tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5117005533318160902.post4517317223213842099..comments2024-03-27T19:53:53.708-06:00Comments on growing changing learning creating: Goodbye college diplomasTom Haskinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12658791778134826289noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5117005533318160902.post-50592892578587620902008-10-28T07:06:00.000-06:002008-10-28T07:06:00.000-06:00Your welcome Javed. The link worked - thanks. Blam...Your welcome Javed. The link worked - thanks. Blaming the teachers may get people's attention, but it also backfire, as you're suspecting. <BR/><BR/>Technological advances are both evolutionary and revolutionary. Camcorders evolved dramatically while they cratered home movie cameras. Cassette tape players moved up a steep learning curve while they devastated reel to reel players. Desktop publishing software evolved through numerous versions while it took out the typesetting industry. <BR/><BR/>I'm not expecting colleges to completely vanish. Steve's point above about content-rich professional studies (law, medicine, engineering, etc) may preserve this pillar of society. Small colleges with intimate class settings are likely to flourish as we evolve into more social, situational, conversational and interactive models of learning.Tom Haskinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12658791778134826289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5117005533318160902.post-10001484112184487112008-10-27T10:06:00.000-06:002008-10-27T10:06:00.000-06:00Thanks for your thoughtful comment back. Education...Thanks for your thoughtful comment back. Educational enterprise will change but the pace of change will be evolutionary rather revolutionary. After all it is one of the main pillars of the society.<BR/><BR/>The link should work now.<BR/><A HREF="http://randomthougts101.blogspot.com/2008/03/beat-up-on-teachers-it-makes-us-feel.html" REL="nofollow">Beat up on Teachers it makes us feel good</A>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11328498846404649322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5117005533318160902.post-1668706768499882842008-10-26T19:30:00.000-06:002008-10-26T19:30:00.000-06:00Thanks for adding so many great insights here. The...Thanks for adding so many great insights here. The link to your post on blaming didn't work, but I'm aware of the pattern you describe. It's the nature of anyone's ego to point fingers at others without any fingers pointing back. The college years are a time for strengthening ego, not losing it - so blaming others abounds. Ego strengthening underlies much economic behavior where the self interest is best served by getting approval from authority figures, a greater quantity of admirers and an accumulation of cred to impress others with. All that plays into the enduring value of college educations.<BR/><BR/>The value you describe colleges providing at credentialing employment candidates is especially necessary when there are slots to be filled by an HR Dept. Smaller enterprises are more concerned with F2F skills, interest in the employer and impressions made in the interview process. The value instructors provide in preventing "information overload" is especially significant when taking lots of semester long courses simultaneously. That gateway or filtering service is less valuable in contexts of self selected, paced and structured learning. <BR/><BR/>You're right that no changes comes from thought leaders, expanded idea spaces or prophetic voices directly. Within Christensen's disruption model, the changes come about by launching a new venture serving non-consumers separate from the incumbent provider and its customers.Tom Haskinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12658791778134826289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5117005533318160902.post-60337308268656008802008-10-26T13:43:00.000-06:002008-10-26T13:43:00.000-06:00This is really interesting. Some of the problems i...This is really interesting. Some of the problems in educational institution come from the administration that has copied the successful model of administration from corporations whose main job is producing widgets such as GM producing cars. When we institute the same measure of assessment to measure the success of learning we get into trouble because learning process is not a neat and crisp phenomenon such as manufacturing a car, where we can create objective statistical measure based upon the defects data collected over a period of time.<BR/><BR/>Actually it has become quite fashionable to beat up on teachers for all the problems in education.<BR/><BR/>http://randomthougts101.blogspot.com/2008/03/beat-up-on-teachers-it-makes-us-feel.html<BR/><BR/>Finally, the educational institution have a responsibility to certify the student's knowledge. It is a service they provide to the employers so that they the prospective employers do not have to test every single applicant or go through large number of applicants to find one hidden gem of an employer out of let us say a million applicant.<BR/><BR/>Contrary to the popular belief that people get paid for providing the information the truth is that most of the information is already out there and motivated individuals can dig it up if they really need it but people are not that motivated leaving few exceptional individual aside. They the modern consumer want everything neatly packaged in many different flavors. So in a consumer oriented society why acquisition of knowledge or learning should be any different or the process of providing it. After all economic theory tells us that consumers are intelligent and will always act in their best self interest to select the best product on the market.<BR/><BR/>Also, too much information causes brain neurons to start misfiring leading to no knowledge acquisition and retention and sifting through too much information is time consuming and a dull and boring activity. Therefore, there will always be need for people who will sift through tons of information and who will package it for general consumption. Be it for learning or entertainment, the twin uses of information and media.<BR/><BR/>Article like these are interesting because they get a rise out of the readers like me who got prompted to write a note like this but they do absolutely nothing in changing the status quo because the solution they propose is seductive but not impractical.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11328498846404649322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5117005533318160902.post-12891556537882644132008-10-25T10:00:00.000-06:002008-10-25T10:00:00.000-06:00Hi Steve: It's great to hear from you again. Thank...Hi Steve: <BR/>It's great to hear from you again. Thanks for all these insights and sharing the despair of the recent college grad.<BR/><BR/>Like you, I've been an insider to colleges and pondered why the institutions are not more business-minded. Campuses appear to be serving students as customers with their housing, food service, athletic activities, concerts, health spas etc. The Dean of Students has a clue. But the academic side is still beholden to accreditation requirements, research grant money, publish or perish pressures on seekers of tenure, archaic concepts of academic rigor, empirical validity and objective evaluations of student performance. Combined with effects of tax money and ambitious parents you mention, forces that perpetuate the status quo are monstrous. Perhaps the recession will disrupt their persistent complacency and provoke a rethinking of how colleges would really prepare students for the changing world. <BR/><BR/>In wondering what to look forward to, your phrase says it all: "reality-based revenue streams".<BR/>Thanks Steve!Tom Haskinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12658791778134826289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5117005533318160902.post-2760424300699003852008-10-25T08:42:00.000-06:002008-10-25T08:42:00.000-06:00HI, Tom,Your money line: "That does not mean they ...HI, Tom,<BR/><BR/>Your money line: "That does not mean they know what to do or how to proceed -- only what to avoid and hold in suspicion of bogus value."<BR/><BR/>It has been apparent to me for some time that the one institution that is the least in touch with what young people really need is education. I would go as far to say that they are more inward-focused than the largest corporations due, in part, to:<BR/><BR/>a. Public entities being funded by tax money<BR/>b. Private entities being funded by parents who will pay anything to give their kids "a competitive edge."<BR/><BR/>Note: I am a former teacher and college administrator.<BR/><BR/>I spent last weekend in a conversation with a 26 year-old who lamented the perceived worthlessness of her degree, with honors. She noted that she no doubt got her job interview as a result of having the degree, but her success has been based on emotional intelligence, adaptability, and problem solving. Not content.<BR/><BR/>While there are professions--engineering, medicine, law--that require heavy content, the current university system is an inefficient and expensive method of delivery. You lay out nicely some of the other attendant factors that seem to be going unnoticed or at least unchallenged.<BR/><BR/>It is my educated hunch that the combination of economic factors, assertive young people, and reality-based revenue streams will eventually turn the tide.<BR/><BR/>Keep writing...hope all is well out there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com