Thoughts of Richard C. Close

‘Lord of the Flies vs. Lost Boys of Sudan’ An Exclusive Interview with Jacob Atem, Lost boy & Ph.D. Candidate By Richard C Close Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies (which is required reading of millions of youth in the western world), is perhaps the greatest literary lie in western education’s history. Now that a few cages have been rattled, let’s challenge the well established, authoritarian, colonial ideals against the experiential backdrop of one of the real life Lost Boys of the Sudan. The premise of Lord of the Flies is that when the superior authority is removed, the more primitive nature of man (in this case wealthy boys) will take over with false religion, bullying, power struggles, and finally savagery. Also, keep in mind that this work was written 1952, when South African apartheid was in full swing. This is also written before the Martin Luther King, Jr. American social revolution. The premise of this mindset was that without sound western government author...

Diversity, Learning Styles and Project Based Learning Upgrading Classroom Methods for a Global “Personal Learning Framework” Nov. 19th 10 AM EST New York City time Lecture:  Richard C Close, Servant – CEO  Chrysalis Campaign, Inc. Audience:  NGO leaders, Educators, Mentors and Curriculum Developers Description:  Provide simple methods for how to handle Diversity, Learning Styles within Project based Learning Upgrading classroom methods to handle poverty and trauma in the classroom with a global Personal Learning Framework. Webinar Session Description: Join here:   http://www.globaleducationconference.com/forum/topics/short-session-description-provide-method-for-how-to-handle  Description: Some place in any country a teacher stands in front of highly diverse class filled with students charged with emotional issues impacting the student’s ability to learn and the teacher's ability to teach. The US teacher must handle a class with fiv...

Add caption Article to be published Oct. 2013 Issue: Arise Magazine, UK Africa Title:  Letter to my African Sisters, “Technology and the Heart… Women's Health” Dear Daughters, I am writing to you about the health of your hearts and the power you have been given as women. I know life can be a long, hard road of oppression, bad deals and injustice. It is easy to harden your hearts. Have faith, your road is coming to an end. You have been given evolutionary gifts that you are just beginning to understand and leverage. I am writing you to tell you that we see you standing proud and transforming the world, but you can do so much more, so much faster. You are no longer alone: For over 50,000 years, men have held women in isolation to control them. Today, the device in your hand empowers you to connect with every man, woman and child in the world. From your phone, you have medical access from all the universities in the world. Sites like www.webmd.com will empo...

Article Global Education Magazine Issue 5 Pages 44 - 51 Abstract “ While traditional classrooms wade through indexed text books chapter by chapter in order to pass Friday’s test, a torrent of knowledge is streaming past and through the students on their cell phones. While the teacher at the head of class has a one way channel of dumping facts into empty buckets, billions of people outside the classroom walls are exchanging terabits of fluid knowledge in collaborative communities.” This paper discusses how humans have evolved technology to a point where Internet learning has bypassed academia, this is the revolution. It then discusses practical methods for integrating global learning within classroom academics. This visionary and disruptive paper proposes an ugraded set of global education theories and practical methods of how educators and NGO can leverage the content and collaborations. Digging deeper into contemporary theories about technical collaboration the article hi...

I watch these videos at the beginning of the Leaning Styles course and perhaps see them in a different perspective now. What still remains is a lack of understanding in of the theorists on the deeper dynamics of poverty / trauma in a Adult Learner’s life and how that impacts learning methods. In addition human culture is mentioned in passing However a clear understanding on how each culture views learning as different and how personal experience impacts learning is simply brushed over. Adult Children of Alcoholics or abuse adults have many issues that impact Adult Learning theory and methods. Yes Cunningham is right in that we have to deconstruct social injustice however we need to replace it with empowerment of individual by deconstructing negative values and reconstructing with positive and productive ones. Knowledge is a fact wrapped in a community of context. Knowledge is quantitative (factual) and qualitative wrapped in culture and experience. A peach is a quantitative fact if...

I have been following Nancy’s and WOUGNET’s Uganda blogs for some time now, often stopping my work for a prayer and tears. It is a great honor to write in this Arise magazine of innovation and style. My mother, now 94, was a tough feminist before her time, raising three boys while my father was on the road. She taught full time while getting her Master's in Education at Columbia University in New York City. I still have memories of her on her bed, sandwich in hand, with books and papers long after the nightly chores were done. Later, when raising my own daughter, Maya, I would drop her off at elementary school each morning telling her “Get straight A’s, go to a good school and change the world.” In my family, learning is everything. Today, Maya is a special needs teacher in Brooklyn, NY. This being said, I ponder what a visionary strategist in learning technology could offer to my sisters in Africa. My life has been filled with riots in Kenya’s Rift Valley, the oppression of ...

Below is a Link to a 20 page white paper I developed as a labor of love (no charge download at Academia.edu) for my many friends in Africa and colleagues in academia. As one of my Linkedin contacts thought you might like a copy. The paper is filled with strategic and marketing tips to help expand the Internet’s global education reach. Teacher and community leaders need greater access to the Internet but also need the Teleco’s to partner with them on how to leverage the Internet’s content and collaborative resources.  We invite you to share this link with fellow government, education and ICT leaders. View/Download: “Human Collaboration, Africa’s Revolutionary Application for Broad Band Expansion” http://www.academia.edu/4154169/Human_Collaboration_Africa_Revolution_App_White_Paper_by_Richard_C_Close This unique paper evolved from a diner with New York City university professors and lawyers having a discussion about the issues around deploying broad band and Internet t...

Time: July 28, 2013 to August 31, 2013 Est. Time: 45 minutes Take Free Course: http://www.screencast.com/t/bitWepto0v Organized By: Richard Close rclose@richardclose.info Event Description: Dear Linkedin and Twitter Colleagues We are completing a three part series on the Theories and Methods for the Global Learning Framework over the month of August. This is the first part on the Personal Learning Framework that provides practical experiences on how and individual learns and transforms the world while using global collaborative Internet. The next two eLearning courses in the series are on leverage the simple methods in the classroom and for country's community development programs. Global Learning Framework expands Adult Learning theories and integrates global technology learning, cell collaboration with the issues of poverty.  This eLearning course is targeted on how Learning Styles /diversity and personalities work together in Project Based Learning to solve li...

While sitting on on the UN Youth Media Visions conference in Columbia Teachers College in New York City I placed all the youth video project speakers into on collaborative environment. There are hundred of best example of youth videos form around the world in this site. Join: UN Youth Media Visions  https://mightybell.com/spaces/43128