News2013May
CCT News
28 May 2013See also previous news and alum news and exchanges. Please use this form for all inquiries, notice of events, contact updates, career updates, web/wiki glitches, suggestions, resources for us to put in news/calendar, request to be emailed when there's a new monthly news compilation, or request to be removed from such mailings.
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Contents: Student matters, CCT community, CCT events, alums, other events, opportunities, resources, food for thought, humor
All students, alums, and others in the CCT community: please use our main contact form for all inquiries, notice of events, contact updates, career updates, web/wiki glitches, suggestions, resources for us to put in news/calendar, etc. Any items of interest to be shared with the wider community will be posted in the upcoming month's CCT Newsletter and Calendar.
Student Matters
Summer courses: http://caps-courses.umb.edu/courses/summer/cr/gr/crcrth/Current students: please register as soon as possible and contact your CCT advisor for assistance.
CCT Summer Institute (July 15 - August 3):
Take any combination of these face-to-face/hybrid courses:
CRCRTH 611 Seminar in Critical Thinking, Theme: Design for Complexities of Life (MTuWTh 4:00-7:00pm)
CRCRTH 612 Seminar in Creative Thinking, Theme: Creative Thinking at Work (MTuWTh 7:00-10:00pm)
CRCRTH 618 Creative Thinking, Collaboration, and Organizational Change (FrSa 9:00am-4:15pm; face-to-face only)
CRCRTH 688 Reflective Practice (July 26-27 only, 9:00am-4:15pm)
Fully Online courses:
CRCRTH 611 Seminar in Critical Thinking, Theme: Critical Thinking in Business (July 15 - August 22)
CRCRTH 612 Seminar in Creative Thinking, Theme: Exploring Creative Blocks (May 28 - July 11)
CRCRTH 619 Biomedical Ethics (July 15 - August 22)
CRCRTH 627 Issues and Controversies in Antiracist and Multicultural Education (May 28 - July 11)
CCT Community
Congratulations to May CCT graduates:
MA degree: Teryl Cartwright, Donna Morrison,Noreen McGinness Olson
Graduate Certificate: Alex Katis
(with apologies to others graduating since last spring that we may have missed)
Congratulations to the 2013 Critical and Creative Thinking Award for Personal and Professional Development:
Teryl Cartwright, one of the first students to complete the CCT degree completely from a distance, provides a model for how online students can contribute to building communities of learning around each course and the Program of studies as a whole. Teryl is an experienced teacher; her approach is always to encourage others to understand the value of their own creativity, treating it as a gift to share with others through mutual learning. Indeed, her capstone project is a course in Creativity, which she is working to get taken up at UMass (stay tuned!) Her coursework, behind-the-scenes coaching of fellow students, and participation in the monthly CCT events show a deep respect for the importance of service to others. In her own words: "For a moment we were on the same path, sharing ideas, dialogue and future plans. No matter the road ahead or when it diverges, this was a special time worth recognizing and appreciating... I hope the roads now are filled with encouragement instead of silence, people taking time even with little to spare and finally some celebrations of goals met with others." Not only fellow students but also the CCT faculty were inspired by the level of reflection in Teryl's writing and her ability to generate unique, interesting, and detailed ideas that remind us about how to keep things fresh in the practice of teaching.
CCT Events
During the spring 2013, the CCT graduate program considered the possibility of hosting connectivist or c-MOOCs using online course material as a backbone. The end result of this thinking was that CCT decided instead to host an ongoing series of Collaborative Explorations (CEs), which better match the Program's approach to learning, collaboration, and community-building involving alums.
CEs = an extension of Problem- or Project-Based Learning (PBL) and related approaches to education in which participants address a scenario or case in which the problems are not well defined, shaping their own directions of inquiry and developing their skills as investigators and prospective teachers (in the broadest sense of the word).
Typically: consists of 4 sessions, one week apart; same small group interacts in real time live via the internet for 60-90 minutes. Participants spend similar time between sessions on self-directed inquiry on the case, posting of inquiries-in-progress with their small group, and reflecting on the process (which typically involves shifts in participants' definition of what they want to find out and how).
CEs would not scale up to the size of the corporate MOOCs or compete with them, but, instead, carve out a small niche of serving mid-career learners who want to a) dig deeper, make "thicker" connections with other learners; b) connect topics with their own interests; c) participate for shorter periods than a semester-long MOOC; and who d) do not seek degree or other credits for completion of a MOOC.
http://cct.wikispaces.com/CEp
Upcoming CEs
June, Scaffolding Creative Learning
July, Design for Living Complexities
Others: http://cct.wikispaces.com/CEt
Alum and CCT associates Notes
CCT faculty, staff, and alums Peter Taylor, Jeremy Szteiter, Felicia Sullivan, and Pam DiBona participated in the New England Workshop on Science and Social Change on "Scaffolding Scientific and Social Change" during May, http://sicw.wikispaces.com/newssc13
Events
Commencement is Friday, May 31st. See details here: http://www.umb.edu/commencement
Main ceremony to begin at 9:30, with individual CAPS college diploma ceremonies to follow around 1:15pm. Check the web site for important information about the event.
Biomimicry Education Summit and Global Conference at UMass Boston
June 21, 2013 - 8:15 a.m., UMass Boston Campus Center
For more information and to register: http://biomimicry.net/educating/summits-workshops/summit-conference-registration/
UMass Boston Block Party
Saturday, June 22, 2013; 11:00am - 2:00pm
at UMass Boston site at Bayside Expo Center, Mt. Vernon St., Boston.
Community event open to all including food, live music, prizes, exhibits, games, and family activities.
To register: http://www.umb.edu/umb_block_party
First Annual Playful Learning Summit
June 11-14, 2013, Madison, WI
Conference Center, UW Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street, Madison
http://glsconference.org/
Designed Future 2013: Design Education Conference
presented by the DESIGN-ED Coalition
June 28-29, 2013, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, 320 S Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
http://www.design-ed.org/content/design-ed-coalition-presents-designed-future-2013-design-education-conference
Massachusetts Teachers Association 2013 Summer Conference
August 4 - 8, 2013, Williams College, Williamstown, MA
http://www.cvent.com/events/2013-mta-summer-conference/event-summary-7358b52c328a497886165bfe6c9662c0.aspx?i=ad4b84e0-11ee-47ff-a28e-7681cb34d89a
Opportunities
Artists Haven Gallery (http://www.artistshavengallery.com/) announces two international juried art competitions:
2013 Fine Art Painting Competition
--Entry Deadline: Sunday June 9, 2013
--Cash & Awards Valued Over $10,000
2013 Photography, iPhone, & Digital Media Competition
--Entry Deadline: Sunday July 7, 2013
--Cash & Awards Valued Over $10,000
For more information and entry forms:
http://www.artistshavengallery.com/events/index.php
http://www.artistshavengallery.com/events/upcomingevents.php
Upcoming technology workshops, open to all in the UMass Boston community:
http://univmassboston.gosignmeup.com/
Resources
Programs in NeuroLeadership Education: http://www.neuroleadership.org/education
iFixit, the free repair manual that you can edit: http://www.ifixit.com/
Food for Thought
This Mask Gives You Superhuman Abilities
This Ad Has a Secret Anti-Abuse Message That Only Kids Can See
A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie (a movie created with atoms)
21 Amazing Examples Of Shadow Art
Kiribati: A Nation Going Under
Permission to Play: Let's Make Fixing Things Cool Again
Graphene: the nano-sized material with a massive future
Creative People Say No
A Line or Two: Minneapolis' Creative Economy by the Numbers
30 Unconventional Business Cards
15 Amazingly Creative Themed Office Spaces
Upcycled clothing: the Ziploc jacket
Humor
Yoram Bauman, the "the world's first and only Stand-up Economist."