Ten with Ken (Video)
Join Ken Steele for a romp through the best moments from more than 100 higher ed holiday greeting videos from around the world, selected from almost 500 collected so far this month! Previous years' Holiday Special roundups appear in this Ten with Ken playlist: Check out the full versions of these videos in the 2024 Holiday Special Shortlist: Check out the full collection of 2024 videos in this even longer playlist:
info_outlineTen with Ken (Video)
Marketing and communications professionals working in higher education are more conscious than most that they serve incredibly diverse audiences and stakeholders, and of the vital importance of equity and inclusion. (Today’s students can quickly become outspoken protestors in the face of what they perceive as injustice.) This week, Ken Steele sits down with Matthew Tsang, co-founder of inclusive communications agency AndHumanity, to discuss what he calls “JEDI” principles of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. “Justice is at the forefront for us,” Matthew explains. His agency,...
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In this episode of Ten with Ken, host Ken Steele sits down with Dorita Pentesco, Director of Marketing & Recruitment at Niagara College, and Carmen Serravalle, Vice-President Creative at , to discuss the “refresh” launched this month of the 15-year-old Niagara College brand. NC’s circular “blue button” logo was originally introduced in 2009, and was immediately embraced by staff and students – who suddenly started buying and wearing branded clothing. The unique shape lent itself to external signage, buttons, and even application to the butt end of beer kegs at the campus...
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“Ten with Ken” returns for its 8th season with a special double episode distilling the best moments from literally hours of welcome back, orientation, move-in and kick-off videos, from more than 100 colleges and universities. Students overcome their anxieties and homesickness by celebrating, dancing, screaming and clinging to their stuffed animals and favourite comfort foods. They’re distracted by concerts, midway rides, marching bands, fireworks, confetti cannons, and so much more. Some schools play games too, staging their own versions of “Cash Cab,” “Undercover Boss,” or...
info_outlineTen with Ken (Video)
Once again, Ken Steele scoured the interwebs and collected more than 240 higher education holiday greeting videos (released as of December 21 2023). Setting aside the sermons, concerts, animated cards and talking heads, he shortlisted the best and presented them to a jury of marketing professionals in a 2-hour livestream on Eduvation Circles. A series of episodes will bring you all the fun of Ken’s annual collection of higher ed holiday greeting videos - It’s the next best thing to being there! In part 5, Ken looks at the best of 2023’s higher ed “Musical Performances,” from string...
info_outlineTen with Ken (Video)
Once again, Ken Steele scoured the interwebs and collected more than 240 higher education holiday greeting videos (released as of December 21 2023). Setting aside the sermons, concerts, animated cards and talking heads, he shortlisted the best and presented them to a jury of marketing professionals in a 2-hour livestream on Eduvation Circles. A series of episodes will bring you all the fun of Ken’s annual collection of higher ed holiday greeting videos - It’s the next best thing to being there! In part 4, Ken looks at the best of 2023’s higher ed “Acts of Goodwill,” and other vids...
info_outlineTen with Ken (Video)
Once again, Ken Steele scoured the interwebs and collected more than 240 higher education holiday greeting videos (released as of December 21 2023). Setting aside the sermons, concerts, animated cards and talking heads, he shortlisted the best and presented them to a jury of marketing professionals in a 2-hour livestream on Eduvation Circles. A series of episodes will bring you all the fun of Ken’s annual collection of higher ed holiday greeting videos - It’s the next best thing to being there! In part 3, Ken looks at the best of 2023’s higher ed “Holiday Parodies,” including plenty...
info_outlineTen with Ken (Video)
Once again, Ken Steele scoured the interwebs and collected more than 240 higher education holiday greeting videos (released as of December 21 2023). Setting aside the sermons, concerts, animated cards and talking heads, he shortlisted the best and presented them to a jury of marketing professionals in a 2-hour livestream on Eduvation Circles. A series of episodes will bring you all the fun of Ken’s annual collection of higher ed holiday greeting videos - It’s the next best thing to being there! In part 2, Ken looks at the best of 2023’s “Holiday Shout-Outs,” “Holiday Hand-Offs,”...
info_outlineTen with Ken (Video)
Once again, Ken Steele scoured the interwebs and collected more than 240 higher education holiday greeting videos (released as of December 21 2023). Setting aside the sermons, concerts, animated cards and talking heads, he shortlisted the best and presented them to a jury of marketing professionals in a 2-hour livestream on Eduvation Circles. A series of episodes will bring you all the fun of Ken’s annual collection of higher ed holiday greeting videos - It’s the next best thing to being there! In part 1, Ken looks at a sprinkling of "Festive & Bright" campus events and tree lighting...
info_outlineTen with Ken (Video)
Our 5-part series on Forward-Looking Facilities concludes with a look at the informal communal spaces on campus, in-between faculty offices and labs, or student dorms and classrooms. These so-called "Third Spaces" are home to some of the most valuable interactions between students, staff and faculty alike... In Part 5, "Third Spaces," Ken describes the gradual evolution of higher ed campuses from "introverted" retreats to more extroverted "collision spaces," where informal and serendipitous interactions can spark revolutionary ideas and unexpected illumination. These learning commons and...
info_outlineChildren are natural born scientists, with an insatiable curiosity and desire to experiment – but studies have demonstrated that somehow, through years of formal education, most teenagers lose their enthusiasm for science. By the time they are applying to college, less than a quarter say they remain very interested in science, which they consider “complicated” and “difficult” rather than “fun” or “inspiring.” (See the findings of the CFI’s “Canadian Youth Science Monitor” at https://www.innovation.ca/sites/default/files/news_items/Jun-7-2010-ipsos.pdf).
This week, Ken chats with Bonnie Schmidt, founder and president of Let’s Talk Science, about the importance of keeping young people engaged in STEM fields, and some recommendations for science teaching at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. She emphasizes that “what’s happening at K-12 is actually THE most important economic driver for this country.”
Since 1991, Let’s Talk Science has mobilized more than 26,000 college and university students to bring experiential, hands-on STEM activities to some 5 million elementary and secondary school students. LTS provides web tools, governance, resources, guidance and support for the student teams at no charge. “We love bringing science to life!” (For more information, check out http://letstalkscience.ca)
LTS has been leading Canada2067, an ambitious initiative examining international trends in STEM education, and mapping future directions for the next 50 years. (Check out their resources at https://canada2067.ca) Canada2067 brought together Grade 9/10 students, millennials, parents, teachers, industry and non-profit organization leaders, and policy makers across the country, and there was considerable agreement on some general principles, including:
RELEVANT: To keep students of any age engaged with course content, it has to be clearly relevant to their daily lives.
EXPERIENTIAL: Hands-on, group activities have been a key component of the Let’s Talk Science program for decades. (We explored the importance of experiential learning in this episode: https://youtu.be/DU1gRLZeEIo).
INTERDISCIPLINARY: Bonnie emphasizes that the best way to create relevance for students is to move towards “an interdisciplinary, issues-based” approach to teaching, addressing big global challenges from multiple perspectives. In Saskatchewan, for example, there are some interesting experiments in multidisciplinary senior-level science courses. But colleges and universities will need to accept those interdisciplinary credits, and higher ed instructors need to revisit the tradition of “teaching how we were taught.”
TEACHER PD: “We’re not investing enough in our teachers,” Bonnie laments, at any level of education. Teachers need resources, training, and time to develop lessons and share best practices.
PARENTS: “Parents are the #1 influencer of the students taking optional credits at high school,” and it’s crucial that parents urge their children to persist in STEM subjects even when they are challenging, to keep higher ed doors open. Parents also need to keep an open mind about non-traditional teaching approaches, such as experiential or inquiry-based learning.
“The world is undergoing such transformation right now,” Bonnie says, that we need to reconsider how we teach STEM in primary, secondary, and tertiary classrooms. Memorization is a far less important part of learning. We need accelerated ways to upskill and reskill displaced workers, and more pathways between universities and colleges. “We’re all recognizing that change is needed,” Bonnie says. “I have never actually seen the stars align with a desire to change in education at all levels that I’ve seen in Canada over the last 5 years.”
Bonnie Schmidt holds a PhD in Physiology from Western University, was identified as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, is a member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She has chaired numerous national science education committees and task forces, and served on the board of governors of Ontario Tech University and the board of directors of the Ontario Genomics Institute.
Special thanks to Let’s Talk Science, who hosted Ken as keynote at the Digital Literacy Summit in Toronto in late January 2018, and provided the videographers for this interview.
Next time, 10K travels to Mount Royal University in Calgary, to check out the latest in makerspaces and immersive VR at the Riddell Library and Learning Centre. To be sure you don’t miss it, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/
And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/