Brandon joined the team and the supercool movement for better education. The following interview is dedicated to him:
Before you start reading ... you should start the soundtrack that goes along with that post.
Click here to get to Brandons playlist.
1. Brandon we are really proud to have you on the team with us. Besides having an awesome personality & passion you bring a great mix of experience to the table. Tell our readers briefly about you.
Well Brandon the engineer is from Chicago, IL, studied Electrical Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, graduated and came to Silicon Valley to work for Cisco Systems for 3 years. I stopped that and now I'm doing IT consulting with a handful of non-profits and startups that deal in education in one form or another. This is where my passion lies, in educating others. Brandon the musician is also from Chicago and performs with 4 Bay Area bands. I am a hip hop lyricist, pianist, drummer, and bassist by night. So it's pretty Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with me.
2. What are the epiphany moments of your personal learning history?
In the summer of 2008 I had a bit of an epiphany while listening to motivational speaker Kevin Carroll (author of What's your Red Rubber Ball?). I was faced with this truth: while there are many things that I CAN DO, there are a lot fewer things that I WANT TO DO, and even fewer things that I SHOULD DO. I was challenged to find the things that I SHOULD be doing, so I've made it my mission to identify my passions and pursue those things with all my heart. It's been so much more rewarding than what I had been doing and it's a lot of fun to challenge others to do the same. This approach has yielded better work, greater satisfaction and a lightness (happiness) that comes from doing things that you enjoy.
3. What is your vision of the future of global education?
My vision is pretty far out: a blend of traditional classroom mixed customized online educational resources (games, interactive activities, etc.) that give learners a good baseline for what they SHOULD know but also gives them a big chunk of what they WANT to know. Giving people what's interesting relatable to them does in fact keep them engaged and it helps them to learn better/faster.
4. Why did you decide to join Supercool School?
I feel that Supercool School is the platform that will facilitate what I've laid out as my vision. The ability to create autonomous Social Knowledge Networks is just what we need to help aid learners in this day and age. I joined to help contribute to an effort that I think will be a part of the standard practice for learners in the future. This work definitely falls into what I SHOULD be doing.
5. What are some Supercool Schools you would like to learn at?
I am very much enjoying Startup School right now and would like to actually create a Music School of my own since I'm a musician, songwriter and producer. I've also been keeping an eye out for the Educators 2.0 school. But overall I'm excited to see what schools pop up in the near future, it's all so very interesting.
Connect with Brandon:
Welcome Brandon! Like you, I too am from the mid-west (St.Louis) and share a love of music (ex-jazz musician: upright/electric bass). It would be great to have you as part of the Educators 2.0 community.
Benjamin
Posted by: Benjamin Stewart | February 04, 2010 at 11:36 AM