November 29, 2017
“Protecting academic freedom is the AAUP’s core mission. Academic freedom is the indispensable requisite for unfettered teaching and research in institutions of higher education. As the academic community’s core policy document states, “institutions of higher education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interest of either the individual teacher or the institution as a whole. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free...
November 27, 2017
“PROBLEM-SOLVING IS A UNIVERSAL JOB SKILL THAT APPLIES TO ANY POSITION AND EVERY INDUSTRY. WHILE EVERYONE IS TASKED WITH SOME FORM OF PROBLEM-SOLVING IN THEIR WORKPLACE, NOT ALL EMPLOYEES ARE GOOD AT IT.” (from “What are problem-solving skills and why are they important?” in CareerBuilder) So much for the general description. Let’s look at the issue from an industrial skills training point-of-view. The ultimate test for instrument technicians, electricians and electronic technicians,...
November 20, 2017
“A learning objective should describe what students should know or be able to do at the end of the course that they couldn’t do before. Learning objectives should be about student performance. Good learning objectives shouldn’t be too abstract (“the students will understand what good literature is”); too narrow (“the students will know what a ground is”); or be restricted to lower-level cognitive skills (“the students will be able to name the...
November 15, 2017
Today’s post is going to focus on a new concept in public school education that, actually in many ways, reflects much of what we have been advocating for almost a decade. Burying the old “lecture/reading/testing” model will liberate many more learning possibilities. Emphasizing collaborative learning and project-based learning will open doors for so many of our young people. And, while I have also emphasized multi-media instruction as well as bite-sized learning on-demand,...
November 13, 2017
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” (Malcolm X) Yes, the word “Education,” like the word “Peace,” conjures up a positive response in our minds. Yet, I would maintain that, today, higher education is destructively flawed. American colleges and universities are no longer as dedicated to the liberation and development of human potential. They are no longer as interested in challenging the...
November 8, 2017
Media-based online training has the potential to change the world of learning. And, we should all look forward to the impending fall of the wall between business and education. That wall has separated the two sectors for many years, but the pressure of global economic competition is leading many to plan for that barrier’s demise. The historical separation between business and that sector of the educational system responsible for the 75% or...
November 6, 2017
Imagine my surprise when I recently read a long-established training vendor’s new press release. Omitting the organization’s name, I’m going to quote from the release: “(Company X) conducted a survey of its clients to determine the effectiveness of online training. Comparing over 100,000 pre- and post-test scores, (Company X) found that clients using (Company X’s) courses significantly increased their trainees’ technical and safety knowledge. After reviewing the tests results from a large...
November 1, 2017
A couple of weeks ago, I discovered one of the more interesting articles I’ve read this year. Marilynne Robinson’s essay in the current issue of the “The New York Review of Books” is drawn from her new book, What Are We Doing Here?. which will be published in February. Robinson is an American novelist and essayist and has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, the 2012 National...
