms Old Boxes Into School Desks And Bags | Co.Exist | ideas + impact.
The Best Leaders Are Humble Leaders | Harvard Business Review
In a global marketplace where problems are increasingly complex, no one person will ever have all the answers. That’s why Google’s SVP of People Operations, Lazlo Bock, says humility is one of the traits he’s looking for in new hires. “Your end goal,” explained Bock, “is what can we do together to problem-solve. I’ve contributed my piece, and then I step back.” And it is not just humility in creating space for others to contribute, says Bock—it’s “intellectual humility. Without humility, you are unable to learn.”
A recent Catalyst study backs this up, showing that humility is one of four critical leadership factors for creating an environment where employees from different demographic backgrounds feel included. In a survey of more than 1500 workers from Australia, China, Germany, India, Mexico, and the U.S., we found that when employees observed altruistic or selfless behavior in their managers — a style characterized by 1 acts of humility, such as learning from criticism and admitting mistakes; 2 empowering followers to learn and develop; 3 acts of courage, such as taking personal risks for the greater good; and 4 holding employees responsible for results — they were more likely to report feeling included in their work teams. This was true for both women and men.
READ MORE: The Best Leaders Are Humble Leaders | Jeanine Prime, and Elizabeth Salib | Harvard Business Review.
$1 Million in 1 Day: Reading Rainbow Kickstarter Earns Pot of Gold | Mashable
You did it, Internet readers. In just half a day, LeVar Burton’s Reading Rainbow campaign to raise $1 million on crowdfunding website Kickstarter has reached its seven-figure goal.
The money from nearly 23,000 donors will be used to bring Burton’s cult TV classic to a new generation of readers by building a web version for families at home, creating a classroom version for teachers and providing free access to it for schools in need.
The online campaign, fueled by buzz generated on social media, surpassed $1 million shortly before 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Burton, the creator and host of PBS’ series Reading Rainbow from 1983 to 2006, launched the Kickstarter project earlier in the day.
Read More: $1 Million in 1 Day: Reading Rainbow Kickstarter Earns Pot of Gold | Mashable
Apps for Outdoor Learning | The Digital Shift
With spring in the air, students typically clamor to get outside—and teachers would often like to follow. April is an ideal time of year to explore outdoor learning opportunities, and these apps and sites can lead the way. READ MORE: Apps for Outdoor Learning | Cool Tools | The Digital Shift.
I would also recommend the Encyclopedia of Life’s Tools & Resources page for more tools to enhance outdoor educational activities.
Why Researching Our Ancestors Has The Power To Change Lives | Fast Company
Back in 2010, when Dana Saxon decided that she wanted to trace her family’s lineage, her expectations were low. “I thought, for people who survived slavery, there’d be little public information,” she says. What happened next “blew her mind”–and led to the creation of Ancestors Unknown, an international nonprofit that is bringing the past to the most impressionable among us: young students.
Saxon discovered that public archives had not completely ignored the existence of the enslaved, who legally were considered the same as property. While putting together the puzzle of her family’s past, she had an epiphany: “There were so many ancestors waiting to be discovered, waiting to be appreciated for what they did to help get us to where we are today,” she says. Knowing that most school curriculums do not include the names and contributions of people from the African Diaspora, she “wanted to find a way to help young people place themselves and their ancestors in the larger context of history.”
READ MORE: Why Researching Our Ancestors Has The Power To Change Lives | Fast Company | Business + Innovation
The Mission of Ancestors Unknown… “To inspire the personal and academic success of students throughout the world by introducing them to their unknown ancestors.”
A.I. XPRIZE: Can A Robot Deliver A TED Talk Worthy Of A Standing Ovation? | International Business Times
Imagine if Samantha from the movie “Her” could deliver a dynamic, engaging and totally human TED Talk. That’s what the nonprofit hopes will be a reality in the near future. TED wants to find out if an artificial intelligence can deliver a talk that wows the audience at a future conference.
During the TEDActive 2014 conference on March 20, Chris Anderson, curator of TED, and Peter Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE, announced the formation of the A.I. XPRIZE where the winner will receive a lucrative award for delivering a talk that receives a standing ovation. READ MORE
‘Hour of Code’ Offers Free Coding Lessons | PCMag.com
Code.org today launched a massive campaign aimed at encouraging kids to learn computer programming.
Kicking off Computer Science Education Week, the nonprofit organization joined forces with supporters like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Reid Hoffman, and Jack Dorsey to get students, teachers, and parents excited about coding.
The “Hour of Code” initiative, first announced in October, provides an interactive introduction through online tutorials. Are you just a beginner looking to learn the basics, or have you already mastered one coding language and want to pick up another? Visit Code.org to find coaching on building apps and Web pages, programming robots, and more.
Read: ‘Hour of Code’ Offers Free Coding Lessons | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.
Librarians as Instructional Designers: Strategies for Engaging Conversations for Learning | The Unquiet Librarian
School, academic, and public librarians often cite collaborative partnerships as one of the greatest challenges of the profession—how do we invite collaboration, how do we nurture and sustain those partnerships, and how might those efforts translate into additional endeavors? Identifying common goals and cultivating trust are two fundamental building blocks in this process, but libraries and librarians being sensitive to the needs of the community, whether it is an individual, group, or organization, is also paramount.
infophile 