Inspiration to learn about yourself

At an event last Friday in the Swiss capital Bern about changing how education is done, I was thrilled to learn about great stories of improving how education is done. Two examples: A young student, who was clearly frustrated about how education was being done and strongly wanted to change the way education is done, explained that with his friends, he initiated and facilitated an innovation workshop at a school. The young people realized that teachers need to be trained to innovate. A teacher explained that with some young people, he created and published a paper. In the process, they involved more companies.  During the event I also learned about significant challenges. For example, Jakob Widmer explained that in some Swiss schools, neither teachers nor students are allowed to make mistakes. A teacher I spoke with echoed this point by Widmer and explained that not being allowed to make mistakes and/or being punished for making mistakes creates fear and keeps both students an...

Das CreativeMornings Thema in März ist  Mut . Und zu diesem Thema hat Andrea Stanescu   am 23. März in Zürich  einen interessanten Beitrag gemacht. Als ich zugehört habe, was Andrea Stanescu erzählt hat, sind besonders ihre Erfahrungen und Inputs betreffend Erziehungsfragen und  Unterschiede zwischen Kindern und Erwachsenen in meinem Kopf hängengeblieben. In dieser Verbindung verstand ich, dass Andrea Stanescu beim Backen mit ihrer Tochter viel Fokus auf den Prozess legt. Und ich verstand, dass Andrea Stanescu Wert darauf legt ihre Tochter zu unterstützen, wenn ihre Tochter ihre eigenen Interessen / Träume / Ziele lebt / verfolgt.  In dieser Verbindung habe ich auch den Eindruck bekommen, dass das spielerische Element während dem Backen für Andrea und ihre Tochter wichtig ist.   Als ich über das, was Andrea Stanescu erzählt hat, reflektierte, kam mir  das Buch Mindset von Carol Dweck in den Sinn. Auch dachte ich über die Weise, auf welcher ...

Beim CreativeMornings Event am Freitag, den 2. März 2018 in Zürich, wurde ich von einer Geschichte, die Peter Schiffhauer erzählt hat , tief beeindruckt. Bei einer Hochheit, zu welcher Peter in der Schweiz eingeladen war, erlebte er, dass niemand einander Fragen stellte. "Wir Schweizer stellen kaum Fragen" , sagte Peter Schiffhauer. Und diese Erfahrung machte sich Peter dann zu seinem Thema an diesem CreativeMornings Event, bei welchem Neugier das zentrale Thema war. Für die Authentizität, Ehrlichkeit, Offenheit und Selbstreflexion möchte ich Peter Schiffhauer gratulieren. Als Peter seine Geschichte erzählt hat, habe ich mehr oder weniger sofort an das, was Svenja Berger in diesem SRF 1 Interview erzählt hat , gedacht. Was der Schweizer Peter Schiffhauer und die Schweizerin Svenja Berger erzählten, habe ich selber mehrmals erlebt. Vielleicht deshalb machen die Geschichten von Svenja und Peter einen so grossen Eindruck auf mich. Und mehrmals, als ich das was Svenja und Pet...

An diesem Wochenende habe ich einige Schöne Schweiz - Dänemark Geschichten gehört und gesehen. Zuerst gewann Caroline Wozniacki das Australian Open. Und dann gewann Roger Federer das Tennisturnier.  Die Schweiz - Dänemark Geschichte, welche den grössten und erfreulichsten Eindruck auf mich hatte, kam aber von einer eher unerwarteten Seite: Beim Joggen hörte ich auf SRF1 ein Interview mit der Schweizerin Svenja Berger , die zu Ihrem Freund in Dänemark gezogen ist. Es war ein schönes Interview, und ich muss zugeben, dass der Teil des Interviews von 13:25 bis 14:30 mich etwas zum Weinen gebracht hat. Es waren Tränen, die vor Allem aufgrund von Freude / Glücksgefühlen kamen. Das bemerkte ich, als ein paar Fussgänger, welche mir beim Joggen entgegenkamen gerade als ich etwas am Weinen war, auf sehr freundlicher Weise gelächelt haben.  Warum hat der Teil des Interviews von 13:25 bis 14:30 einen grossen Eindruck auf mich gemacht? Weil ich das, war Svenja gesagt hat, selber oft er...

During https://app.novoed.com/active-citizen , I learned about the book Bowling alone by Robert D. Putnam. Here are the extracts I found particularly useful .

A few impressions from open education day in Zürich 2017.

The other day, I came across an interesting LinkedIn update by Mel McCall   that included this great article by Megan Beck and Barry Libert.  What struck me was not least this sentence:  "Don’t fight the progress of technology. Machine learning and AI have the ability to improve outcomes and lower cost - so don’t fight the robots. Welcome the change in your industry and work to make it fruitful and complementary."  Reading the article, I came to think of the point that  Stehen Hawking makes  that  we all need to accept the strong impact of technology on the world of work. Also, I came to think of  this talk by Martin Ford about what the rise of robots means for how we work . I learned, for example, that technology is having a disruptive impact in more or less all industries. Technology can help increase productivity considerably. New industries get created, for example as possibilities to combine technologies increase, and as needs, people have,...

Reflecting on the work #makezurich  participants did with different sensors and doing some research about why measurement is important, I stumbled upon this sentence here : Measurements can tell a story . I found the expression quite captivating. Why? For example because I have learned that it can be very helpful for us to see measurements as feedback to use for continuous improvements .  Doing  research about storytelling for some time, not least inspired by Nicole Bittel and other storytelling experts, I learned that telling stories - negative as well as positive ones - can be quite useful in helping shape and make sense of changes. Negative stories can be effective in getting our attention, shaking us out of our daily routines and complacency. And positive stories can, for example, show us how to solve problems in creative ways and bring back beauty in our lives. Great stories such as this one by Wienke Giezeman about building an open Internet of Things Network for...

With the development of the Internet of Things, nearly every object you can imagine will be connected to the Internet . That means that, globally, billions of things will be connected to the Internet. In this posting , this posting , and this posting , I read that, increasingly, we can use our smartphones / tablets / notebooks to, for example, turn lights on and off, lock and unlock doors ,  roll the window blinds / curtains up and down, increase and lower room temperatures, get a notification if the refrigerator door is open after x seconds or if the stove is still on after y seconds - even if no pan / pot is on the stove. get a notification when someone rings the doorbell. find out - due to sensors in lights - how much and how a space is being used.  With this information, technology can help us, for example, turn off lights in locations that are not being used or inform us where, in particular, we need to use the vaccuum cleaner and mop to clean. In  this ...

At a #makezurich event the other day at Impact Hub Zürich , I had a fascinating talk with a couple of people from India. They had some brilliant ideas, I think, related to recycling. I understood that they wanted to measure, for example, when containers at the recycling spaces / "Sammelstellen"   are ready to be picked up. During a short brainstorming session right in front of boxes with different sensors in one of the workshop rooms at the event space, we ping-ponged a few ideas about what sensors would be relevant to use for the task. One person had an idea to use some kind of a light sensor that measures when things, that people put in the containers, have reached the top of the containers - meaning that the light from one side of a container to the other side of the container would be permanently interrupted / blocked. Another had an idea to use a sensor measuring weight. As we chatted about this idea, we talked about that that would probably work quite well for glass....

In  this report , I read that measurements play a key role in the innovation process. To develop new and improved products and processes, we look for, for example,  improvements in quality or performance. It could be cleaner air.  reductions in inefficiency / waste. It could be a reduction in the amount of energy a lamp uses to light up a certain space.  use of new materials or techniques. It could be road materials that help us generate energy when we walk / drive on them. To get this information, we need appropriate measurement support. Reading  this blog posting , I read that measurements help give us feedback to use for continuous improvement . Just as we all need to give feedback to our colleagues, users, friends, partners and other people around us, so we can help each other improve competencies, we need to get feedback from technologies so we know what is changing, how we are progressing / advancing.  In this regard, I come to think of Duoli...

Reflecting on some very interesting chats I had at the #makezurich event on January 27th  and on January 29th at Mechartlab ,  i came to think about questions related to why we measure. Expressed differently, have you thought about what the deeper lying purpose is behind what you want to measure with different sensors?  Doing some research about why we measure, I came across this   posting . In it, I read, for example, that one reason to measure x could be that we would like to help people use capacity well. An example: How long time during the day is a parking space not being used? Why? Or  how many different cars are occupying a certain parking space per day? Why?   Another example: How many clothes can you fit into a certain closet, before it becomes too crammed?  Thinking about this example, we could then, for example, ask: Why do we want to measure that? And brainstorming this question, we would perhaps come up with responses - and/or ...

Während dieser sehr interessanten Diskussion bemerkte ich, dass nicht mindestens die folgenden 3 Themen als wichtige Themen angesprochen wurden: # 1: Wir müssen in life long learning investieren. Investitionen in Bildung, Forschung und Innovation sind wichtige Investitionen um weiterhin Wert schaffen zu können. Wir müssen laufend in Weiterbildung investieren. Und wir brauchen in Bildung Fortschritte. Wichtig ist nicht mindestens die Qualität der Bildung zu erhöhen. Unter wichtigen Kompetenzen / Fähigkeiten, die wir Alle lernen müssen, sind beispielsweise Mathematik, Kommunikation auf mehreren Sprachen, Anwendung von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien und von anderen Technologien sowie Fähigkeiten kreativ / innovativ zu denken / arbeiten - einschliesslich Neues auszuprobieren. Wir müssen in Flexibilität investieren, darunter auch verschiedene Arten von Teilzeitarbeit. Und wir müssen bereit sein immer wieder Arbeit / die Art von Arbeit zu wechseln, d.h. neue Aufgabe...