#CLMOOC Make Cycle #2: Re(Media)te with ME

I started taking part in MOOCs several years ago and am now part of the 2015 Connected Learning MOOC #CLMOOC. We're in the second week, and each week a newsletter introduces a new theme for learning. The theme this week is Re(Media)te with ME, which means participants are encouraged "to choose something (an artifact, a story, a picture, a video clip, an anything) and over the course of the week remediate it through one or more different media."

This is something I've been doing for nearly 20 years. Many of the graphics you see on this blog started out as doodles on a notepad during meetings I've attended. This drawing is one example:

This is the visualization that I created from that bunch of scribbles.

Since 2005 I've had a variety of interns from different colleges work with me for as long a a year, and as short as a week. In many of these projects, interns look at a blog article and graphic, then create their own interpretation.

This graphic first appeared in this blog article.

Below is a video interpretation of my blog article, created in 2013 by Kyungryul Kim, an intern from IIT and from South Korea.

Here's another example. I've used this graphic many times to show the role of intermediaries who connect people who can help to places where help (tutoring, mentoring, learning programs, etc) is needed. This PDF describes "building a network of purpose".

View this blog article, and this Prezi, to see how another intern did an interpretation of the PDF during his June 2013 internship.

Browse this intern blog and see many more examples of interns Re(Media)ting with Tutor/Mentor Connection. Visit this page and see a library of these projects.

I think students in middle school, high school and colleges throughout the country, and the world, could be creating their own versions of these strategy presentations, adopting them to their own location and its needs. I think kids doing Bar and Bat Mitzvahs could be doing these as part of the service project included in this religious coming of age ceremony. In each case we create new leaders with broader understanding of ways to overcome poverty, and we create new messages sharing these ideas with the adults in their lives.

Mapping Data - Resources

I created a new concept map, showing some of the data mapping platforms I point to in my web library and blog articles. Here's the link.

These are resources people from anyplace in the US can use to draw attention to a wide range of issues that concern members of different communities. This is one of many concept maps I've created, which you can see on this page.

If you'd like me to help you understand the information in each map, and their purposes, let's connect.

What Are You Doing to Support Volunteer Recruitment for Back to School?

I know it's still June, but what are your plans to help mobilize volunteers to be part of organized tutoring, mentoring and learning programs for the 2015-16 school year? School starts in September. Tutor/Mentor Programs should be sending out email to ask veteran volunteers to sign up for another year, and new volunteers to join, as we enter August.

However, what are YOU (business, faith group, political leader, media, celebrity, etc) doing now to help programs in Chicago and other cities recruit volunteers so more youth are able to benefit from a mentor and being part of an organized program?

Here's a presentation with tips for mobilizing volunteers. If teams of volunteers in business, faith groups, media, etc. look at this, there are many ways your team can help mobilize volunteers for various tutor/mentor programs serving your city.

Strategies for recruiting volunteers for tutor/mentor programs by Daniel F. Bassill

Don't wait until August. There is work that already should have been started. For instance:

Help programs build staff to support volunteers. If we were able to organize a massive volunteer recruitment campaign that doubled the number of volunteers we would fail in our mission if we had not also increased the staff available in different programs to support those volunteers. The worst campaign is one that inspires someone to volunteer, who then finds out there is no room for them, or get into a program where they are poorly supported. That volunteer turns around and tells others "Don't do this."

One way to help programs attract talent, is to help them get the operating dollars they need to hire and pay staff. Consider adding organized tutor/mentor programs to your company's workplace giving campaign choices, and to programs like "dollars for doers" and matching gifts. Encourage employees who already volunteer or serve on boards to tell other employees about the value of these programs and to encourage donations to support operations.

Help programs improve the way they tell their stories on their web sites. Volunteers and parents who are shopping to find a place to volunteer should be able to look at a web site and see if the program is close to where they live or work, has a history of success, is well organized, and meets at a time frame convenient for the volunteer and youth to participate regularly. View this shoppers guide for some ideas of what should be on a web site.

Teams of volunteers, or individual volunteers, can offer their talent to help programs improve their web sites, tell their stories, and even organize events that support learning and participation of youth and volunteers. This essay, shows roles of talent volunteers.

While its only June, now's the time to plan ways to include volunteer recruitment ads in fall media and business publications. Non profit tutor/mentor programs have few advertising dollars, yet it is reach and frequency of message delivery that finds potential volunteers (and donors) and encourages them to shop and become involved in tutor/mentor programs in different neighborhoods. Create ads that show your company logo, and point to web directories where people can learn about volunteer opportunities in their city.

One role volunteers can take is to help get tutor/mentor organizations listed on as many volunteer matching services as you can. This graphic is the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC's concept map showing a range of web sites where you can list your program. This includes the Illinois Mentoring Partnership, the One Good Deed Chicago and VolunteerMatch sites.

Do this work now and many kids will have the special opportunity of being part of an organized, volunteer-based tutor/mentor program this fall and for many years to come. You can help change the future through your actions.

If you'd like to meet or talk with me about actions you can take to support volunteer recruitment, just email tutormentor2 at earthlink.net or reach out to me on Twitter @tutormentorteam.

Do the Reading. Do the Planning.

I've used this graphic in the past to illustrate the planning required to get from "here", or where we are today, to "there", or where we want to be in the future. With the horrible mass murder in Charleston, we have another reminder of a complex problem that will take a long time to solve.

This graphic is intended to show how groups of people with some common identity should be banding together to study available information about the problem they are concerned about, and about how people in different places are trying to solve the same problem. By borrowing ideas from people already working on a problem groups can innovate new ways to apply those solutions in different places. This is a constant cycle that could have thousands of groups meeting at faith groups, businesses, colleges, social and civic clubs, family gatherings, etc.

I've written over 1000 articles and in many I'm using graphics like this, and posting links to other articles. I tag each article, so if groups wanted to spend some time just reading article talking about planning, they could click on the planning tag, and scroll through those articles.

I've also created some illustrated essays to describe work that needs to be done. This presentation shows that if someone is collecting information about a problem, and highlighting promising practices, they can stimulate how others throughout the sector might include those ideas in their own work.

Using Ideas to Stimulate Competition and Process Improvement - Concept Paper by Daniel F. Bassill

I've never had nearly enough funding to do this as well as it needs to be done, but the articles I write, and the conferences I've hosted, have been intended to point attention to work being done in this field. This is all part of an on-going 4-part strategy that I describe here.

If we want to get to a different place, we need to be doing the planning, and this needs to be taking place in thousands of big and small groups.

Building Tutor/Mentor Teams at Universities

I presented a workshop at yesterday's Illinois Campus Compact conference, held at DePaul University. My goal was to inspire campus leaders to launch student/faculty/alumni teams that duplicate what I've been doing to support the growth of mentor-rich non-school programs in high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago, but with a focus on the geography around each campus. Below are slides from my presentation:

Forming a College-Based Tutor/Mentor Connection by Daniel F. Bassill

Interns from various universities have spent time getting to know the T/MC since 2005. See a list of interns here. View some of their projects, here. This page points to a project done by DePaul students in 2009 and 2010.

Any university in the world could engage students in this type of project. Contact me if you'd like my help.

Collecting, Mapping, Sharing Knowledge

I created this graphic over 20 years ago to visualize the information I was trying to collect to support the growth, and effectiveness, of the volunteer-based tutor/mentor program I was leading in Chicago, and to help similar programs grow in other high poverty neighborhoods of the city.

Between 1994 and 2004 the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) published a printed directory of Chicago non-school tutor/mentor programs, sorting by age group served, type of program and location in Chicago. In 2004 we put the Directory on-line and launched the on-line program locator that enabled you to search by these criteria and get a map showing the program and any other programs in the same part of the city.

In 2005 I began using concept maps to share ideas and show information available in the Tutor/Mentor Connection library. The map below is a version of the knowledge map above. I've been trying for years to create an interactive graphic that would work like a blueprint, showing all of the talents and influences needed to build thriving adults, starting with their pre school years. You can see this here.

This graphic is another way to visualize each section of the map above. It's intended to show the range of influences and supports, a youth might need to grow from one age level to another. In more affluent areas, these resources are naturally available, or parents have the money to purchase them, and knowledge to know where to find help that is needed.

In high poverty neighborhoods that's not the case. The resources are less available and parents don't have the money to purchase all the help kids need. This is the problem Robert. D. Putnam wrote about in the book "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis". Thus, if we collect links related to each node, we could create a library of "models" showing supports available to kids in some places, that need to be available to kids in many other places.

Ideally a visitor could chose a section of the map, based on the age group of the youth he/she was interested in helping. Then he could click into any of the nodes to find ideas related to that topic. If these were also plotted on a map, you could see if they are available in the neighborhood you're interested in. Ideally there would be links to discussion forums and help centers where people could gather and learn about these resources, and talk about ways to improve them where they exist, or build new ones where they are needed. This map should also point to sources of talent and dollars to support the growth and operations of these programs, also with a geographic sort feature.

So far, most of this does not exist on my sites, and I'm not sure if it exists anywhere else.

I've never had much money, or talent, to help me build this, or share it, and I've much less since 2011. I created this presentation to show what I've been building since 1994.

Tutor/Mentor Institute - Learning Network Strategy by Daniel F. Bassill

As you look at presentation above, also look at this presentation on Slide Share, which was created in 1998. These are just two of many presentations and articles I've written that others could turn into a curriculum, or their own city-wide strategy for helping kids move through school and into jobs and careers.

While I'd be delighted to have one of the billionaires who bankroll political elections decide to bankroll my efforts, I'd be just as happy if a benefactor said "let's put this on a college campus, with you as the creative director."

Until that happens I'll continue sharing ideas via my blogs and speaking at conferences, such as the Illinois Campus Compact event on Monday, where I'll be talking about how the Tutor/Mentor Connection could be adopted on many college campuses.

If you agree that this type of a knowledge library could support the involvement of large number of people who may not know how to get involved now, or if you want to help me build part of this system, introduce yourself. Let's start a conversation.

One Good Deed Chicago only part of needed leadership support

An article in today's Chicago SunTimes announces Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's support for mentoring through the One Good Deed Chicago portal.

This represents just one of the four resources that the Mayor should be supporting, if he wants youth in all high poverty neighborhoods to connect with volunteer tutors, mentors, coaches and others who will help kids move through school and into jobs....over what could be a 10 to 15 year period of support. See this map here.

A resource that enables mentoring programs to post volunteer opportunities would fit into the green box on this chart.

If you click on the node at the bottom of the green box, you'll get a new map, shown here. You'll see there already are a number of ways programs can post volunteer opportunities and volunteers can search for places where they can be involved. Spending city money to build a Chicago specific site is money that could be spent better focusing on the other three sections of the map shown above.

Since 1994 I've been piloting the use of maps to show WHERE tutoring/mentoring programs are most needed, and where existing programs are located. I've shared this information with the Mayor's office, and many other leaders, over and over, with the goal that they form teams that work to help every existing program get the talent, ideas, technology, dollars, etc. to constantly improve how they connect youth and volunteers and how that leads more kids through school and into careers.

Here's a photo from 1997 where I was hosting the Mayor and General John Borland, who was then head of the Chicago United Way, at the May 1997 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference. My message then, and now, was use your bulley pulpit to motivate the business and university community to support the growth of mentor-rich tutor/mentor programs in more places.

What's mentor-rich?

View this PDF to see what I mean by "mentor rich" or "Total Quality" mentoring.

What's "constantly improving" mean"

Organizations that are constantly innovating ways to improve, by learning from their own work, from what competitors are doing, and from what the market and internet offer them, are what I call "constantly improving" organizations. Nonprofits cannot do this if they don't have the dollars or work environment to hire and retain people who will spend time looking at what others do, and gathering information that helps them look at what they are doing, with an eye toward constant improvement. That's why One Good Deed Chicago and the Mayor's strategy is flawed.

While the site encourages people to volunteer, it should also be encouraging people to provide dollars and talent to support individual tutoring/mentoring organizations in every neighborhood. Don't just point to the well-organized, well-supported programs. Yes, they need support to stay great. However, all other organizations need constant support, and encouragement, to become great.

A site that depends on organizations to voluntarily post their volunteer opportunities will never be able to create a map showing most, if not all, of the existing volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring organizations in the city or region. Nor will it be able to break down existing programs into type of program, age group served, or location, like the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator has been trying to do since 2004.

The city needs neighborhoods full of great youth serving, tutoring, mentoring, and learning programs. So do the suburbs.

The links in the other three sections of the Tutor/Mentor Library include research showing where and why tutor/mentor programs are most needed, how to build and sustain a volunteer-based programs, challenges of philanthropic support, roles business can play, and ideas for collaboration, innovation, knowledge management, etc.

The Mayor does not need to recreate these resources. He needs to encourage people to use them daily to innovate more and better ways to make mentor-rich learning programs available to youth in all high poverty areas of Chicago, and in other neighborhoods where kids need help growing up. He could even encourage investors, business and others to provide support to me and others who collect and share this type of information.

Concerned with Poverty, Inequality? Do the Planning.

I focus on volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs because of their potential go engage a wide range of talent from beyond poverty. This talent needs to be involved in research, innovation and planning, with the goal of helping the programs they are part of have a constantly improving impact on the lives of the kids and volunteers who become part of these programs. Such involvement is intended to help high quality non-school tutoring, mentoring and learning programs become available to youth in every high poverty neighborhood of big cities like Chicago.

I've created a variety of concept maps intended to encourage planning that covers "all we need to do" to achieve this goal. This map is a new one that I created this weekend. Take a look and share in your network.

See this and more maps like this here.

If a growing number of leaders adopted the commitment shown in the map below, and created planning teams who used the map above, we'd have more and better programs in place helping kids move through school and into jobs within a few years.

See this and a series of related maps and articles here.

Closing Opportunity Gaps - Expanding Involvement

If you've followed the articles I write you'll see that I focus on poverty and inequality and that I think volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs can be part of the solution.

The photo on the left is from the Cluster Tutoring Program's year end celebration. Thank you to Connie Henderson Damon for letting me share her photograph. This program is located in the Austin area on Chicago's West side. Note the diversity in the room. This is an organization that is bringing together people who don't live in poverty with children and youth who do. They've been doing it for a long time.

I've always thought of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs as a form of adult service-learning, a form of bridging social capital. The volunteers who get involved often say they think they learned more than the kids. What this means is some are learning about poverty and inequality, and many move beyond their personal involvement and try to get others involved.

This graphic illustrates this service-learning idea. In 2011 it was converted into this animated presentation by one of my interns from IIT and South Korea.

I found the photograph of Cluster Tutoring Program's year end event on Facebook. At this time of the year, many tutor/mentor programs are celebrating and some are sharing their photos on Facebook. Here are a few more:

Chicago Lights Tutoring Program - click here

East Village Youth Program - look at photos

Inspired Youth - visit page

Partnership to Educate and Advance Kids (PEAK) - see page

Midtown Education Foundation - see photos

These are just a few of the Chicago area tutoring/mentoring programs using Facebook to show the diversity of youth and volunteers who they connect every year. You can find nearly 130, organized by section of the city, on this list.

I created this graphic to illustrate the potential for a site-based tutor/mentor program to connect inner city youth with volunteers, ideas and opportunities in every industry in the Chicago region.

Such programs don't start with this diversity. It takes many years to build participation. It takes consistent support from volunteers, donors, media to help programs grow, build and sustain this diversity of participation.

I've been trying to maintain a Directory of non-school tutor/mentor programs in Chicago since I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993. In addition, I've been trying to plot locations of site-based programs on maps, so leaders, planners, media and researchers can see where programs are most needed, and where existing programs are located. This information would show voids where too few programs exist.

I've used print newsletters, then email newsletters, for nearly 40 years to help volunteers and leaders find information that would help them be more effective tutors, mentors and leaders, but also to help them think of ways they could support the growth of long-term, mentor-rich programs in more places.

If you're reading about inequality, racism, violence, workforce readiness and education issues, think of the role tutor/mentor programs can be in expanding the network of people who are joining in this effort...who might never have become involved if not for the invitation of a tutor/mentor program to become a volunteer.

Then visit the web site of Cluster Tutoring Program or the others I point to and look for ways to get involved. Help them do this work next year, and in years to come.