The National Memorial to lynching victims opened last week. Sometimes it feels like the terror of the past never stopped. We just have Smartphones now to expose it. I've sat with heartbroken families and communities as they bury their beloveds today. My gut has gripped in fear that my male kids and grandkids are not safe in America. Yet I am encouraged by a growing willingness to stand in the stark light of what our nation has condoned. To move toward the pain of our truth to start the healing

As I was reflecting on the bold move of Starbucks to close 8,000 stores May 29th to provide “racial bias” training I sensed the willingness of the CEO, Kevin Johnson to adjust the sails at Starbucks. I felt concern for him as he vowed "this will never happen again at Starbucks." Unless Kevin can change the heart and history of a nation mired in ongoing racial terrorism, trauma, and stereotypes, and the explicit and implicit bias that results, his claim of never again is heartfelt but unfeasible.

There is no great reconciliation, unity and peace to come without truth, without amends, without real apologies and ownership of wrongs. One cannot slap forgiveness unto pain like a Band-Aid on puss. It just won’t work. We are not wired like that. The wound must be cleaned first. When I was a little girl my great-aunt Katherine Phinazee would put mercurochrome on my scrapes and cuts. It burned like hell. They don’t even make the stuff anymore. However, I never got an infection and my wounds

Click on Picture for excellent tools to communicate effectivelyThis is so true. I had a conversation with a client last year that taught me a valuable lesson in communication. We were working on a project with a killer deadline and a lot at stake for my client. I had been working on the deliverables non-stop through all kinds of IT issues and creative work arounds to ensure the eLearning would be effective, interactive, on-time, and make my client look awesome. We had a project check-in on a

The #meToo movement moved me to create a course addressing gender equity. Companies often flee to sexual harassment training when gender roles, stereotypes, masculine codes, history, implicit bias and empowerment to stop harassment and inequity is what's really needed.Women will soon be the predominate demographic in the workplace and leadership is essential to your Companies future. You can't legislate fairness. Empower your culture to lead inclusively. Join us on the Learning Path!Take the

Interview with Rich Beaudrie, Co-Founder, The Organic Learner and Director of Learning, Understory and I, discussing the skill sets learners will need to how to adapt and benefit from to digital learning and collaborative learning efforts. 

Productive failure is already a trend in connected, collaborative, learning.  Research is mixed regarding learner center pedagogy and more controlled approaches. What we know for sure is we will win some and lose some in life.  Learning to fail forward is a win.  Fear of failure is a common barrier to success.  How many of us were “taught” how to fail?  The fact that we fail sometimes seems to be a secret no one wants to talk about.  I am a focus, take action and get it done kind of girl.  That

I love the question Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg is asking in his Building Global Community manifesto today. "Are we building the world we all want?" Will we focus on expansion and inclusion or react with fear and contract and isolate? We certainly see the latter as fear seems to have gripped some driving them to create walls of isolation. Mark’s post today imagines a world where people are given the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Education disrupts fear. In my

I am in my last semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. This is a collaborative blog post, for my eLearning trends and issues class (6750). Links to team members Kirk Lunsford, Allison Sandler, and Christina Moore's blogs are provided for more information on the SAMR model.What is SAMRSAMR is a four-level taxonomy based approach for assessing what, how, and why educators are incorporating computer technology into

As concern about the impact of the latest executive order banning people from 7 Muslim countries from entering the U.S. grows, how should companies lead on this divisive issue? We can trust the research that integrity is of central importance to effective leadership.  Appearing incongruent will undermine your mission.Congruency MattersFacebook CEO Mark Zukerberg said “The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud of that……..I’m concerned about the impact of the recent

As I sit here, tired, drinking a Red Bull so I can finish this change proposal for the last class, in the last semester, of my Masters program all I can say is thank you Mr. President. It was President Obama who urged us back in 2009 to go back to school.  Acquire some 21st century skills he said, because the economy would never go back to the kind of economy it was before the recession/depression. Image Wikimedia CommonsHe was right. In 2010 I started this journey with a GED. It took leadership

These cool tools will make content creation and curation easy peasy.  2016 top learning tools! Click the pic!

The outrage bubbled up in me like a volcano.  Hot like lava. At 10:30 pm I turned off the TV as early results showed him in the lead.  Surely this will turn in the night and I will wake up to some hope the idea of America could be real.  My eight-year-old grand daughter looked at me with worried eyes.  “It’s going to be alright Le Le, these are just early results he’s not going to win.”  Then she went home and I went to bed.But joy didn’t come in the morning.  The darkness grew in the night.  He

Give yourself permission to try and fail.  Vulnerability is the tap root of innovation and creativity.  If you’re vulnerable and obtain your goal its all good.  If you are vulnerable and don’t obtain your goal it’s still all good.  You have a great story!

You don’t agree with my choice but do you agree with my right to choose?  This digital story critique examines the concept and value of Freedom.  Alignment with core values facilitates dreams to realities.   Figuring out what you really believe, what you really value creates your life’s roadmap.  Reading the map is not always easy because we are busy and distracted.  Paying attention to our gut, heart, and what we believe has to be intentional or we will miss it.  None of this is possible if we

You don’t agree with my choice but do you agree with my right to choose?  This digital story critique examines the concept and value of Freedom.  Alignment with core values facilitates dreams to realities.   Figuring out what you really believe, what you really value creates your life’s roadmap.  Reading the map is not always easy because we are busy and distracted.  Paying attention to our gut, heart, and what we believe has to be intentional or we will miss it.  None of this is possible if we

Whew! What an amazing journey this has been.  Three semesters in and this was my first class not in Canvas, our universities Learning Management System (LMS).  It took a minute to fully understand the dynamics of community and learning as a group folded into the larger community on the Internet.  However, sense of community we did establish and larger community we did connect with.  I’ve been told the broader the base the higher the point of freedom, which was my overarching theme within the

Whew! What an amazing journey this has been.  Three semesters in and this was my first class not in Canvas, our universities Learning Management System (LMS).  It took a minute to fully understand the dynamics of community and learning as a group folded into the larger community on the Internet.  However, sense of community we did establish and larger community we did connect with.  I’ve been told the broader the base the higher the point of freedom, which was my overarching theme within the

I am critiquing The Speech that Made Obama President a digital story related to the power of great storytelling. Throughout this course the anatomy of good storytelling has unfolded.  Digital tools are our vehicle.  However, the engine has to work.  Can people fold their story into your story? Is the storyteller finding common ground? Does the story use contrast to convey the message? Does the story touch your heart conveying that you matter to the storyteller?  These are all elements of great

I am critiquing The Speech that Made Obama President a digital story related to the power of great storytelling. Throughout this course the anatomy of good storytelling has unfolded.  Digital tools are our vehicle.  However, the engine has to work.  Can people fold their story into your story? Is the storyteller finding common ground? Does the story use contrast to convey the message? Does the story touch your heart conveying that you matter to the storyteller?  These are all elements of great

I am in my third semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. Each week we design a Daily Create.  This week I choose #tdc1578; Everything is more magical with Harry Potter. Find an academic paper that starts with “The” and write/insert “Harry Potter And” in front of it. The name of the academic paper is  The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor.   

I am in my third semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. Each week we design a Daily Create.  This week I choose #tdc1578; Everything is more magical with Harry Potter. Find an academic paper that starts with “The” and write/insert “Harry Potter And” in front of it. The name of the academic paper is  The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor.   

I am in my third semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. Each week we read a scholarly article pertaining to digital storytelling.  This is my response for week 14.  How does all of the new media: Web 2.0 tools,  video games, networked books, social media, etc. contribute to storytelling?  In The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media by Bryan Alexander some of the new media/digital storytelling

I am in my third semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. Each week we read a scholarly article pertaining to digital storytelling.  This is my response for week 14.  How does all of the new media: Web 2.0 tools,  video games, networked books, social media, etc. contribute to storytelling?  In The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media by Bryan Alexander some of the new media/digital storytelling

I am in my third semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. Each week we post a Daily Create for my  Learning with Digital Stories course, ILT5340.  This is a Video Assignment Daily Create that instructed us to choose something you love and make a video of it.   

I am in my third semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. Each week we post a Daily Create for my  Learning with Digital Stories course, ILT5340.  This is a Video Assignment Daily Create that instructed us to choose something you love and make a video of it.   

I am in my third semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. Each week we post a Daily Create for my  Learning with Digital Stories course, ILT5340.  Daily Create #tdc1565 asks us to make something to illustrate Shakespeare’s words.  Just a short 5 hour ride from land locked Atlanta my family and I play in the sun and fun of Panama City Beach, FL.  We have been going there since my Millennials were in kindergarten.  I took this

I am in my third semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. Each week we post a Daily Create for my  Learning with Digital Stories course, ILT5340.  Daily Create #tdc1565 asks us to make something to illustrate Shakespeare’s words.  Just a short 5 hour ride from land locked Atlanta my family and I play in the sun and fun of Panama City Beach, FL.  We have been going there since my Millennials were in kindergarten.  I took this

I am in my third semester of the graduate program in eLearning Design and Implementation at The University of Colorado, Denver. Each week we critique a digital story.  This week I am critiquing For Hosne Ara, by Zahid Al-Amin; a digital story related to my theme, social justice. With this simple caption I was curious.  What was Zahid's passion? How was it different from what was expected from his family?   This is a story of courage, brutality, resilience of the human spirit, sacrifice and