In his Tedtalk, John Bohannon looks at dance as a medium of explanation vs. powerpoint. I think this idea is an innovation way to enhance that arts and would definitely make more a more engaging experience for audience members at presentations. His concept of ‘Dance your PHD’, stood out to me perhaps because I have a background in dance, but also because I enjoy seeing new ways to challenging our education system. This is a very fascinating way to bridge creativity with academia.
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An example of innovation
When I first saw this video, I was amazed. I have always knocked homeschooling, feeling that kids need to be exposed to other children and people rather than sitting at home with their parents everyday. I have come to realize, this is a very close-minded view, and a home school education can take a variety of forms. In the case of Logan LaPlante’s education it is clearly working, and offering not only a pretty cool alternative to the traditional school system, it is helping to develop a kid that most definitely an innovative leader.
January 22 Meeting with Local (and not so local) leaders
When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’
– Lao Tzu
Today we were very fortunate to sit down and meet with leaders in our community. The class was broken down into small groups each to meet with one person at local coffee shops around town. The group I was apart of met with Stephen Wearing, a professor at University of Technology Sydney, or UTS. Stephan’s approach to leading centres around facilitation, encouragement and serving others. He believes that the best way to serve (his students) is to understand what their needs and objectives are and do what he can to support that, rather than telling them what to do.
Stephan’s biggest challenge has been working with students who do not have the ability or motivation to finish their masters or PHD. Trying to let a student down, without crushing their self-esteem is a daunting task.
In terms of self leadership, Stephan would consider himself laissez faire. He sets goals for himself, personally and professionally but he is not strict with himself in following them.
One of the comments that he said that stood out to me was to lead with enthusiasm in what you are doing and be comfortable with who you are.
The most innovative thing Stephan talked about was the school system he teaches in in Sydney. He uses learning contracts, students spend nearly a year learning, and developing learning contracts about their goals and plans for what they want to learn from their degree then spend the rest of their degree away from the university working independetly to get exactly what they want and need out of their education.
The following is a TedTalk that Stephan shared with us about leadership.
Wavin’ Flag – Young Artists for Haiti
Motivational song for the day
Taya McAstocker 