An Inspiring Education Story's Social Side

60 Minutes continues to bring us stories that matter. Although the other two features Nov. 13 were significant, the one on the University of Maryland Baltimore County and its President, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, was truly inspiring.

To quote the lead-in:
"Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, has an unusual name - and an even more unusual approach to education. His "Meyerhoff Scholars," for instance, are expected to adhere to a rigorous schedule and strict rules designed to instill discipline and build community. As Byron Pitts reports, what was once a little known commuter school is now graduating outstanding scientists and engineers, many of whom are minorities."

The students are not only expected to work hard and set high expectations, but they learn to become each others' teachers. The form the best possible social networks right from the start, FTF.

Here is the link to read the transcript or watch the video. I think that you will be as impressed as I was. It's a model for success in America, and not just for the brilliant students.

Where does creativity come from?

Thanks so much to Luis Suarez for this video post and commentary, "The Source of Creativity by John Cleese:"

Grit comes in when people devote enough time to give serious thought to ideas. That is not at all to play down the advantages of social networking to test and refine ideas.

Blogs are a subset of . . .

We may recognize a blog when we read it. But what about in the future? My research may be dated if it is just about blogs. We are certainly well beyond the basic blogs of 5 -10 years ago. Perhaps "blogs and other social media" would be adequate.
In a related concern, I'm working on some scales to rate the social and informational dimensions of blogging in organizations. There may be other dimensions such as mobilizing social resources. Following Lin (2000), we may find instrumental and expressive returns to blogging.
The scales can be used to construct a "blogging index" or a "social media usage" index.