I experienced first hand the many issues plaguing our public schools when my son Sam passed through the system over the past four years. It is my belief that between the fifth and eighth grades, he regressed as a student. Now, the standardized tests did not bare my conclusion out – he continued to score in the same percentile range for his grade level as he had earlier in his educational career. But the quality of the work he produced paled in comparison to what was expected of him in the second and thirds grades, and his advancement in the critical areas of math and english wained, as the school failed to engage and challenge his mind. As a result, Sam struggled to adjust to a rigorous educational track when he entered a private, independent high school in September 2010, where he has been honestly challenged for the first time in years. Sam is making the adjustment, and will ultimately succeed, but I fear that he is the exception and not the norm in today’s society. As Samona Tait pointed out in her eloquent talk about her school, Bronx Preparatory Charter, most children won’t get the opportunity my Sam and her students are getting, most will become victims of a broken system.

Speaker Heidi Hayes Jacobs said to best when she railed “we don’t need reform, we need a new form.” Later she quipped “Oral presentations are the low point of our civilization.” I would have to agree.

The thought of building a new approach to education is daunting to many, but if you look to the examples supplied by other presenters at TEDxNYED, you may be convinced, as I was, that a new form is not only possible, but necessary. Dennis Littky, co-founder of Big Picture Learning and the Met Center in Providence has been turning traditional learning styles upside down for the past twenty years, giving students the tools and methods needed, getting out of the way, and letting the students individuality fuel their own learning methods.

Brian Crosby is doing the same. As an upper elementary teacher for 29 years, Brian employs technology and critical thinking skills his students are likely to face to enable them to solve problems by building real-world solutions. Author Patrick Carmen, creator of the multi-platform book series The 39 Clues™ is proving that eschewing tradition forms of literature and offering children a mixed media approach to reading can captivate and educate some of those children who may not be predisposed to picking up a book for pleasure. Finally, Gary Stager proved that any child, no matter how economically impoverished or socially stigmatized, can find excitement in education if we are willing to throw away convention and think outside the box.

There were other speakers as well, and inspirational music provided by singer songwriter Morley, whose haunting melodies and powerful, motivational lyrics helped to galvanize the themes and messages heard throughout the day into our minds. Sticking in my mind is Will Richardson’s message which put an exclamation point on the day; “if this is what they are offering to my children, then no thank you, I don’t want it. We can, and we must do better.”  Will urged the audience to take up the crusade, to find our collective voice as educators and form a resistance against government and big business who are pushing for reform to a broken system. A bit of tape and glue will not fix what is wrong, and more standardized testing is certainly not the answer. We must find a way to break through the clutter of regulations that prevent our children from finding their talents and robs them of hope.

We can do better. As Morley empathetically pleaded in the refrain from her song Woman of Hope, “if your feeling helpless, help someone.”

Back in the day when a prospects’ only option for finding out about a school, it’s culture, its academics, and its students was through a planned visit, a friend who was at the school, or the shinny brochures we would send them, life for the communications and marketing folks was fairly straight forward. Want to get some media coverage, submit a press release, want to send out school news, design a paper news letter, etc. Today’s world, and today’s audience is vastly different. The typical high school student gets his or her news through an RSS feed, and knows what is happening almost instantaneously. They are in touch with hundreds of friends on facebook or myspace, and they are fluent communicators in multi-media.

The challenge for most communication departments has become how to keep up with these kids and their media habits. The problem with this approach is two-fold. First, no matter how fast we run, we won’t catch up because they are moving as well, a target that does not want to be caught. Second, they are selective participants, meaning, if they don’t like it, they won’t read or view it. Finally, the content has to be relevant to them and their world, and there is no better way to be relevant then to work with their peers to deliver meaningful messages (meaningful to them at least.) This does not mean that we professionals need to break the child labor laws and drag students into the marketing arena. What is does mean is that student content—videos, editorials, speeches, artwork, blogs, have a major draw within their own circles. When a student puts a video on youtube of their friends band, it will go viral almost immediately within their online circles. They, like most people, enjoy seeing their work published and online—the modern day 15 seconds off fame, over and over again.

The catch here is that we, as professional marketers and teachers, need to work with these students in order to help them improve their videos, round out their stories, and correct their content before going live. It is important to remember that we are first and foremost educators, and while we may be behind the students in content proliferation, we certainly know the importance of structure, content, and design. There is more to a story then “DLTM, TYVM”, and it our job to teach them how to develop it.

In the end, participation does matter, and if you want to reach your target audience, then you may want to rethink the way you traditionally do it. After all, traditions are made to be broken. note: A big thank you to WhippleHill for working on a content approval system for Podium. Once it is completed, we will be able to have students post their content, and conduct professional reviews and critiques before posting it live. Now we are getting someplace!

The abundance of social media applications, sites, and software available today is enough to make even the strong of heart take refuge in safer harbors (i.e.: “email”).While we adults are struggling to find meaning in all that social media has to offer, our children are playing happily in the sandbox, giggling at our lame attempts to join what they perceive to be their own personal  game. According to a Forrester Technographics and Media Study conducted in Q3 2008, 98% of the 13-16 years olds polled used social media sites several times a week or more. You read correctly, 98%. The same study also reported that 54% of the same respondents used social media regularly with a friend. So not only are kids digging-in and playing in social media sand boxes, but they are doing it together. No longer can we portray young digiophiles as anguished teens, stuck in dark rooms, alone, using computers in evil and mysterious ways. I am not suggesting that young people with angst no longer exist, but those problems are typically rooted elsewhere, and later manifest themselves at the expense of a machine and the child. What we must take stock of as educators is that this is the place where kids hang out, and their networks are expansive and global. It may look like a little sandbox (a stand alone computer or phone), but it is much, much bigger.

So overwhelming are the options that many adults have given up, or even worse, not even tried to make sense of all this computer nonsense. As parents and educators, we have a social responsibility to understand as much as we can about the sites and software our children employ for social and educational purposes. While most struggle to keep up with the ever changing landscape that defines social networking, the burden to educate the masses remains on those of us who have chosen to be part of the new media culture. It is not enough to simply use media, because that is a singularly defined act benefiting one person. If you fall into the “advanced user” category, you should be asking yourself some important questions. How can I spread the word? How can I educate others on the benefits and pitfalls of social media? Where might kids go next?

The issues with children’s use of social media always has, and will always exist. They are children, they will make mistakes, they will lack judgment and sound reasoning at times, they will do boneheaded things at the very worst time. None of these things has anything to do with social media per se, but all of them have everything to do with them as people. The tools, sites and software that define this new age of communication needs to be reviewed, understood and monitored. Educators need to educate parents and students alike, and parents need to be present, asking questions and probing into the minds of their children to make sure we raise this generation of learners to be responsible, understanding adults.

At Canterbury School, many of the faculty are actively engaged in social networks as tools for learning and communicating with colleagues, students and parents. Sites like facebook.com, ning.org and youtube.com have been embraced as part of our students social culture, as well as the school’s learning culture. We see room for improvement in our effort to be compassionate social media educators, but the important thing is that we are present and accountable. Children want us there to guide and assist them, but not to be seen by their friends. This is a small price to pay in exchange for the invaluable opportunity to interact with them on their terms. Don’t despair if your struggling, safe harbors are available, and the kids will let you know where to find them. If you want to make a difference, if you want to understand why and how kids are interacting online, you need to swim in the deep waters of social media. Don’t fret, there’s plenty of room for everyone.

There have been several failed attempts at advertising systems for online content, but some more recent methods have proven to be sticky. The WIRED article refers to the popular online show Diggnation. When Digg founder Kevin Rose endorses a product, people act, in big, measurable numbers. This is the first major difference between television and the web, you can track and measure—a metrics paradise.

While I agree that the 30-second spot is in need of a makeover, I feel that the article came up short in trying to find a solution that has the legs needed to adapt and stick around in the ever-changing world of the web. Luara Rich, author of the Business Perspective portion of the article, ends by stating “Customers don’t hate advertising” she says. “They just hate irrelevant, disruptive advertising. The 30-second spot is in need of a makeover.” I agree with this statement, but Laura fails to remember, or acknowledge, the power that the web can deliver in both directions. While advertisers can gather their metrics and track click streams, the viewer is also an active participant in this online experiment, not simply a lab rat waiting to traverse a maze in order to get to the food at the other end of the tunnel. Participation is the act of both parties engaging in an activity in order to produce mutually agreeable results. While I, like most other warm blooded web-surfers detest advertising, I am also a realist, and acknowledging the need for it in order to keep the shows we like on the air. So if you must to have advertising in order to enjoy television entertainment online, why not spell out your preferences?

What I am suggesting is that people fill in a personal profile that becomes part of their online I.D.  Advertisers can review the preferences defined in the profile and then deliver content that matches those preferences. There are plenty of examples of this type of profile based advertising happening in print magazines, who are trying to build presence online while simotaniously making their sponsors smile. While to formula may be a bit trickier for online television, the means are there for them to be able to push the envelope and make personalized advertising reality.

In my last post I wrote about quitting my sideline job in order to spend more time doing what it is I really do. As a branding and social media consultant by day, I decided that I would be better served doing that same thing for my sideline work. This was a risk, but a calculated one. The key here is that I love what I do. Spending more time doing what I love should inevitably lead to success, or at least, more success than I currently might have. These are the theories espoused by greater thinkers than I, and I do believe that they have meaning and relevance. What I am learning is that the more focused I become, the more likely I am to advance, or to find my next opportunity. So for today, that opportunity lies in the big apple, where I am learning to code advanced html pages and develop a new set of skills that I will undoubtably put to work quickly. The last time I took a course like this I spent the following 8 months on projects using that technology and as a result, became rather proficient with it. The best part was, my new skills impressed the people I work for and added yet another bullet to my arsenal that I did not previously have. 

The lesson for me to to stay focused and never stop learning. Am I uncomfortable—yes. Am I happy because I am uncomfortable—yes. This theory would not hold true for underwear that were too small, but when it comes to learning, discomfort equals results.