Old Blog — The Tech Rabbi

6 Ways You Can Use Design Thinking To Look At Learning In Totally New Ways

When I was young I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. An artist.

I also remember being shot down, questioned, and doubted. I remember the only people to ever support and encourage me were my parents. Even my painting professor questioned my future in the art world.

The good news is that I didn’t listen. The reason is that I felt then, and know now, that my God given talents to create, curate, and construct ideas intop experiences or physical items. These abilities are what allow me to fulfill my mission in life and provide maximum value to those around me. Whether it’s visual designs, project workflows, or launching a company, my level of self-awareness of what I am good at and what I can do for those around me gives me a level of motivation and drive that at times makes me feel unstoppable. I don’t always succeed, and I will never be done growing, honing, and refining my craft. But there is one thing that is certain...

TechnologyJanuary 26, 2018Comment

Why Collaboration Is The Most Important Skill You Thought You Already Had

Let me share a story of an 8th grade class that had a chance to understand and experience true collaboration. Each year this class travels to upstate Washington and embarks on a week long science trip in Olympic National Park, one of the only locations in the world to house tide pools, rainforests, and mile high mount tops. In years past, students experienced nature first hand and documented it in their "science notebook", compiling their thoughts from observations, expert guided tours, and experiments...

TechnologyJanuary 16, 2018Comment

When Will EdTech Become Just Ed?

I was recently bundled together with a group of incredible educators to document our thoughts on the future of K12 Education for The EdAdvocate Blog.

Here is my excerpt but I HIGHLY suggest that you go to the article and look through this powerhouse of thought.

TechnologyDecember 29, 2017 Comment

Five Ways Multimedia Can Help Teens Tell Their S.T.O.R.Y.

21st-Century Competencies, Experimental, TechnologyOctober 24, 201721st century, creativity, critical thinking, Education, Innovation, Multimedia, problem solving, technologyComment

Why We Must Look At Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge Differently In The Digital Age

When you think of emerging technologies what emotions comes to mind? Inspiration? Excitement? Sheer pandemonium? During the first few decades of a disruptive technology’s journey into the mainstream, there is no shortage of skepticism, triviality, and outright angst.

TechnologyOctober 22, 2017Comment

Technology, Marketing, and Influence: Why Education Needs to Keep Up With The Rest of The World.

Saturday evening after the Jewish Sabbath, I turned on my smartphone to a flurry of notifications. While the volume was a bit more than usual, it was the nature of the conversation that really caught me off guard. You see, for the past 5 years I have been heavily engaged in an online education community that might not always agree, but tends to trend on being positive, supportive, and constructive when engaging with other educators in the space. This weekend, however, was a sobering moment where I said to myself, “well, the honeymoon is over”, as I read educators publicly trashing other educators in the name of [insert noble cause here]. So what is the big deal with brand influence’s infiltration into the education world? Are brands and influencers of limits in education? Read More on Medium.com...

Failure - How I Overcome It And How You Can Too!

TechnologyAugust 29, 2017 Comments

Why Empathy Just Might Be The Most Important Skill You Teach This Year

21st-Century Competencies, Design, Design Thinking, Educated By Design, Education, Experimental, Technology, Technology IntegrationAugust 14, 2017critical thinking, design, Empathy, help, Human centered design, Innovation, People, problem solvingComment

Discovering Why Empathy Is The One Buzzword We Should All Be Bandwagoning

TechnologyAugust 13, 2017Comment

Why We Can't Fail Forward If We Don't Know Where We Are Headed.

We leave almost zero time for reflection in education today. Outside of a student sitting and wondering why they didn't get at least a 90% on the big test, how much time is allotted for reflection? The challenge we face is that reflection is not a “measurable” data set when you compare to data hungry areas of growth like reading and math literacy. So how can you measure reflection? While a student summary on the experience might be a good method to assess understanding, it will do little to evaluate their ability to take this failed experience and do something more significant because of it.

Learn How To Creative Interactive Diagrams In Google Slides In Less Than 5 Minutes

5 Reasons Why Educators Who Look Outside Of Education For Inspiration and Innovation Can Thrive

n graduate school, I was introduced to some amazing innovators of education. Their approaches to education were so radical, so progressive that in some cases like Piaget and Vygotsky, their work would not gain mainstream popularity till decades later. These constructivist movement educators were who I gravitated to, and their work has significantly influenced my educational practice.

Dewey - Early 1900's
Piaget - Mid 1900's
Vygotsky - Early 1900's
Montessori - Early 1900's

Something bothered me these amazing individuals bothered me.

Why Education Needs To Understand That Failure Is A Process Not A Destination

There is a movement in education that promotes, and even glorifies failure. Graphics proclaiming that we should fail forward, fail ofen, and of course view F.A.I.L as a First Attempt In Learning. I too am I proponent of failure, and believe that is has been a key ingredient not just in my own success, but for so many successful people I look to for inspiration and guidance. Recently Tim Ferris, a famous entreprenuer and author of "The 4 hour work week", reflected on 200 episodes of his podcast.

Why Functional Fixedness And The Fear Of The Unknown Are The Greatest Obstacles Of Creativity.

So if we are open to shifting our thinking, what is the next step? It lies in a famous quote from Steve Jobs who said “creativity is connecting things”. The ability to connect things lies in how we look at the relationship between people, places, and ideas. It's in how we overcome one of the greatest obstacles to creativity - Functional Fixedness.

Growing up in school I was told that creativity is not a job. Today I make it my job to be creative. I want to help others develop a new way of thinking and strategizing when confronted with challenges. I want to help others to develop high quality solutions to the problems they face. The answers to these problems are not A,B, or C and event something that fills in the ______.

TechnologyJuly 25, 2017Comment

The Secret To Learning With Technology Is Not What You Think. It's Why You Think.

When I was eight years old living in Southern California, my parents bought a video conferencing system to talk with my grandparents in Philadelphia. To this day I could never figure out how my grandfather, set it up on his end. The mammoth devices used a combination of wires to connect to our house phone and television delivering a blurry 200x100 image of my grandparents whose movement was delayed by 45 seconds as they their voices echoed through the telephone. It was at that moment through a mixture of “Hi Michael” , long pause, and a 45 second delayed handwave,

4 Ways Soft Skills Will Prepare Students To Overcome Hard Challenges. #4 Will Surprise You.

21st-Century Competencies, Experimental, Technology IntegrationJuly 18, 201721st century, design, Education, Innovation, Learning, Learning Theories, Teacher, Teachers, technologyComment

The Forgotten Stakeholder In Education, And What We Can Learn From The Business World.

Experimental, Technology, Technology IntegrationJuly 16, 2017Education, Educational Technology, Innovation, Learning, Student, Teacher, technologyComment

Top 5 Things I've Learning About Creativity

TechnologyJuly 15, 2017Comment

The Reason Why Teachers Are Afraid Of Technology, and 2 Ways We Can Help Them Embrace It.

When I was eight years old living in Southern California, my parents bought a video conferencing system to talk with my grandparents in Philadelphia. To this day I could never figure out how my grandfather, set it up on his end. The mammoth devices used a combination of wires to connect to our phone line and television, delivering a blurry 200x100 image of my grandparents. It was quite a scene. With a mixture of movement delayed by 45 seconds and their voices echoing through the telephone, I felt as if I was in a 14.4K internet induction program.