rethink scholarship

<p>Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan and Simon Bruyn on Vimeo.</p>

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mistake aversion

When I posted my Harvard HGSE application essays on this blog I had a few people ask me if I worry about what Harvard may think about posting my essays online.

Honestly, I am not sure what Harvard may think. If Harvard actually checks into my blog, I would consider that a pro. It goes to show that an online portfolio or profile holds some weight in their decision, which I think more and more is the way of the future in college admissions.

At the same time, Harvard may not like me sharing my essays publicly. It may prove to be a mistake that could cost me handsomely.

But that fear—the fear of making a mistake online—is one of the biggest hurdles between where education stands today and the heights to which it could rise with our current technology.

The Harvard Business Review just posted a piece on exactly that—the fear of making mistakes online. From the article:

“Unless you're prepared to risk the occasional mistake, however, you'll never do anything interesting enough to earn real attention or foster real conversation. Even more crucially, you'll never develop the social media fluency that comes from making, and then learning from, your own mistakes.”

I couldn’t agree more. Both my wife and I have some pretty decent horror stories about keeping an active social media presence online with our multiple blogs and twitter accounts. And yet, both my wife and I have since made it through the social media learning curve and enjoy the benefits of vibrant online networks. 

You have to go out on a limb when it comes to engaging online. You have to put some skin on the line.  

I am interested in feedback on my ideas; I desire collaboration around my ideas; I want access to a network of people interested in education reform. For those reasons, I am willing to risk sharing my ideas with people who may or may not agree. Because I believe in the power of social media as a means of real education and collaboration I am even willing to risk making a mistake in the eyes of Harvard HGSE.

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Video from Peru Trip

Dan, Justin, and I went to Peru in the spring of 2009 for Impact International. Justin and Dan just got done putting this video together for a project at BYU.

While the trip spanned a total of three weeks for them (two for me) and included a medical mission and the filming of extreme poverty and people who live off of the trash heaps, this video comes from the middle part of the journey where we stayed with a tribe high in the Andes mountains.

More Aid ≠ More Graduates

Regarding my Harvard App Essay #2 above it was interesting to see Peter Schiff come out against federal student loans using a similar thread of logic:

Truth Hurts

<br />via Online Colleges and Universities<br>

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Koofers

When I first saw Koofers home page I was really excited by the possibilities, but in registering for the site with my byu.edu email, I found the only immediate functionality to be an affiliate textbook shopping engine and a bunch of flash games. It appears that they have a rate-your-professor & class scheduling functionality (nothing that hasn’t been done before) and the ability to share flashcards and previous tests from the same class. My initial hope of Koofers being a social platform to share real content and knowledge with students across diverse campuses was failed with the realization it is a pander to lazy students looking for quick and cheap tricks intent on finding the easiest teacher and the easy A.

Koofers, I will not even give you the pleasure of a link. Try again.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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