• Inclusive: what is it?

    The topic I want to talk to you about today is inclusive. It’s an adjective, so it has to describe the qualities of something, some noun, right? In school I always remembered adjectives as those things that answer: How many? What kind? Which one? I had to double check that adjectives still did this same…

  • What will it look like and feel like to do Inclusive Design? To address Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

    A Few Waves of Inclusive Design in the context of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Much of this thinking was done collaboratively with Lisa Liskovoi at the Inclusive Design Research Centre. When an organization or an individual commits to using inclusive design thinking and practices, to engaging in diversity, equity, and inclusion in everything she…

  • The Damage We Do: Assessment

    we should all fear the false negative. Below is a copy of a transcription that Robin DeRosa created of a VConnecting session at OpenEd ’18. Robin transcribed part of that conversation and published it on her personal blog under the title: Open Assessment: The Parable of the Scorpion, with Jess Mitchell. An “essay” follows and…

  • Where do you fit? at the Airport

    Airports observations from Savannah to Toronto: ONE: I was in the airport in Savannah. I’d just gone through the first security and boarding pass check and was waiting in line for security check. I watched as a lovely young family with two small children approached the security and boarding pass check. They were a man,…

  • The Ethical Edges: What is Our Tolerance for Failure? Who are we Comfortable Leaving Behind?

    The following is an almost transcript of a Keynote address given at OpenEd ’18 in Niagara Falls, NY; October 10, 2018. Almost exact, but more fleshed out. It is the case that I might have been a bit nervous, missed a few key points, and carried on anyway. A video of the Keynote was released…

  • The Tyranny of “Clear” Thinking

    A Reflection on the Ways we Train our Brains: An Ode to our Over-fondness for Data We live in a complex world, made up of complex systems we often don’t understand (and sometimes cannot even fathom). The complex systems that baffle us aren’t just the global ones like space exploration, global economic dynamics, weather science,…

  • Why This? Why Now?

    A couple of years ago I was struggling to find my voice. I would create documents and scatter thoughts upon them, share them and then let them sit. A couple of months later I’d do it again in a new document, thinking, “maybe if I change the platform I can get my ideas out.” Google…