Literacy, Complexity, and Community

Literacy, Complexity, and Community Jose L. Cruz and Mark Narkus Kramer will explore how community programs are a critical connector in the increasingly complex challenges of literacy for all. This conversation will be held on Zoom on Wednesday, July 15, 2020. This program is part of the Catalyzing Conversations & Webinars series offered at Plexus Institute. Jose Cruz is CEO of the San Diego Council on Literacy. The organization has a network of 30 affiliated literacy programs [...]

Pandemic May Foster Dramatic Healthcare Changes

Pandemic May Foster Dramatic Healthcare Changes....Will Technology-based Visits be the New Normal? Since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdowns, physicians in small and large practices, and in major healthcare systems have been struggling to give patients more access to medical care without face-to-face visits. For years advocate have urged greater use of electronic health technologies, in which phones, computers, online patient portals and remote monitoring devices can be used for patient-clinician communications. A New York Times story by [...]

The Hammer and The Dance:
The Case for Crushing the Coronavirus with Coercive Bureaucracy

The Hammer and The Dance Metaphors matter, especially in uncertain times, when the only way to frame a complex predicament is to use models from a familiar past. The title of this blog borrows from Tomas Pueyo’s excellent article and the picture that accompanies it is a mashup of one of my ecological images and it. When it comes to the coronavirus, war metaphors abound. British politicians summon the spirit of the Blitz, while Donald Trump describes himself [...]

It’s The Journey, Not the Destination

It’s The Journey, Not the Destination For more than five years now, I have been opening my classes, workshops, and presentations with “The Two Q’s.”  I ask folks “What are the two questions that every human being is trying to answer – consciously or otherwise – every moment we are alive?”  As I tell my audiences, their answers may not be the same as mine, and there is no right or wrong answer. In 1998, on a family [...]

Are Multi-age Classrooms Better for Children?

Are Multiage Classrooms Better for Children? Advocates for multi-age education believe children flourish in environments where youngsters of different ages learn together in settings that feature collaboration, leadership, empathy, and social awareness along with academic achievement.  They think linearity is a fine principle for some types of manufacturing, but not for kids. So why are most U.S. schools organized by grades that restrict classes to children of the same age? Dr. Sandra J. Stone, author, speaker, and former [...]

Agile in Action

The Agile Fluency Project People who were doing Agile (often Extreme Programming, but also other methods & frameworks) were excited about it. They shared what they learned with others. Those others applied what they learned. Then they got excited too. They didn’t worry too much about “doing” Agile vs. “being” Agile. They just got on with the work of pleasing customers and bringing value to their business. I loved the days I got to work with those teams. [...]

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