Social Intelligence and Leadership - Some thoughts

EI and SI and their relationship to MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

EQ and IQ, a podcast discussing the difference between the two concepts

Social Intelligence and Leadership - Dan Goleman 2008

Classroom 2.0 and one SNS's History

I decided to comment on Steve Hargadon’s point # 4 in his blog called "Classroom 2.0: Things I Think We've Learned About Social Networking in Education" http://www.stevehargadon.com/2009/01/some-things-ive-learned-about-building.html and also incorporate an historical view and addressing some questions posed regarding one SNS from Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship by Danah M. Boyd, School of Information at the University of California-Berkeley and Nicole B. Ellison, Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University.

A network must fulfill some compelling need(s). You can't expect people to come to your network just because you have a great idea for talking about something and when they understand the power of that idea they will want to participate. They have to have a reason to come that is compelling, that solves a problem for them, or offers them the ability to do something they have really wanted to do that was much harder before. Finding friends for Facebook does that. Finding answers about how to use technology in the classroom does that. One more online book club may not.

I see the social network as evolving while it is also expanding through continually drilling down to address the most important aspects of people’s lives understanding they need to be very specific about reasons why I or anyone joins “the group” because humans at their core are social beings who like to be with like-minded people.

Yet, conversely, Facebook addresses the limitless potential communication links with a much larger part of the world. This is the “reason to come that is compelling”, as people continue to seek connections for a variety of reasons, more then we can possibly imagine. And, together this world of social technology (by that I mean our iPhones, iPods and iPads, etc.) along with social networks and the Read/Write Web is so powerful, it is altering the very nature of how to read and asking teachers to look to refining teaching strategies.

However, I also started looking at one social networking website and drilling down to its core. What I found was not particularly positive, which is due to my view is that the internet today is full of websites run by large corporations, just like the building you look at named for the corporation residing within it, so too, these websites have flourished from little fledgling selective social sites with little advertising into leading edge businesses that continually look to broaden their base by creating a website that addresses some aspect of our human nature and our behavior. And, an advertising strategy is now fundamental to these sites profitability. Although I am deviating from addressing social networking in education directly, I think it is important that educators look into the SNS they may be about to introduce in the classroom.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_38/b4195035456823.htm

I just took at stab at looking at this website, for example. Pretty much can guess at its target audience based on its title…wasn't disappointed or wrong:

MiGente.com is described on its website as…a dynamic online community for Latinos reflecting our cultures and perspectives.
This site seems to try to almost do it all for the "largest Latino-American community online".

Their home site asks you to…
Join the largest Latino-American community online
Socialize Meet Latin women & men for friendship, networking, dating.
Speak Freely Discuss hot topics in our forums, groups, chat & blogs.
Shine Showcase talent with a personal profile and build your network.
Let Loose Have fun meeting Latin people who share your interests.

Scrolling to the bottom of the site is the owner’s names, which in this case is Community Connect, Inc. Interestingly enough, it also owns a couple of other SNSs on the "Launch Dates".

Business Description: Community Connect, Inc. provides online communities for ethnic and niche audiences in the United States. Its Websites include AsianAvenue.com, BlackPlanet.com, and MiGente.com. The company’s Websites provide information regarding jobs, politics, culture, music, and entertainment. Community Connect, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in New York, New York.

Taking it another step, I decided to just Google Community Connect, Inc. and look at their history. Well, the first link that naturally caught my eye was…

Community Connect Inc. Jobs Forum - DO NOT WORK AT COMMUNITY ...
Wow, when you read the comments, it makes you stop and think about whether using a SNS might be supporting a company that doesn't sound too likable by the posts on this site. But, that of course, is a first impression; as only one site appeared to be in the main listings that was based on negative feedback from its employees.

Community Connection’s next foray into the niche SNS arena was the establishment of GLEE - Gay Lesbian & Everybody Else
From Wikipedia…
GLEE.com is a social networking site that is geared toward the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans communities. The site was launched in February 2007 by Community Connect Inc.
Community Connect operates several niche market social networking sites and GLEE is their latest venture. As with their other social network sites, GLEE is modeled after the popular MySpace and Facebook offering many of the same features.
Currently GLEE.com is available only in the English language and primarily the North American market with approximately 86% of its users in the United States.[1]However, as of October 2008 it is blocking countries such as the UK and Netherlands, possibly with more of Europe affected too; the true extent is unknown. AGlee.com spokesperson purports this move was due to "spammer" activity.

Here is an interview from their CEO regarding their mission and their competition from Bloomberg Business Week…8/28/2008:

http://feedroom.businessweek.com/?fr_story=6ccd863f3750dd966969a24ece06ecaff1a8d9bc

By 4/11/2008, they were purchased by Radio One:

http://aaea-la.blogspot.com/2008/04/radio-one-acquires-community-connect.html

Then I found that Community Connect created FaithBase.com; yet it also seems to connect to Elev8, a one-of-a-kind online experience dedicated to uplifting the lives of African-Americans. But "lo and behold”…the faithbase.com domain appears to be for sale (if I understand/believe the following website-whois.domaintools.com/faithbase.com) See below for sale details (2-10-11)…

FaithBase.com is for sale. 

The owner of the domain you are researching has it listed for sale for $7,000. Buy FaithBase.com now >…

Emotional Intelligence

http://ei-si.wikispaces.com/

Wiki on EI

I would consider several reasons for including a wiki to help broaden students' understanding of the concept and how to apply the techniques they learn in real world application. To begin, students would be asked to add to the resources page regarding EI and explain who that resource was helpful in better understanding the concept of EI.

I might possibly ask students to find videos and other information to include in a notes page regarding EI, again to assist in broadening their understanding of EI.

Perhaps I might consider adding a page where students would a list tips and tricks for handling emotionally charged situations. Students might include examples of how their suggestions have worked for them in the past.

There are several ways in which a wiki could play a part in a workshop or course on EI depending upon the specific learning objectives. Contributions to the pages would depend upon the content being taught during the course and regular posts would be part of the course requirements.

A New Pedagogy?

On My Mind 15 Feb 2011 08:36 am
The Urgency for Change
As schools, we are going to have to “forfeit some control,” as we well should as the learning opportunities outside the classroom become more ubiquitous and effective. But we have to make sure that those opportunities are equitable and open as much as we can. That’s the real urgency of the debate right now, how do we use these new (and old) technologies to lift everyone up instead of just a few.
From my limited vantage point, it seems community colleges are reaching out for partnerships with businesses more and more as funding dries up (whether its reductions at the state level, an unwillingness to raise taxes or up tuition rates). When you combine resources with business you get a lot of opportunities to merge learning objectives with real world applications, but you “are going to bed” with a corporate mind-set bent on one thing-to teach students what they need to know to achieve performance goals in order to raise shareholder equity. How much control educational institutions give up may not be based on the ability to determine curriculum at all; perhaps its become a numbers game. The possible downside to having to rely increasingly on partnerships and grants is that this complicates the ability to reach everyone, since funding will continue to be scare for some time to come with targeted program offerings receiving the larger share of the institution’s instructional budget.
On My Mind & The Shifts 01 Feb 2011 09:09 am
When’s Our Egypt Moment?
This weekend I kept thinking, when will we have our Egypt moment? When will we get to the point where enough people feel dissatisfied with the whole school thing and want change badly enough to rise up and say “That’s it! We’re not going to do this anymore!”
While watching what was taking place in Egypt, I heard the phrase “Revolution eats its own children.” QUOTATION: Revolution is like Saturn, it devours its own children. ATTRIBUTION:Georg Büchner (1813–1837), German dramatist, revolutionary. Trans. by Gerhard P. Knapp (1995). Danton’s Death, act I (1835).
The question has always been if you don’t like the current system, what are you going to put in its place? And, will it be any better than the old way? I hope while we are all trying to figure out how to make education better, we also look around the world and draw in parts of other systems that may seem alien to us, but that could be blended into a better process. I think we need to be asking this question globally and trying to sort out what might work for all children growing up in the decades ahead.
The scary part, as with what is going on in Egypt now, is whether the changes we put in place will stand the test of time and whether we can build into this system flexibility to accommodate changes in our world that we cannot even imagine. I liken it to discussions concerning our own Constitution,…do we follow it as if it was written in stone or do we interpret its statements and try to find an equitable way to go forward using an educational framework that won’t self-destruct?

My Teaching Philosophy

“Teaching is more than imparting knowledge, it is inspiring change.
Learning is more than absorbing facts, it is acquiring understanding.”
William Arthur Ward quotes (American dedicated scholar, author, editor, pastor and teacher)

This would seem a simple subject to explain, but as I have only facilitated two sessions of a workshop, I hope my philosophy has merit and would translate to my having the skills and knowledge to be an inspirer of change. And, I am additionally handicapped because the views on learning from the two generations right behind me is only gleaned from my immediate family and from studying education for just a few years.

As a teacher, I believe I am in the classroom (including the virtual classroom) to facilitate a group of students in their discovery of a new subject or expanded information relating to a subject. How that happens is as diverse as the teachers educating students everywhere. However, particular elements may prove to have more influence in how the students learn.

Certainly, understanding learning styles, both your own and your students’, is important. Beyond that, actually presenting information in ways that address their various learning styles is critical.

Being “artful” with technology is another factor that can affect learning. By artful, I mean drawing in various elements of technology in an interesting and fluid manner. It encompasses the ability to present a seamless curriculum, a well written syllabus, and employing technology in the right way so learning objectives are achieved through motivating students to want to explore a topic. It is becoming more and more important to reach out to the newest technology and experiment in learning its benefits so you can make an intelligent decision whether to incorporate it into the classroom. Richardson discusses the importance of teachers learning about technology before they bring it into the classroom, as they “have yet to experience the transformative potential of these new tools in terms of their own personal learning” (Richardson 6)

I have studied emotional intelligence in the past, I believe the ability to use EI in the classroom is an asset. If a teacher can discover how a student is motivated to learn and uses educational strategies whereby the student enjoys exploring a topic, then both are well on their way to experiencing an important human process – that of teaching and learning.

Is this any way to start a Saturday?

Up at 6am; drinking coffee and driving to Prescott (1 hour) to get to my 9am class to learn about blogs, wikis, and whatever else this class will teach me on technology.