It is an honor to be invited to give a talk, as agendas are often tightly packed. Recently, I hit 100 invited presentations, which led me to wonder: where have I been?  The answer is illustrated in the map above - which includes 76 cites(1). From Boston, MA to Conway, AR to Godfrey, IL and Plano, TX to major cities along the western coast and places in-between.  With each visit I get to better understand, and hopefully empower, the wonderful people and communities they create. To all that have invited me to been community with you I again share a sincere, thank you.  While a minor surgery has me sidelined for the next month, I look forward to being back on the road and in your town soon. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the chance to learn new tools like  Datawrapper  as I heal. Note:  (1)The map also includes places where I gave a "refereed" presentation; meaning I submitted a proposal that was peer-reviewed and accepted.

When I began in my role at the Lumina Foundation I often I'd get a pitch to build a data tool for "students." Yet when I asked for them to define what was meant by "students," the response was underwhelming.     This ocurred at a time when enrollment drops and  #attainment  data showed what we needed was an effort to reach  #todaysstudents  ,particularly  #adults  who identify as  #black ,  #hispanic ,  #nativeamerican  to empower them with the information they sought when deciding to enroll.   It is with that spirit, and understanding, that we engaged the thoughtful  Sova team of  Alison Kadlec   Verónica (Vero) Guajardo, PhD (she/her/ella) Stephanie Gardner, Ed.D.   Quintina Barnett Gallion  to conduct this research.  The goal of which was to hear directly from adult students of color to help ensure that current and future data tools feel relevant and useful to them ...

It’s professional  #goal -setting time of year. As I embarked on listing what I wanted to accomplish I reflected on a recent workday spent chaperoning a school field trip. Personally, I have always left vacation days in my back pocket rather than using them. A habit born part necessity, part (self & perceived) expectation, part potential payout when leaving the job and part privilege resulting from my wife being able to be home for the kids. Then, like many, the pandemic changed my perspective. I went from over a hundred flights a year to nearly none. I connected more deeply with my family and strengthened our bond. The opportunity costs of nights away revealed themselves in subtle ways. So, a couple of months ago when my daughter said her AP Art History class needed chaperones to go to Atlanta’s  High Museum of Art  - I offered to go. That’s how I got to my “vacation day.” Where I learned three things… That is how this post started, but on the bus ride back it change...

From my perch on the second floor, next to a window situated behind oak trees its not uncommon to see the taillights of my teenager daughter's car fade into the distance. Unlike her parents when they were in high school, she isn't headed to a job. She is headed to volunteer, often the head of her brother bops along in the seat next to her. For her generation, volunteering is as much a part of high school as dances, games and pep rallies. Maybe even more so.   While there is an intrinsic motivation to be involved in their schooling community, I'd be remiss if I didn't think it was also a function of state policy . You see, Florida's merit-based  #scholarships   #brightfutures  requires 100 hours of volunteer service (fn1).   Thinking back decades ago when I roamed the halls of high school I don't recall the same type of engagement in volunteering amongst my friends. So, just maybe, amongst some of the flaws any merit-based aid system presents this ...

Words become art when sequentially placed in such a way as to stir the emotions and imagination. It is a task evidenced by countless crumpled drafts covering floors or empty pages staring back at the creator. But, alas!  #chatgpt  has arrived. Like you, I have had some, though not extensive, consideration of this  #technology . During a recent rumination of the technology it struck me - the  #art  of  #writing  is experiencing what the visual arts already has: mass production. At least as I recall the essay of Walter Benjamin from 1936 entitled “ The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction .”  When art becomes mechanized, it becomes mass produced. So what does this mean? One answer is the likelihood of future “truths” conjured by  #ai  will be contingent on its ability to separate the more frequent conjecture from less prominent primary and seminal source documents.   And that is what great writing - unpliagarized wri...