“Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer.. because it teaches you how to think” – Steve Jobs

Here’s a cool video from Code.org about learning to code.

Check out this intruiging video from Google, “Zeitgeist 2012: Year In Review.” Take a look into search from 2012.

Why would anyone sane want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?

That’s crazy!

Well, there are a few good reasons.  I mean, there are a ton of people who do it right? They can’t all be insane..

Skydiving if one of those things that can’t really be explained.. you just have to try it.  You won’t be disappointed.

Here are  7 reasons why you should go skydiving.

 

Culture shift.. Gary Vaynerchuck nails it.

Why caring about people and doing what you love is important.

Recently, news  was released of George Lucas’ plans to donate all $4.05 Billion dollars  from Disney’s acquisition of the rights to Star Wars.

This is great!

But it does remind me of our current education system and issues and the topic of education reform.

Why Reform Education?

Culture change is something occurring radically right now, especially through technology and communication.  However, our education system is struggling and lacking behind the innovations we are making.

If you have any interest in the current and future state of our society and education, the following videos are very interesting.

 

 

Changing Education Paradigms 

Salim Khan of Khan Academy – Ted Talk

Check out this interesting short video regarding our society and its future. It’s a pretty amazing compilation, and makes you think a bit about where we are today, and where we are heading!

Here’s a video by Kirby Ferguson that raises some interesting thoughts about our ideas, innovation and creativity, and a conflicting system of patents and copyrights. Could the state of our current system be hurting our growth and ability to innovate?

I understand and agree with the need to protect the rights of people, their ideas and content. Some work for years, work hard and invest a lot of money into their ideas and products. However the video raises some interesting points to consider.

Are the broad generalizations of some patents really justified? And should we be addressing the problem of exploiting broad patents that control and hinder innovation?

Everything is a Remix Part 4 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

 

Curiosity is an interesting emotion that drives many of us to discover, learn and explore.  Our curiosity is motivating.

The Future Belongs to the Curious from Skillshare on Vimeo. 

I think it’s important to embrace our curiosity and build upon it. It leads us towards finding and exploring our interests and passions, to attempt new things.  We all have our own interests, but it can be hard to branch out and find the time, resources, motivation and information to explore new ideas.

SkillShare is a new organization that is currently based out of New York, and has an intriguing philosophy and business model.  They’re building a  community to connect people and share  their knowledge.  As SkillShare puts it, “we are all natural-born learners and teachers.”

With the recent popularity of online resources such as KhanAcademy.org, I feel harnessing the connectivity of the internet to be used as a learning tool will become quite popular.  Being able to find brief classes and lectures on topics that interest you and sign up seems like a great idea.  While there is a growing amount on information easily accessible, many might prefer the class structure they are offering.

Let’s Start a Learning Revolution from Skillshare on Vimeo. 

 

As society continues through the technological and connective culture shift that’s occurring, I feel organizations and online communities committed to sharing information and knowledge in structured learning environments will  continue to grow .  It seems like a natural progression to connect curious learners with teachers through sharing platforms.

I’m interested to see communities and organizations like Skillshare grow across the country.  They have many U.S. cities listed including Minneapolis, MN.   Although there are not many courses currently being offered everywhere, you can select your city and view upcoming or potential courses listed locally.  There have even been a number of great looking free online classes.

You can add courses that may interest you to your watch list and follow interested teachers.  Following a course will show interest in it and it might launch.

So the questions is, what do you want to learn?