Category: leadership

  • More YouTube Restriction Options for Schools

    YouTube is a phenomenal platform for learning and sharing, and should be available for both students and teachers to use in schools worldwide. Unfortunately, however, in addition to hosting inspiring and amazing content, YouTube also hosts trashy, objectionable content which students under 18 in schools should not see. Fortunately, Google announced at the end of…

  • Political Philosophy and Media Literacy Cornerstones

    Propaganda and disinformation can have real, destructive effects in society and government. That is one of many lessons we can draw from the past week in Washington D.C., when we saw large numbers of protesters storm the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021, in a riot which resulted in deaths, injuries, as well…

  • The Fragility of Democratic Institutions – Memories of Cairo in November 2017

    On November 16, 2017, I had the privilege of dining in my Cairo hotel restaurant with Ahmed Ragheb, a long-time friend of my parents who I first met in 1978 when we lived in Columbus, Mississippi, and my dad was a T-37 squadron commander. Ahmed had an amazing military career in the USAF as a…

  • Reflections on AI, China-U.S. Relations, Education & Innovation

    The rapid improvement of artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning algorithms and systems is one of the most important technological trends to study, discuss, and understand today in 2020. In addition to the adult Sunday School class I’m teaching this year, which is using a book on artificial intelligence as a guiding text (“2084: Artificial…

  • Podcast473: Brainstorming About “Conspiracies and Culture Wars” with Brian Turnbaugh and Wesley Fryer

    This podcast is a recording of a conversation between Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussing a proposed workshop at the virtual version of the Summer Institute on Digital Literacy, coming to a screen near you July 19-24, 2020. The proposed title is, “Conspiracies and Culture Wars,” and the Google Doc of resources we…

  • Thinking about Educational Technology Support for Fall 2020

    Today I attended a virtual webinar presented by Mike Gwaltney (@MikeGwaltney) for ISM (Independent School Management – @isminc) titled, “How to Create an Academic Technology Plan for the 2020–21 School Year.” Here are a few of my takeaways and reflections on the information and advice Mike shared. First of all, Mike’s recommendation that schools plan…

  • Podcast472: Remote Learning in Oklahoma #OklaEd

    This podcast is a recording of a webinar panel discussion by Oklahoma educators Telannia Norfar, Delilah Rodriguez, Rhonda Schroeder and Wesley Fryer on Saturday, April 25, 2020. Our topic of conversation was “Remote Learning in Oklahoma,” as we are now about a month into “learning at home” because of the neo-coronavirus / COVID-19 global pandemic.…

  • Protecting Yourself and Your Family Online (March 2020)

    This past Thursday evening, on March 26, 2020, I shared a free online webinar titled, “Protecting Yourself and Your Family Online.” A recorded video of this 63 minute presentation is available on YouTube, and linked from the VIDEOS page of DesignCreateShare.com. The webinar description was: As we live more of our lives online via Internet-powered…

  • OLTI – The Oklahoma Learning Technology Initiative

    Today’s decision by the Oklahoma State School Board to keep public K-12 schools closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year will have both short term and long term repercussions for students and families in our state. Virtually overnight (pun intended) all 500+ public school districts in our state are now required to move…

  • Tips and Strategies for Remote Learning (March 2020)

    For the past four weeks, starting two weeks before our Spring Break last week, teachers, administrators and staff at our school have been preparing for “remote school” for students as a result of the coronavirus / COVID-19 crisis. On March 19, 2020, our Head of School sent out a letter to our parents including information…