If today was your last day…

Dwayne Harapnuik —  August 15, 2012 — Leave a comment

Been doing a bit of reflecting while running these past few mornings. Chad Kroeger’s song If Today Was Your Last Day has been on my iPhone playlist repeatedly. Living each day as if it was your last means you must live a principled life and as the author states: Going against the grain should be a way of life. I have come to realize living this way does come at a cost everything worth while does. I am reconciled by the fact that you only live once and this realms is only temporal–the eternal is yet to come.

http://youtu.be/K95SmpWwAgA

If Today Was Your Last Day – Chad Kroeger of Nickleback

My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each days a gift and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned
Leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride

If today was your last day
If tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have
If today was your last day

Going against the grain should be a way of life
What’s worth the price is always worth the fight
Every second counts cause there’s no second try
So live it like you’re never living twice
Don’t take the free ride in your whole life
If today was your last day
If tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have
And would you call old friends you never see
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies
And would you find that one your dreaming of
Swear up and down to god above
That you’ll finally fall in love
If today was your last day

If today was your last day
Would you make your mark
On ending a broken heart
You know it’s never too late
To shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes
Cause you can’t rewind
A moment in this life
Let nothing stand in your way
Cause the hands of time
Are never on your side

If today was your last day
If tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have
And would you call old friends you never see
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies
And would you find that one your dreaming of
Swear up and down to god above
That you’ll finally fall in love
If today was your last day

In Video - Wednesday Watchlist , ,
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Dream Never Dies…Just the Dreamer

Dwayne Harapnuik —  August 14, 2012 — Leave a comment

I haven’t heard this song for MANY years but after reviewing several emails regarding my resignation I thought it would be appropriate to post it and the lyric. Lets hope the dreams that I started at Concordia are strong enough to continue with out the dreamer.

The Cooper Brothers — The Dream Never Dies

[CHORUS]
The dream never dies
Just the dreamer
The dream never dies
If it’s strong
The song never dies
Just the singer
So come on, everybody
Sing along

Some men dream of fame
And some of fortune
Some men dream about
Time gone by

All men dream of someone
They’d like to become
Cause without dreams inside us
Yeah, without dreams
How would we all get by

[Repeat CHORUS]
The dream never dies
The dream never dies
So, come on, everybody
Dream along

Some men dream of Heaven
And some of the Lord above
Some men dream about
Pie in the sky

All men dream of happiness
And all men dream of love
Cause without dreams to guide us
Yeah, without dreams
How would we all get by

[Repeat CHORUS]

The dream never dies
The dream never dies
So, come on, everybody
Dream along

[Repeat CHORUS]

The dream never dies
The dream never dies
So, come on, everybody
Dream along

[Repeat CHORUS to fade]

In Announcement
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Resignation Notification

Dwayne Harapnuik —  August 13, 2012 — Leave a comment

The following email was sent to all Concordia faculty and staff. Dr. Krispin outlines the circumstances leading to this decision so I will simply let his official notice stand:

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Colleagues,

Last night Dr. Dwayne Harapnuik tendered his resignation as Vice President Academic at Concordia to me, which I have accepted and will forward to our Board of Governors. In this letter Dwayne reflected upon his reason for coming to Concordia, which was to be an agent of change in order to position Concordia to be a thriving university for the future and develop the best learning environment students could have anywhere. This he sought to do with diligence and dedication, albeit finding himself torn between two points of focus: he was given charge over the student services portfolio and directing the academic program of the institution. The divergent interests of student needs and services competed with those of the faculty. Ultimately, Dwayne now recognizes that in his desire to improve the student experience, faculty interests were not always in the fore-front. And while amazing progress was made for our students, progress for our academic planning was much slower. Now, with the advent of a unionized faculty environment, Dwayne felt his goal to be a change-agent at Concordia was going to be on hold for the foreseeable future, certainly on the academic front. To be clear: Dwayne emphasized that he believes that this resignation is in the best interest of Concordia at this time; this is not a career move, but making way so that which has been sown can continue to grow.

I personally know that Dwayne is tremendously gifted, has a passion for student learning and engagement, and will realize these aspirations elsewhere, even as he did at Abelene Christian University and indeed began to do here at Concordia. I pray that our Lord will bless him richly as he embarks on another path, perhaps at another insitution where his talents may be engaged fruitfully.

In His Service,

 

Gerald Krispin

In Announcement
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Power of Networks

Dwayne Harapnuik —  July 25, 2012 — 1 Comment

The following two TED talks reveal just how powerful networks are. In the first video the power of networks is reveal through crowd sourcing global goals and making an impact on thing like child poverty. But the being able to collect and connect global goals and then make commitments also means that the global telecoms and internet providers know not only who and where you are but who you are communicating with and about what.

In this second video the reality of just how much data the telecoms and internet providers have on all of us who are connected through our mobile technologies is revealed. It will be very easy for countries like Iran and China to track who the network leaders are. This makes one ask if bringing down the Berlin wall and the subsequent fall of the iron curtain would have happened if the Stasi would have known who was talking to who and who was leading the charge. Lots to consider.

In Video - Wednesday Watchlist , ,
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The Perpetual Promise of Adaptive Learning

Dwayne Harapnuik —  July 20, 2012 — Leave a comment
http://mashable.com/2012/07/17/knewton-adaptive-learning/

Adaptive Learning: Why Your Kids Will Be Smarter Than You via kwout

I have been following the Knewton story for a while. I actually I have been following the perpetual promise of technology enhanced adaptive learning since the early 90’s. Remember Authorware? We used to build adaptive learning arrays that enabled systematic instruction based systems to adapt to the response a learner provided. Remember a system from Austria called Hyperwave? It was heralded as the first web-based adaptive learning system in the 90’s and chances are most people have neither heard of it nor recall it. Remember the early promises about adaptive learning with system like WebCT, Courseinfo, and even Blackboard? The adaptive learning holy grail has been pursued by many of us in educational technology for a long time. There is a serious shortcoming to most adaptive learning systems, one that I hope Knewton can overcome. Unfortunately, by their own admission, their system is faced with the same challenges as all the other adaptive learning systems. Consider the following quote:

Knewton can power anything where there’s a “right” answer — that’s all of math for much of K-14. We also can power most of verbal skills, since most people agree on what constitutes good writing, like grammar, sentence structure and topic sentences.

The things we can’t power are things like art or ballet or philosophy, where there’s no right answer ever. But even what people think of as pretty subjective courses, there’s often a right answer.

One of the biggest challenges with any system that is based on making an adaptive decision is that there has to be a definitive right answer. We know from the research that this informational approach really only deals with superficial or surface learning. In contrast, learning processes that require application and integration involve much more subjective answers and are the substance of deeper learning. Unfortunately, Knewton isn’t able to go there. One of our biggest arguments for why liberal arts institutions like Concordia hold much more promise for future learning than any adaptive learning system is that a liberal arts education means learners do not just deal with the right answer, they go much much deeper. Systems like Knewton will continue to evolve and for some aspects of education where the right answer is necessary these system may be useful and I am excited to see them evolve. But for the really complex problems of the world that require very complex interdisciplinary approaches system like Knewton just don’t go deep enough–only institutions like Concordia can provide this depth and interdisciplinary foundation.

In Liberal Arts
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