PBS & KQED Launch 9 Media Literacy Micro-credentials for Teachers

KQED and PBS partner to launch a set of nine micro-credentials for teachers on media literacy skills for the classroom. Teachers who earn eight micro-credentials automatically earn a certificate as a PBS Certified Media Literacy Educator. Whether you are a seasoned media educator, or just starting on your journey to incorporate media into your teaching, …

Sean Michael Morris and Critical Instructional Design

I’ve been doing instructional design for the past three years, working at the nexus of education and digital technology. I’ve managed LMSs, created SCORM files with authoring tools, and built modules, lessons, courses, and learning paths. But at the back of my mind, I’ve always been wary of the grand promises of instructional design and …

Night of Ideas & KQED

This weekend was my first opportunity to represent KQED in the larger San Francisco community. I was a volunteer at “Night of Ideas” on Saturday February 2 at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library. “Night of Ideas” is “a seven-hour marathon of debate, performance, readings and music featuring top thinkers from San …

How I Spent My Three Month Sabbatical

In July, I began my work sabbatical… at least that’s what I called it. I’ve been through several periods of unemployment before, from a few weeks to several months. But I’ve never really approached that time like an opportunity to be exploited. It was more like a frantic scramble to find “my next thing.” This …

photo credit: www.amtec.us.com

What I Enjoy about Job Interviews… No, Seriously

Job interviews are considered some of the most stressful, nightmare-inducing encounters modern humans have to face. The stakes are high — someone is going to use the results of this interaction to decide whether or not their company will employ you or not. The cost of failure is unemployment or being stuck in a job …

Announcing My New Adventure: KQED Online Learning Manager

I’m thrilled to announce that starting in mid-January, I begin a new position at the public media outlet KQED as an online learning manager. KQED serves the people of Northern California with a community-supported alternative to commercial media. They provide citizens with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions; convene community dialogue; bring the …

LinkedIn Rewards Complacency?

LinkedIn is certainly a powerful professional networking tool. But it also has its own embedded biases. For example these “Congrats to X PERSON for Y years at Z company” basically assumes it’s a good thing that someone stayed someplace and didn’t leaving. That isn’t NECESSARILY something to be congratulated. One could just as easily say, …

Clotheslines and Kitestrings (ice-breaker)

In this ice-breaker, the group has to pick between two contrasting objects, based on their initial gut feeling, and then explain their choice. It’s a fun and active way for people to get to know each other and say something unique about themselves to the group. And it helps people to find commonalities among other …