ELearning Classes

Friday, February 8, 2013

LinkedIn When the top 5% means one of 10 Million.

I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from LinkedIn saying that my profile had been viewed so many times that I was in the top 5% on LinkedIn. They are celebrating the 200 million member mark and this got me doing a small bit of math. I'm one in 10 million on the LinkedIn 'most viewed' meter. How about that? I invite you to visit my profile and see what I've been doing with my life.


I invite you to visit my profile and see what I've been doing with my life.


I do try to live a transparent online life.  I've made my living as an online teacher, researcher, and instructional designer for the last 13 years.  I guess I answered the question  "What can I do after 25 years in public school classrooms?"  Part of working online is being very comfortable with social networks.  I decided long ago I wanted my students and clients to be able to find me online.  That's why I blog, and curate content as a foundation for my own learning. I actively share this work with my students in the UW-Stout E-Learning and Online Teaching Graduate Certificate Program, and everyone else on the Internet.

I know that many of my new online students are uncertain or uncomfortable about building their online presence. This is one of the reasons I've become interested in Online Trust, Reputation, and Values. There is away to live an online life.  My advice; live your values in your online work. Don't be shy about identifying those values in your online profiles. You want to attract like minds and see what comes of it all.

One of my most important networks is LinkedIn.  I've learned that joining groups and posting ideas/articles to those groups can be very beneficial. Of course it's also very important to follow up on any responses you get in the discussion threads of LinkedIn groups. (If I start a conversation, I always try to respond.)

So just like in my pre-Internet freelance writing days, something interesting is always popping up in the mail! Thanks for the distinction LinkedIn! ~ Dennis Thomas O'Connor February 2013

Critical Thinking




My father taught me to 'always examine the premise' of an argument.   He explained that if you accepted someone's premise you could be easily convinced they were 'right'.  If you looked skeptically at the basis of their argument  you would think more clearly and argue your for your position more effectively.  Dad wanted me to become a lawyer. I almost did, but chose education instead.  I wanted to work with people when they were at their best.

I've been fortunate   I've had many great teachers. The one that had the biggest impact on my 'critical thinking' was Dr. Richard Paul.

He was the keynote speaker at a education conference I attended in the late 80's.  His talk was challenging.  He took the crowd to task and spent an hour beating the educational establishment like a cheap drum for not systematically teaching critical thinking. I loved it. It felt good to have my thinking validated in a dramatic and Socratic manner

Dr. Paul's ideas and passion lit me up.  I was so luck to run into him in the hotel bar. This lead to 2 hours of fascinating conversation, part debate, part conversation, our talk changed my teaching life. I learned I could hang in with a heavy weight.  I saw a way to make a change in my classroom.

Richard Paul was a man who made me think.  And it was good.

I bought his books.  I used his Socratic questioning methods in class. I printed and hung a banner that said:  Learn how to think! on my classroom wall. This became one of my foundation values as a teacher.  It remains so to this day.

One of my most cherished memories is of being pilloried in the principal's office by an outraged parent. This particular father had a truly brilliant daughter. She had a hungry mind. His voice shook with anger as he pointed at me and shouted:

"How dare you teach my child to challenge authority!"  

I'll admit that I was very upset by this at the time. But over the years that encounter has become a badge of honor. 

Richard Paul's work clarified by thinking about teaching. I wanted to attend the summer session at his Foundation for Critical Thinking in Sonoma California but simply couldn't afford the time or money.(Being a young teacher with a growing family and a pitiful pay check had it's limitations.)  I truly regret not following that path. 

I found a great two part video from Richard Paul that reminded me why I wanted to learn more from him.  I watched both videos several times.  Once again his ideas lit me up.

Critical Thinking - Standards of Thought - Part 1 http://youtu.be/gNCOOUK-bMQ





Critical Thinking - Standards of Thought - Part 2 Foundation for Critical Thinking: http://youtu.be/Ksk2-ayoBck





Dr. Paul was a lot more interesting in that bar in Arizona than he is in these brief lectures.  Still he lays out the foundations of critical thinking in less that a half an hour.

As I wrote this, is thought about my access to professional education in the 1980's and said "I wish there had been an online option."  So I just checked and found there are two online courses offers through Cal-State Sonoma on critical thinking for instructors.  I'm tempted! http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/online-courses-for-instructors/574

Dennis O'Connor -- Thinking about thinking in La Jolla CA while the piano player echos the halls with fine music.