Weekend reads

A Confession and a Question on Personalized Learning (Medium) by Frederick M. Hess. What exactly is “personalized learning”? Is it like a software engineering approach to learning where students are algorithmically places at the exact point they belong in the learning process, and we move forward from there?

Learning Math While Unschooling (QED/Medium) by Mikala Streeter. If you could decouple mathematics instruction from a fixed curriculum, what would it look like and what kinds of questions should you be asking?

Active Learning Fosters Soft Skills in Students (Steelcase) by Tylee Bush. A look at how LaSalle College in Montreal refocused their learning spaces tuned specifically to active learning.

A Professional Development Makeover (Faculty Focus) by Valencia Gabay. Professional development for educators can’t look simply like having an outside expert come in and give a talk — the focus must be on developing communities of practice that persist beyond the event.

How to Turn Disagreement Into a Team Strength (Doist/Medium) by Jeremy DuVall. Disagreement among team members — for our audience, think “academic departments” — is healthy and necessary for growth. But how to make it happen in a productive and forward-looking way?

And finally, The Most Important Question You’re Not Asking Yourself (Becoming Minimalist) by Joshua Becker. I won’t spoil it for you.