Scholé Supplement #15

Welcome once again to returning readers and a special shout-out to those here for the first time – strap yourselves in!

The weather's warming up again in Auckland and I had my first ocean swim of the summer season last week! Life is good.

Regular readers will have noticed I'm making continual tweaks to the format and contents of the newsletter as things evolve and I learn more about what I'm doing and what works for you.

I know a lot of you enjoy reading my 'editorial' and indeed some of you only open the newsletter for that bit.

But here's the thing – I'm not so happy with the editorial. It's too long, not focussed enough and usually breaks off just where something more interesting and tangible might start. It's a thought sketch rather than a fully-articulated thought. I can do better.

So here's the deal. I have a few things to clear off my plate over the coming weeks, but after that I'm going to get stuck into creating a series of in-depth 'evergreen' articles about the different dimensions of being a grokkist. They'll be tighter, more structured and more detailed, and I've challenged myself to do some stuff with video too. I want people who come to the site to have a clear and well-signposted path that talks to their most pressing questions about what it means to be a grokkist.

I'll shift to using this front space of the newsletter to be more conversational, update you on what I'm up to and share more of my thinking as I work on building out the site and the grokkist community.

As always, I thrive on feedback good or bad, so if you want to let me know whether I'm on the right track, just hit reply or get in touch.

🧶 What's My Red Thread? Workshop

I'm working on a workshop series that will complement and extend the series of in-depth articles I mentioned above. The aim is to help grokkists with stuck energy to manage their psychology and self-actualise.

I'm calling the series Unlock the Grok. It will have a price tag (yet to be decided), and there will be discounts and free pathways available for those who would benefit but can't afford it.

It's a few months away from being ready and there's also a bunch of background stuff that has to happen for me to offer it in the way I'd like.

As it shapes up, I'll be hosting live test-drive sessions for various sections of the series. These are not only richly informative and a great opportunity to have input on the direction and development of what I'm making, they also promise to be just a good time and a vibe.

ℹ️ I'm offering these test-drive sessions free and exclusively to Grokkist Supporters and contributors as a thank you for their material and symbolic vote of confidence during this early phase in Grokkist's development.

Here's a teaser of the upcoming 'What's my Red Thread?' test-drive session which is happening later this month:

I'm working on some cool stuff with partners that I look forward to sharing with you in due course.

Meanwhile, I'll also start using this space to share interesting and thought-provoking 'reimagine education' things I find on my travels. Here's three:

#1 - Beyond Sticky Notes

Beyond Sticky Notes

Beyond Sticky Notes

Site all about 'doing co-design for real'. Resources, courses, consulting and community. Run by a leader in participatory design who works across Australia and New Zealand, primarily in health and social care.

Co-design is about designing with, not for. It's a mindset as much as a method. It's about addressing the power imbalance between those who make important decisions about others lives, livelihoods and bodies and those people who will be most impacted by those decisions, but who often have little to no involvement.

The name instantly got my attention because it speaks to my deep-seated aversion to well-meaning but bullshit exercises that involve sticky notes and butcher's paper. I'm currently reading the book, which is excellent.

#2 - Policyware - world class public policy education for all

World Class Public Policy Education for All

World class public policy education taught online by leading experts on cutting edge issues such as climate change, data governance, impact bonds and AI.

PolicywarePolicyware

Another promising example of a tightly-scoped member/expert community that offers short, intensive and practical online cohort-based courses with an emphasis on current real-world problems in a specific field.

This one seems quite US-centric, but as someone who has previously trudged through a masters degree in public policy, I would have ditched the degree for something like this in a heartbeat, had it existed when I was studying.

#3 - HolonIQ - Education in 2030

Education in 2030

logo image

HolonIQ is a must-follow market intelligence and analysis outfit for anyone interested in tracking macro trends in the education sector. Their work is classy, tuned-in and globally-oriented.

If you haven't heard of them, I'd suggest starting by exploring their 'Education in 2030' scenario analysis exercise, which frames five broad possible futures for the direction of education over the current decade. Many of my personal hopes and aspirations could probably be located in some version of Scenario #4, with a lot of asterisks and caveats:

Powered by declining transaction costs and ubiquitous connectivity, peer to peer exchange of goods and services has meant the disintermediation of the 'institution' in most industries. Learning online, through rich, personalised and human to human experiences dominates the post-secondary and skills training sectors.

The quality-of-life upgrade is still ongoing (Season 1 is now complete and I am working through Season 2). I'm also doing some back-end work that will lay foundations for improvements in Season 3, which will start in early 2023.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the following freshly reupholstered episode pages, complete with full episode digests, audio highlights and interactive transcripts.

How we design conscious, creative and caring virtual learning - Seth Fleischauer | S2E10

Seth is the President & Founder at Banyan Global Learning, a group of educators who deliver live virtual programs in social and emotional learning (SEL), Digital Citizenship, and Global Citizenship. We talk about what it means to design education that helps us find our place in the world.

GrokkistDanu Poyner

Why I refuse to sacrifice my curiosity for the sake of passing a test - Danu Poyner | S2E4

In this solo episode, Danu discusses how his own squiggly career is animated by his troubled personal relationship with education, and reflects on the traits that people who are ‘still curious’ have in common.

GrokkistDanu Poyner

“I just need to know them very well”: connecting with young special needs students - Travis Yuan | S1E11

Travis is a special education teacher who trained as an early childhood educator. We talk about building relationships with special needs kids and what Travis learned by migrating from Taiwan to New Zealand.

GrokkistDanu Poyner

#120: Derek Sivers – How to Live as a Creator and Why You Should Focus Like a Monomaniac

Derek Sivers is a musician, producer, circus performer, entrepreneur, TED speaker, and book publisher. He’s written four books including How To Live, Hel…

Creative Elements

Creative Elements is a podcast where Jay Clouse talks to people who make their living as creators about their journeys and the nuts-and-bolts of their day-to-day operations, business models and tech stacks. This episode hits different though and is my favourite so far. Guest Derek Sivers exudes grokkist energy and has an amazing take on how to follow your interests while also applying extreme focus.

The Prisoner-Run Radio Station That’s Reaching Men on Death Row

They can’t go to classes or prison jobs, and they don’t have tablets or televisions. But they do have radios.

The Marshall ProjectKeri Blakinger

Article about how a prisoner-run radio station on Death Row is breaking down isolation, creating community and making meaning. It's difficult reading but... oof.

Hat-tip to Grokkist member David Thomas for sharing this one.

mcbroken

is the mcdonald’s ice cream machine broken?

I'm not a McDonald's regular, but even I know that the ice cream machine is always broken. The internet has done its thing and made a live interactive map of all McDonald's in the US so you can always know before you go. For my American readers, please know that most of us in Australia/New Zealand call it Maccas.

Harry Styles' original audition on X Factor from way back when. Moments like this are fun to watch because in a few minutes you can see both the incredible growth and also how much was already there the whole time.

Agatha Christie Suspected Everyone

In the quaint, well-to-do worlds of her novels, anyone could be guilty. Murderers kill to beat the social order at its own game.

The New RepublicScott Bradfield

Lively and wide-ranging analysis of what makes an Agatha Christie – the novels, the genre and the writer herself – and how to make sense of their enduring popularity.

Her small, local, middle-class white communities are rife with suspicion, infidelity, unease, and a sort of indefinable evil that permeates almost everybody and everything ... There are plenty of servants roaming the crime scenes, but at the end of the day, they are inevitably blameless—leaving the profession of murder to those who run the society in which they merely serve.