Tag Archives: TED

A “Quiet” Creative Friday

Last Friday ITS held a Creative Friday event where there was a viewing of author Susan Cain’s TED talk, The Power of Introverts (see the video at my earlier post here). The viewing was followed by a guided discussion with faculty Suzanne Stangl-Erkins and Wendy Bjorklund. I’ve been fortunate enough to sit in on a few talks from Suzanne and Wendy in the past and they always have insightful thoughts. This time they talked issues that can arise when extroverts are managed by an extrovert and conversely the benefit of an introverted manager allowing extroverted employees to run with their ideas. They also talked about the disadvantages to modern work spaces that they explained can have both negative psychological and physical impacts. Another area they addressed was the adverse impact that impromptu group work has. They explained that often a few individuals dominate the discussion and good ideas don’t end up being brought forward by the majority of the group. They gave a great method for collaboration that involved the distribution of index cards and idea ranking. I hope that we can test this process as a part of a future collaborative event.

We ran out of time to get into a deep discussion on the topics, but there were some holes that I was hoping we could have discussed. Here are some of the questions I still have.

  • I’ve noticed benefits to a collaborative work environment. Do the experts see value? What about the creative environments popping up at Google, Citrix, and other big companies?
  • What are approaches to build environments that support both introverts and extroverts?
  • If there are issues with extroverted managers managing extroverted employees, are there also benefits? In my experience there certainly are. What are mechanisms to minimize the negatives? What can be done to capitalize on any positive elements?
  • If impromptu group work and brainstorming has a negative impact on ideas, do group discussions in an online setting (i.e. D2L) share these issues? Would there be benefits to having group discussions online asynchronously vs. synchronously? Might backchannel tools help break down some of the issues presented by group conversations?

Those were just some of the questions bouncing around in my head. I also would have loved to talk about the questions that I had raised in the earlier Quiet post. Below are the discussion questions for Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

  • What are the merits of working in a team vs. working alone? Is there a way to structure work to receive the benefits of both?
  • What can be done in a workplace to foster what works best for both extroverts’ and introverts’ success?
  • What does it mean to show leadership? How do the strengths of introverts and extroverts align with those characteristics? How does the situation intersect with those characteristics?
  • How do you feel about open floor plan office spaces? How do you like to work?
  • What could you achieve by assembling groups of introverts and extroverts? How would those achievements be different from those of more homogenous groups?
  • What can we learn from one another as introverts and extroverts?
  • Do you think your job suits your temperament? If not, what could you do to change things?
  • How might ITS take into consideration students’ tendencies for introversion and extroversion and the ways in which that impacts the types of technologies we deliver? For example, how can we address both introversion and extroversion when we are designing learning spaces? What might that look like?

Do you have more questions?  Do you have feedback on the questions or topics that were posed?  Add your 2 cents in the comments section below!

Lastly, if you are interested in taking a quiz to see where you land on the introvert/extrovert spectrum checkout the quiz on Susan Cain’s site here.

(What If…) Build a School in the Cloud

Sugata Mitra has won the $1 million TED Prize for his wish to build a school in the cloud. The TED Prize is meant to “inspire dreamers to think bigger about what’s possible.” Sugata’s wish is inspiring indeed.

“My wish is to help design the future of learning by supporting children all over the world to tap into their innate sense of wonder and work together. Help me build the School in the Cloud, a learning lab in India, where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information and mentoring online. I also invite you, wherever you are, to create your own miniature child-driven learning environments and share your discoveries.”

Here is Sugata Mitra talking about his wish at TED.

With $1 million, it is now more than a wish. There is a plan and ways that anyone can help. As a part of the plan they are looking for some core technology assistance including “Cloud-based software design to manage laboratory school operations and education resources.”

SCSU might not be ready to dive into Sugata’s wish just yet, but what if we started with a smaller, more local concept? I am excited about the new ISELF building that will house fantastic equipment for our students to use for their studies.

What if… we made some of the equipment available via the internet? It could be used as a “Virtual Lab” by our own students. It could be used by nearby high schools. Or, let’s get crazy, the world. This concept is already being applied today. iLabCentral is a great example project supported by the National Science Foundation.

 

Quiet

This month CETL hosted a book talk on the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. They also posed several interesting questions to the faculty.

  1. Many of us include “participation” as part of a student’s grade, at which an extrovert usually excels. Can we “reframe” participation in a way that also allows an introvert to excel? How could we do that? What would it look like?
  2. Are group assignments “fair” to introverts? Why or why not? How do you balance individual versus group work?
  3. According to Cain, “Introverts need different kinds of instruction than extroverts.” What do you think of the “guidelines” to teachers found on pages 255-256?
  4. What did you think of Cain’s new version of groupthink? Is your own experience supported by the evidence that creativity and productivity is fostered by more time alone than working in groups? Is there a way to structure work to gain the benefits of both?

The ideas put forward by Susan Cain are a timely for consideration as we seek to develop new collaborative computing spaces on campus.

  1. How can we build new spaces for introverts?
  2. How should we design spaces to accommodate the broad range of work/study styles and needs?
  3. What elements contribute to learning spaces for introverts (i.e. lighting – amount, hue, lamp vs. natural; furniture – chair, desk; sound – white noise, music; visual surroundings – view, colors, artwork)?

If you are interested in an abbreviated version of Susan Cain’s thoughts, see her TED presentation titled “The power of introverts”.