By Professor K. Taylor (Boston University)

While browsing through the many books relating to Educational Technology (EdTech or EduTech) which have crossed our desks for review, the one which sparked our interest.  We looked at hundreds of books and most were very notable.  There are times when a diamond in the rough presents itself and causes us to rethink many of our current processes within the education community.  While doing research on this book, what stood out most is this book was self-published.  The route of self-publishing can be a tedious route as the due diligence of overall production sits with the author and this route can also meet with detractors for the similar reasons.

The name of this notable book is “Unleashing Your Harnessed Potential“ by Byron Giles.  As I read this book, I quickly began to understand the overall vision to include how the vision related to a corresponding educational technology platform named CertificationPoint.  While also serving as a marker for the start of a new educational technology trend, the book serves as a well-organized guide for college and trade school students who want to gain ‘live’ work experience, hone skills, and build a peer network during college in collaboration with businesses/service buyers.  Mr. Giles’ book also serves as a roadmap for businesses and service buyers seeking to obtain quality work, in a mentored setting, at a reasonable price.  Simply put…students learn to ‘earn’ experience and businesses/service buyers get quality work and potentially meet future employees.

There are a ton of educational technology resources available across the spectrum which are accomplishing amazing things.  Many more articles will enter our rotation, but this book stood out for various reasons such as its overall organization, vision, and concept.  “Unleashing Your Harnessed Potential” is an integral piece of a larger puzzle which left me wanting to reach out to the author to learn more about his blueprint.  Hopefully,we can have one or two interviews with Mr. Giles in near future.

This book can be found at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and several other outlets. It is worth more than a look.  It is worth a read.