FW: Collectivelysmart South Africa Course

 

 

 

A micro example of South Africa’s challenges on RESOURCE PRODUCTIVITY; 

 

How do the current educators “teach”?

 

Yesterday my son came back from school. He had some punishment exercise since the class did not conform to the standard

and wasted the teacher (Mrs. Gross’s) time.   There is no problem with that.  Every choice have a consequence.

 

The method of punishment was just “brain dead”  an old Victorian style---[ here is a paper, copy all of it word for word onto a new piece of paper]

 

So the objective is punishment.  There are two ways to do this; progressive (so the space of education and progress in schooling is upheld) or a mere tit for tat game with no furthering of any skill of the pupil. The pupil is punished ,the teacher feels better.

I said to the teacher I have no problem with the punishment—just with the content of the punishment since in our rapidly changing world our children’s needs at all levels of their educator interaction, is learning to further their here, now and future skills. In the same time it takes to copy existing knowledge, why not let them rather create a group page for that class on iGoogle or research the carbon footprint of their school  --- or something progressive to stretch the learner and fit the punishment need —(essential embedded knowledge ) type things. (there are schools with more than 100 examples of “progressive punishment modules). In fact in Sweden you can log into a central database and download exercises that were designed by master educators for this purpose.

 

Her answer was;  “listen, let me tell you I have no time to look for new things and I had to wait 10 minutes for this class to settle down”   I guess the old adage “you can’t give away that which you don’t have” is demonstrated clearly here.

 

Resource productivity is:  When you have all the resources and you use them for maximum ability and productivity in furthering progress.

Lack of Resource Productivity is our biggest challenge in South Africa. We have people, we have skills, we have resources.   But we fail to maximize  it. Why? Don’t we ever stop and ask “what is the outcome in doing this—is there a better way – does this benefit or enhance our current world model?

 

South Africa is in dire need of that –in all areas of our society---- in this micro example—you have the pupil, the teacher, the interaction and a space for teaching progress –a huge range of items that can be used here—BUT the old learned behavior  takes over --- there is no forward momentum. What would happen if you pose this question and act on it;  “what is the best use of this punishment time for the learner—what will yield the best outcome for him and me the educator--- him having learned a new skill     -- and me having stretched the learner.

 

Successful education is not just producing learning according to a curriculum –it is taking the learner from where s/he is to a new set of facts and a new set of tools to integrate in real time.

 

 

 

Collectivelysmart South African

 

In 356 years, we as South Africans have collectively overcome enormous challenges. Our economic, social, scientific and political infrastructure equals some of the most advanced in the world. Achieved in 5 generations only! How can that be? Considering that humanity is roughly 40 000 generations old - we must be either SMART or lucky. Having studied both Chaos Theory and Game Theory I must concede that South Africans must be SMART. Luck, on the probability continuum could not get us so far, so fast. Carl Sagan said "No nation is yet well fitted to the world of the twenty first century. The Challenge then is not in selective glorification of the past, or in defending the national icons, but in devising a path that will carry us through a time of great peril. To accomplish this, we need all the help we can get."   Success is never a given and passive resignation is not a typical South African trait. South Africans seldom give up! WE cannot allow to disenfranchise ourselves any longer, it erodes our self confidence. That leaves one question only: As a South African - Are you fighting for a piece of tomorrow or a piece of yesterday? We got where we are because the generations before us added their liveliness, their summative intelligence, their practicalities, their tolerance, their courage, their unwillingness to give up - WHERE IS YOURS?   To get where we are came at a price. In this world, my friend, there is no reward without effort.   So if you believe you are fighting for a piece of tomorrow this is where you'll:   Get The Facts First - in a world of second opinions (find out where South Africa stands) Be the difference between being a sentimental citizen and being a substantive one (learn how to take action that gets results) Stop making a noise and start making a difference (how, what, when, where) Challenge on fundamentals not petty adjustments (learn how to influence change) Know what is irrelevant and what is important (stop being a "coffee shop victim") Get the only course in South Africa that candidly deals with the responsibility of effective citizenship, with that teaching you not to surrender your ability to take charge of your future.

           Book on www.collectivelysmart.com

 

Collectivelysmart: Collectivelysmart South Africa Course

Collectivelysmart: Collectivelysmart South Africa Course

Collectivelysmart Brain Vault Work 8 September 2009

  Today was an effective day in terms of benchmarking 8 disciplines of social behavior against world structures.

   432 web pages were visited and use of concepts in society related back to what is going on in SA. 

 

1.       POI and Garmin--- integration with Google Maps and business --- 98% improvements to be made. Effects tourism and business--- Hitwise reports through industry—Google Maps position no 2 !

2.       RDF capability and data linking of SA’s “brain/knowledge”---- none found --- ALARMING--- first to be done should be NRF databases

and SAQA   all unit standards and qualifications--- will have to work on that and see W3C at CSIR.

3.       The cpr on using iGoogle for hospitals, schools and other bodies--  huge intranet capabilities--- etc—also taught the theme maker and sites to a company

4.       EPA  12 principles of Green chemistry was analyzed and 2 websites registered for further use in social awareness of carbon footprints and environmental integrity.  (www.environmentalintegrity.co.za) (www.greendisinfectants.co.za)---- must link with Green Ants

5.       The ECA technology against MRSA and green detergent capability was searched and all supporting documentation from FDA/CDC/EPA and world universities found

6.       6 Small companies were taught about technology to work smarter---- Freshbooks, Joomla sites, ERP, Garmin,iGoogle

7.       Fresh produce markets in terms of chemical penalties in open market identified and follow up in terms of other alternatives put in place.

 

Collectivelysmart South Africa Course