Podcast appearances and mentions of Cathy Davidson

Despite all that we have learned from cognitive science about how people learn, the most common form of classroom instruction still involves students passively listening to a lecturer standing at a podium at the front of the room. In this episode, Cathy Davidson and Christina Katopodis join us to discuss alternative approaches that treat student diversity as an asset and allow all students to be actively engaged in their own learning. Cathy is a Distinguished Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center, the author of more than twenty books, and a regular contributor to the Washington Post and the Chronicle of Higher Education. She has served on the National Council of Humanities and delivered a keynote address at the Nobel Forum on the Future of Education. Christina is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Transformative Learning in the Humanities Initiative at CUNY and has authored over a dozen articles on innovative pedagogy, innovative pedagogy, environmental studies, and Early American Literature.  She has received the Dewey Digital Teaching Award and the Diana Colbert Initiative Teaching Prize. A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Longtime professor Cathy Davidson is on a mission these days to promote the practice of active learning. And she says the stakes are higher than people might realize. It's not just about test scores and whether people learn. She thinks there's an ethical issue that sometimes gets lost in discussions about teaching.

The ninety first 5 Pin Universe Podcast recorded 03-17-2021 Please remember that the discussion is just personal opinions and may not reflect the stance of any associations or companies these participants may be involved in. Enjoy. With the host Karie Kreutz, the podcast crew, Dexter Wiseman, Tim Wiseman, Darrell Bradley and special guest Cathy Davidson. Discussing life during COVID, 5 Pin Bowling in Northern and Southern Ontario, accomplishments in bowling, hall of fame inductions and Top 100 Bowlers. Episode brought to you by All Star Bowling Sales. All podcast videos can be found here: www.youtube.com/channel/UCuSMHf_9…jNzG61NVFw/videos

Cathy Davidson, Dree-el Simmons and Tatiana Ades share their experiences in creating We Eat: A Student-Centered Cookbook as part of the  “Introduction to Engaged Teaching and Transformative Learning in the Humanities and Social Sciences” class in Spring 2020 offered by The Futures Initiative at the CUNY Graduate Center.

“Society is indeed a contract. ... It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection.” — Edmund Burke Dr. Katopodis is the Executive Director of Transformative Learning in the Humanities, a three-year initiative at City University of New York supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and recently received her doctorate in English at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and an adjunct instructor at New Jersey City University. She is a scholar of environmental studies, sound studies, and American literature. She has written articles published or forthcoming in ESQ: A Journal of Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, and Profession. Cathy Davison is the founder of The Futures Initiative, a Distinguished Professor of English and MA in Digital Humanities, and MS in Data Analysis and Visualization. DeVarney Prof Emerita of Interdisciplinary Studies, Duke University, CoFounder and CoDirector, HASTAC.org and CoDirector of Transformative Learning in the Humanities In this episode, Christina and Cathy will discuss contract grading and how peer editing both honors and challenges students in their own learning. This the third episode of a six-part series where you will hear from the chapter authors themselves who will help us dive deeper into their ideas about assessment and its impact on teaching and learning allowing us to go beyond the curriculum. Follow Dr. Christina Katopodis: Twitter Blog Inside Higher Ed Follow Dr. Cathy Davidson: Twitter Blog Other Publications Resources: Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) (2020) Use code PODTALIHE through December 2020 for 30% off. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/beyondthecurriculum/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beyondthecurriculum/support

Devorah Heitner is not just another mom concerned about raising a digital native. She uses her Ph.D. in Technology to research, teach, write, and lecture about how families everyday lives are affected by digital media, smartphones, and video games. She’s the author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World. And her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and TIME magazine. Devorah did a great TEDx talk about cultivating a culture of empathy and social/emotional literacy around kids and technology. She recently wrote a fantastic article for the Washington Post about how a smartphone would’ve saved her mother who had learning disabilities. Anytime parents find out her line of work, she gets cornered because every parent is anxious about their kids' multi-tasking, their social skills, them taking and receiving naughty pictures, cyberbullying, and well…the list can go on. But Devorah paints a brighter picture. She’s a media historian here today to let us know our concerns over digital media are a normal cycle of historical anxiety, and although we need to be cautious about the technology, we also need to celebrate the freedom the technology allows us and our families.     Show Note Links: Raising Digital Natives   Devorah Heitner's book, "Screenwise"   Devorah Heitner's "Washington Post" article- "My Mother Struggled with Learning Disabilities. A Smartphone would have Helped her Find her Way."   Qustodio   "This American Life- Status Update"- Ninth graders talking about being relevant.   Unitarian Universalist Sex Education Curriculum   The Fosters TV Show   "Now You See It: How Technology and Brain Science Will Transform Schools and Business for the 21st Century" by Cathy Davidson   "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" by Nicholas Carr   NAMI- Ending the Silence Program   Rachel Steinman's Article, "Is There an App to Stop Parents from Screaming at their Kids over Device Use?" *Sex Education Resources: *Scarlateen   *Deborah Roffman's book, "Talk to Me First"   *Amy Lang's book "Birds and Bees and Kids"   *Specifically on Porn- Cindy Pierce- Social sexuality educator and comic storyteller    Connect with us! Dear Family, the Podcast Page Write Now Rachel Website Rachel's Blog Page- @Medium Rachel Steinman's Twitter Dear Family, and Write Now Rachel's Facebook Page Dear Family, and Write Now Rachel's Instagram Page   WAYS TO HELP THE PODCAST Subscribe via iTunes and leave a review. It's free and so helpful!!!  Subscribe via Stitcher and leave a review. It's free and so helpful!!!    

Cathy Davidson: The Future of Learning | Steve Hargadon | May 25 2010 by Steve Hargadon

Cathy Davidson: The Brain Science of Attention | Steve Hargadon | Mar 20 2012 by Steve Hargadon

  You'll learn in this episode what police know about what REALLY happened to Cathy Davidson.   MUSIC: Long Note Two - incompetech   Phantasm - Kevin MacLeod, incompetech   Together We Stand - Scott Holmes - freemusicarchive  Missing - Scott Holmes, freemusicarchive Oscar's Missing - Scott Holmes, freemusicarchive Seventh Seal -  Kevin MacLeod, incompetech    Stella Maris - mobygratis.com  

Cathy Davidson went missing on September 1, 1973 - or did she?   MUSIC: Kevin Macleod - incompetech An Upsetting Theme Ghostpocalypse 3: Road of Trials Ghostpocalypse 4: Temptress  Ghostpocalypse 6: Crossing The Threshold  Long Note 2  Tenebrous Bros. Carnival - Prelude

King Crimson, Alberto Parmegiani, Nils Økland Ensemble, Frank Zappa, Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer, Herbie Hancock, Joe Cocker, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, David Bowie, Internazionale, Giovanni De Mauro, Ricardo Piglia, Juan Sasturain, Alberto Breccia, La Lettura, Cathy Davidson, New York times, Robert Rauschenberg

King Crimson, Alberto Parmegiani, Nils Økland Ensemble, Frank Zappa, Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer, Herbie Hancock, Joe Cocker, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, David Bowie, Internazionale, Giovanni De Mauro, Ricardo Piglia, Juan Sasturain, Alberto Breccia, La Lettura, Cathy Davidson, New York times, Robert Rauschenberg

King Crimson, Alberto Parmegiani, Nils Økland Ensemble, Frank Zappa, Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer, Herbie Hancock, Joe Cocker, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, David Bowie, Internazionale, Giovanni De Mauro, Ricardo Piglia, Juan Sasturain, Alberto Breccia, La Lettura, Cathy Davidson, New York times, Robert Rauschenberg

Cathy N Davidson is a distinguished professor of English and founding director of the Futures Initiative at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Author of the award winning book, The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World in Flux (Basic Books, 2017). Davidson, an engaged advocate for universities and disadvantaged students, leans forward on urging higher education to innovate itself an ever changing world by becoming activists.

In today’s conversation, we take a deep dive into a recent article in The Guardian by Cathy Davidson, a professor at City University of New York. Cathy says we have to “reverse the outcome-oriented educational monster we have unleashed . . .” We also are discussing Peter Gray’s article in Psychology Today, “The Joy and Sorrow of Re-reading John Holt’s How Children Learn”. In considering these articles, we step deeper and ask the question, “Are we doing the right thing in schools to begin with?” In higher education, we keep doing more of the same, but aren’t we just creating robots in classrooms? We are critical of students’ skill sets, but what are we doing to prepare them for the real world? Do we value the skills that children learn outside of school? Do we allow them to create with technology? We have to take an honest look at these questions and more about what we are doing in schools because we can’t assume that change in schools is coming in the future. Sadly, the bottom line is that we are NOT doing the right thing in schools. Resources: www.change.school  Find out about getting on the waiting list for the upcoming Cohort 5 www.changeleaders.community Now You See It by Cathy Davidson The Joy and Sorry of Rereading Holt's "How Children Learn" Our Favorite Podcast Episodes: Mastery Transcripts with Scott Looney Past, Present, and Future of the Internet  

This week's podcast is a topic very close to my heart - education. With a child who is currently home educated I've become more and more interested in how children actually learn and what they learn from different forms of education. Kerry McDonald is my guest and is well positioned to explore education, and how education may need to change to address the future needs of business (and our world!). Kerry is a mom of four unschooled children, a writer for Natural Mother Magazine and a self-directed learning advocate who is a Board member at the non-profit Alliance for Self-Directed Education. She has a Master's degree in education policy from Harvard University and is an education writer for several national media outlets. Her writing has appeared in Forbes, NPR, and Education Next among others. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and writes at Whole Family Learning. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter (@kerry_edu). The books she mentions in the interview are Now You See It, by Cathy Davidson, and Wounded by School, by Kirsten Olson. Here is the blog link where you can find her book recommendations if you're interested in learning more about home education and self-directed learning - http://www.wholefamilylearning.com/2017/09/letter-to-prospective-homeschooling.html To follow my journey with my daughter Ivy we are @abrilliantgamble on Instagram and we have a Facebook Group called A Brilliant Gamble too. You can find out more about my work with organisations and individuals and how to book me as a speaker at www.thatpeoplething.com and follow me on twitter (@blairepalmer). Please feel free to share this podcast, leave a review on iTunes and stay in touch, especially if you have a particular topic you'd like me to discuss on the show! Thank you!

Cathy Davidson shares about her book, A New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World in Flux on episode 169 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode We’ve divided things up into very strange and restrictive categories in a world where those categories are completely merged […]

Sometimes it's hard to imagine change—especially when it comes to a 150-year-old system, such as higher education in the United States. But much of the system we see and experience today was designed, and perhaps it can be again. At least, that's what professor Cathy Davidson writes in her latest book, “The New Education.” As director of the futures initiative at CUNY's Graduate Center, Davidson studies and thinks a lot about cultural history and technology. In the book, she outlines several ways that higher education as we know it was blueprinted and built. But even more, she argues for why an education overhaul should happen again, especially in the digital era. EdSurge spoke with Davidson about the book and why she thinks a revision in higher ed is necessary, and how that’s tied to the increasing presence of technology and automation in institutions—and changing economic demands.

Our entire education system is faulty, claim experts. They worry that schools don’t prepare kids for the world outside. But how could anyone prove what the future will be like? We set off on a round-the-world sleuthing trip to trace a statistic that has been causing headaches for students, teachers and politicians alike. Helping us on our quest are educators Cathy Davidson, Daisy Christodoulou and Andrew Old – plus a little bit of Blade Runner and a lot data-wrangling. Producer: Hannah Sander (Photo: Classmates taking part in peer learning. Credit: Shutterstock)

The business world gets more complex every year, if not every week. Yet we’re essentially making important decisions with brains that evolved tens of thousands of years ago. And while we’re no longer fighting for survival on the African Savannah, some days it may feel like it. But whether facing hostile tribes or belligerent boardrooms, primitive “fight or flight” instincts don’t have to cloud our decision-making. Kevin Delaney, senior writer for Connected Futures, is joined by Cathy Davidson, author of Now You See It: How Technology and Brain Science Will Transform Schools and Business for the 21st Century. Cathy serves on the Board of Directors of Mozilla and was the 2016 recipient of the Ernest J. Boyer Award for Significant Contributions to Higher Education. In 2011 she was appointed to the National Council on the Humanities by President Obama. She holds the position of Distinguished Professor and is the founding director of the Futures Initiative at the City University of New York.

Fears and concerns over changes in higher education persist. Whether it is our disdain for lecturing to a bunch of disconnected, texting and Facebooking students, or their boredom at being put to sleep by a droning professor reading from his powerpoint, something’s got to give… In today’s episode, Dr. Cathy Davidson joins us to talk […]

"Make Learning Relevant" is a podcast series full of interviews with leading minds from the Connected Learning Alliance and the field of Digital Media and Learning. Subscribe to this Podcast using iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/connected-learning/id869635683) or your favorite Feed Reader (http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:32859553/sounds.rss) In this episode, we chat with Cathy Davidson - Innovation & Technology Scholar, author, and soon-to-be head of The Futures Initiative for the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) - about updating education for the 21st century and the need for "Relevance, Recognition and Relationships" in learning. To check out the full "Make Learning Relevant" campaign, visit http://clalliance.org

Featuring Jeff Bezos, Howard Schultz, Francis Ford Coppola, Maya Angelou, Nancy Koehn, Rob Goffee, Gareth Jones, Cathy Davidson, and Mark Blyth.

Too Much To Do, Not Enough Time To Do It! Can you relate to that? This is a common theme that I hear from participants in our keynotes and workshops as well as the participants in our Leadership Fast Track Program. What is the Scarcest Resource? In my interview with Cathy Davidson last year regarding her book Now You See It!, we talked about the scarcest resource. What would you say is the scarcest resource? Most people respond with time--that the most constrained resource we have to deal with is the clock on the wall. Or sometimes I hear people respond that money is the scarcest resource. In Cathy's opinion, it's neither. Rather, it's attention. We all get the same 24 hours. It's what we do with those 24 hours--what we put our attention to--that makes all the difference. The Attention Habits of the Highly Productive So, what is most worthy of our attention? How can we use the limited time that we have to be most productive? I'm really excited about a new book released just this week. It's entitled Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours. I caught up with the author Bob Pozen last week and look forward to sharing that interview with you in this episode. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 23:47 Download episode 83

Mark Anthony Neal chats with Guthrie Ramsie about his new album The Colored Waiting Room. Later, Mark is joined in studio by Cathy Davidson to talk about her new book, Now You See It.

Renowned humanities scholar Cathy Davidson, a Duke University professor, noted author, and innovator, visited Dartmouth to speak to faculty and staff involved in the Strategic Planning process, and to deliver a public lecture. Davidson took time out from her day in Hanover to talk with Dartmouth Now about students' writing, and the issue of distractibility. "Distraction is our friend," she says. Davidson's talk focuses on her latest book, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn, which was named one of the top 10 science books last fall by Publishers Weekly.

Renowned humanities scholar and innovation leader Cathy Davidson shares her ideas for Dartmouth to be at the forefront of evolving higher education for the digital age. Part of the Leading Voices in Higher Educations speaker series.

Cathy Davidson, Duke University professor and author of "Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn."

Using cutting-edge research on the brain, Cathy Davidson's new book, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn (Viking, 2011), shows how "attention blindness" has produced one of our society's greatest challenges. While we all acknowledge the great changes of the information age, most of us still toil in schools and workplaces designed for the last century. Our institutions haven't kept pace. Weaving together elements of neuroscience, psychology, learning theory, management science, and more, Davidson introduces us to visionaries whose groundbreaking ideas (from schools with curriculums built around video games to companies that train workers using virtual environments) will open the doors to new ways of working and learning. Now You See It offers a refreshingly optimistic argument for a bold embrace of our connected, collaborative future.

It’s a topic that we have brushed up against before on the podcast, but haven’t completely jumped into.  How does all of today’s technology and instant gratification affect our ability to pay attention.  Are computers and video games the reason for the outbreak of diagnosable attention disorders or is it something different entirely? Actually, one...

Total Duration 7:11 Download the premium episode (NOTE: This Premium Episode is being included in our free podcast stream this week. It gives you a sense of the extra coaching that is available each episode for our premium subscribers. Learn more about becoming a Premium Subscriber at http://bit.ly/PremiumSubscribe). There are many things I love about hosting this podcast. One of them is the opportunity to interact with the experts we interview. You probably notice that I normally include some behind the scenes cuts at the end of interviews to try and give a sense of who these people are. Most are very gracious. There's something about Michael Roberto that truly stands out though. He has great energy, a quick wit, and is everything I would have wanted in a college business professor. In this premium episode I want to highlight some points from the interview with Michael to help you put the learning into action. First, filtering isn't bad, right? We need it for efficiency. People say we need to over-communicate but, to an extreme, that can be a bad idea! If you listened to my interview with Cathy Davidson or read her book Now You See It, it's clear that we are wired up to put our attention on that which requires it. We would literally go nuts if we tried to take it all in. So filtering of information can be the equivalent of a corporate attention window: what is it that is most important. Let's focus on that. So let me ask you: how do you filter for efficiency? What do you do to make sure the most important information gets to you? From a learning perspective, I focus on a relatively small number of blogs and podcasts. I find those give me regular doses of learning without trying to read everything or attend every learning opportunity. For example, I get great value out of HBR's blog. I use CIO Magazine's “What Are You Reading” section as a starting place for new and interesting books and authors to consider as guests. I use a number of Google's filtering capabilities to give me just the news I'm most interested in. I try to surround myself with diversely interesting people who help keep me informed of their viewpoint. If you are feeling overwhelmed, you might want to think about your filtering systems today. But secondly, of course, filtering isn't always done for efficiency. And it isn't always done intentionally or for our good. As Michael says, we might by our actions and words unwittingly put pressure on those on our teams to conform to our way of thinking. We have to be careful for how we advocate for certain decisions or positions because our advocacy could cause some who know better to keep their mouths shut--to not speak up because they'll think you are not open to a contrary point of view. A key characteristic of your team must be that every member knows that if they have information or insights that can help you, they can bring it to you without fear of rejection or judgment. That doesn't mean that you will always agree with them or follow their advice. I read a case study from Michael years ago that, in effect, said that people can usually put up with decisions that you make as long as they had a fair say in the process. As long as they're heard, they can better accept what you decide. But if you explicitly or subtly make it clear that you're not open to their point of view, not to mention even giving them the opportunity, you risk making a poorly informed decision that can often surface compliance at best instead of commitment from your teams. Be careful how you may be pressuring people to conform. Third, make sure you're aware of the power and dangers of advocacy. This filter says that the information is presented in such a way as to advocate for a certain position. Information that might not reinforce the position is held back. Whether from politicians, your senior management, advertisers, a supplier, or someone on your team, keep your eyes wide open for not just what is presented but also for what is not being presented. I've learned to deal with this by asking questions, digging into the data that is presented, and watching for influence techniques such social proof. It's not that I don't trust people when they're making a pitch. But whether it's a resume, a request for something to buy, or an argument for why we should take action, there's almost always some advocacy going on. Make sure you look for dissenting or alternative points of view. Fourth, remember that sometimes it's the other person advocating. Other times it's you and me only taking in the data we want. Confirmation bias is an easy trap to fall into. Make sure to not fall in love with an approach or decision because it is ours. Cathy Davidson's collaboration by difference is her solution to this, which basically recommends we surround ourselves with diverse points of view that are intentionally looking at different aspects of what's going on. Confirmation bias can be deadly to decision-making. Beware. Fifth, and to many of the previous points, remember Michael's suggestion about getting out to the periphery. One way to help know what's important is to get out of your office and spend time with customers, or people in remote offices, or with stakeholders. I interviewed Todd Williams earlier this summer about rescuing problem projects. You may recall his advice that, with troubled projects, your team knows the answers. They know how to help you but you need to spend time with them. Extended time. Michael Roberto is obviously a big Churchill fan and his story about Churchill going out and spending time with the frontlines provided helpful insight that had less filtering through the ranks. Of course you have to be careful to not undermine your direct reports or senior management, but getting to the edges or periphery, spending time with those who don't normally have a voice, such as the younger people as Michael talked about. In my interview with Dev Patniak regarding his book Wired to Care, he basically said we don't have to be innovative if we have an intense understanding of our customers--what he refers to as empathy. Stop trying to live off your own wisdom and insights. Get to the edges and you'll get fresh insights. Finally, remember Michael's suggestion about talking to the Non's. That means spending some time with people who aren't currently using the services or your team or company but potentially could. Or maybe they're not fans of you or your team or your project. Why is that? Don't write them off. Insights from the Non's could just help you turn them. I trust it's obvious that I really like Michael's book Know What You Don't Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen. Get a copy and enjoy it--it's a great read.   You can learn more about Michael and read his blog by visiting http://michael-roberto.blogspot.com/. Hey, take a minute to stop by our podcast Facebook page! I invite you to Like it and the join the discussion. Thank you for being a premium subscriber to The People and Projects Podcast. Please let me know what questions you have and if there's anything I can do to help you lead and deliver. Thank you for joining me for this premium episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

This week on Skepticality, Derek talks with author and professor Cathy N. Davidson, co-founder of HASTAC, "Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory", about her recently released book, "Now You See It", which tells the fascinating story of how our understanding of human attention and learning can be used to enhance and change the manner in which we teach in the modern era.

Episode Duration 25:21 Download episode 60 In our last episode you heard the first portion of my discussion with Cathy N. Davidson, author of Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn Cathy's book is just coming out this week and has already been named one of the top 10 science books of this fall season. Is technology making it more difficult to focus? Cathy and I talk about that in this second portion of the interview. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

Check out this quote from Daniel J. Boorstin. He said,"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge." How often have we kidded ourselves that we knew something only to get more data or evidence later that made it clear we didn't have the full story? It happens all the time. Probably more than we realize. I find a related observation when it comes to attention. We think we see the world or situations or people clearly but inevitably it's all being filtered through lenses. It could be argued that we have an illusion of observation. Have you ever seen the famous video that asks you to count the number of times a basketball is passed between a group of college students? Check it out: {youtube}vJG698U2Mvo{/youtube} Interesting, eh? Selective attention is alive and well, and for all of us who desire to lead and deliver, we need to be acutely aware of how it works. In this premium episode I want to take time to highlight some points from the interview with Cathy to help you put the learning into action. First, let's start getting our arms wrapped around Cathy's point that our schools and workplaces are often more designed for the early 20th century instead of the 21st. We may not have control of how your schooling was structured, but let's start thinking about how we best go about helping ourselves and our team learn and work going forward. How about finding ways to embrace collaborative technologies in new and interesting ways instead of making people check them at the door? For example, typical meeting protocol is to discourage people from using their laptops and cell phones during meetings. But why not encourage people to be texting and chatting during meetings, especially virtual ones? If this seems dangerous or rude or a recipe for chaos for meetings, that's OK. It's the years of conditioning that we've had! IBM has found that by actively encouraging chatting during virtual meetings, it keeps people more engaged. I've experimented with this myself and found that it can significantly change the culture of web-based meetings for the positive. In Cathy's book she lays out a strong case for how IBM uses "backchanneling" to leverage technology in meetings. Second, and related, here's a tip I learned years ago. If people are moving their attention to their laptops or other devices, it may not just be that they're rude. That's a possibility, of course, but here's my point: it just be that the meeting is boring and irrelevant. I've learned that if someone isn't paying attention when I'm facilitating, the problem may not be them: it may be me! Find ways to more fully engage people. Maybe a different venue? Maybe on Second Life! How about this? I love using Poll Everywhere to allow people to respond to a poll by texting their responses. It's an expensive tool and shows results real time. I love it! It's fun and engaging. Let's realize that asking people to check their electronics at the door causes us to miss opportunities to engage them. Third, a proven project management and leadership principle is to involve others in the planning. I've often said we need to make sure that n is greater than one! But the point brought up in the discussion with Cathy is that it shouldn't just be "in addition to me" but also "different from me." Diversity of thought is not just something to do because it's politically correct. It's just plain more effective. Cathy's organization calls it collaboration by difference. As she mentions in the interview, we often say we want diversity of thought, skills, and opinions, but then we recruit in our own image. Whether at work or in our personal lives, there is value in collaboration by difference: surrounding ourselves with people who don't just look, think, and see the same as we do. Fourth, remember that technology is here to serve us, not the other way around. If you're finding that social networking or your handheld device or some new software tool is chewing up too much of your time, the problem may not be the technology. It might just be you. We need new habits for the new technology. I've found this simple little cube timer is a handy way to block out some time to focus on one thing. When it goes off, then I can (in Tony Schwartz's terms) pulse to something else. In some situations I find it best to close my web browser or shut down my mail client. At times I completely turn off my phone. I love Cathy's idea of using a different computer for some of the more fun things, or at least get up and move as part of your switching. Make the technology work for you. It's not the enemy—we just need new habits. Finally, as much as interruptions from others is frustrating, remember what Cathy and I talked about regarding Gloria Mark's research on distractions. 44% of the distractions didn't come from others. Rather, it came from us. As Cathy said, "Heartache and heartburn are more distracting than technology!" Work on calming your own distractions. I'm finding that using a Kanban board is helping me and my family stay focused on the most important projects at work and home. David Allen's teaching on getting things out of our mind and onto a list can be helpful as well. Realize that we are often our own distraction problem. Cathy's book isn't for everyone, but the lessons are relevant for us all. If you are particularly interested in how to improve education and the workplace to be better prepared for today's demands, I recommend you get a copy of Cathy's book. What's a challenge you're having in managing your attention? Send me an e-mail at andy@i-leadonline.com. I love hearing from Premium Subscribers. Hey, the People and Projects Podcast is now on Facebook! I invite you to Like us at http://www.facebook.com/pages/People-and-Projects-Podcast/224005747630357 and join the discussion. Thank you for being a premium subscriber to The People and Projects Podcast! Please let me know what questions you have and if there's anything I can do to help you lead and deliver. Thank you for joining me for this premium episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Total Duration 6:54 Download the premium episode

Episode Duration 16:52 Download episode 59 So let me guess.... While you're listening to this cast right now, I'm guessing you're also doing something else as well, right? Maybe driving a car or checking e-mail or working out. Or perhaps you're checking out what's going on with your Facebook friends. Hey, if you're doing that, look up The People and Projects Podcast on Facebook and Like us! Oops. Sorry. I got a bit distracted there for a moment! Anyway, there are seemingly an endless number of stimuli that are vying for your attention right now. Which do you focus on? Why? There are many great minds that are putting a lot of effort into these questions for it could reasonably be argued that time is not the scarcest resource any more: it's attention. As we strive to focus in a world clamoring for our attention, I wanted to share one of my favorite books that is just coming out this week. It's entitled Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn, by Cathy N. Davidson. I had the opportunity to talk with Cathy earlier this month and look forward to sharing that discussion over the course of two episodes. You can learn more about Cathy and read her blog by visiting http://www.cathydavidson.com/. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

Speakers: Nicholas Carr, Author, "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains". Cathy Davidson, Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English and John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Duke University. Clifford Nass, Thomas M. Storke Professor, Stanford University. Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology, MIT. Moderator: Dennis Kneale, Senior Correspondent, Fox Business Network. Put down the iPad and pay attention: Technology may be rewiring your brain. Scientists say our ability to focus is being undermined by Twitter feeds, smartphones and other digital distractions. Many experts believe excessive use of technology can make users more impatient, impulsive, forgetful and even narcissistic. It may reduce the ability to process information and think deeply and creatively. Distracted drivers have become a menace on the roads. Even worse, tech-obsessed parents spend less quality time with their children, causing not only hurt feelings but potentially stunting a child's vocabulary and development. At the same time, studies show Internet users are more efficient at finding information, and gamers develop better visual acuity. Is the technology that was intended to make us more productive actually dumbing us down? Is its use in the classroom counterproductive? How does it change our culture and society in general?

Cathy Davidson is the co-founder of HASTAC and discussed the new $2 million Digital Media and Learning Competition (David Theo Goldberg was due to join us but due to technical issues could not). Agree, disagree, like, don't like...? Feel free to leave a comment at http://mediasnackers.com/2007/08/mediasnackers-podcast97/