tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90498648656710543292024-03-05T17:41:12.887-08:00The Advisory Bored BlogCorey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-11631588271545881902011-06-04T08:20:00.000-07:002011-06-04T08:20:34.147-07:00Advisory Bored Reading List 06/05/2011<ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110424/OPINION03/704249999/-1/OPINION">Sowing seeds for a well-educated, homegrown workforce</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Barbara Hulit, president of Fluke and board member of Washington STEM, offers her thoughts on growing a well educated local workforce for a technology focused economy. While I don't fundamentally disagree with any of her points, I do think she is missing something. Like so many others, she fails to address the more significant problem of student disinterest in these fields which has plagued STEM for a decade or more. Certainly the numbers have stabilized or rebounded slightly, but our best intentions won't lead to any improvements if there isn't a significant interest among students in these programs. It will be interesting to what the program she cites in the article.<br />
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What if you build it and they don't come?</div><div class="diigo-tags"><br />
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<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110420/OPINION03/704209966/-1/OPINION">Wait on WSU Everett, focus on existing higher-ed opportunities</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Not all local political leaders think the WSU takeover of University Center is a good idea. Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe and Rep. Luis Moscoso weigh in on the subject, suggesting that the WSU proposal does nothing to strengthen educational opportunities and that we must be more focused in the allocation of limited resources.</div><div class="diigo-tags"><br />
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<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110422/OPINION01/704229925/-1/OPINION">Next challenge: Build trust</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">The Herald's editorial board thinks much work lies ahead in establishing a trusting relationship between WSU and the other partner institutions at University Center if the larger goal of expanded educational opportunities is to be achieved.<br />
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I would ask the Herald's editorial board just exactly why they think any of these partners would participate. Seriously, these institutions have worked hard to establish these programs and to build up the University Center. The editorial board would have them give it their all for a couple more years so WSU can create a plan to get rid of them. Really? You think that's something they ought to do? Really?<br />
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When it comes to 4-year education in Snohomish county, the Herald's editorial board has completely lost all sense of reason. </div><div class="diigo-tags"><br />
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<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110424/NEWS01/704249903">Snohomish County appears closer to goal of hosting a university</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Jerry Cornfield provides the background on the journey to the get Washington State University to take up residence on the Everett Community College campus with the long term goal of creating a 4-year, degree granting institution here in Snohomish county. <br />
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While the legislation will make the coordinator for the multi-college University Center program at EvCC, there are no solid plans nor funding to move beyond this arrangement. It seems to me that we risk losing eduction opportunities if the other existing partner colleges pull out of University Center or if the recently announced WGU online university takes hold.</div><div class="diigo-tags"><br />
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</ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-80285498342533452322011-06-04T08:17:00.000-07:002011-06-04T08:17:34.397-07:00Advisory Bored Reading List 06/04/2011<ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/2015160224_nicole27m.html">Send them to the back of the class</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Nicole Brodeur in the Times thinks the Washington legislature missed the mark related to education in the most recent session. We cut pay across the board, but didn't build in any accountability for performance, Perhaps, Brodeur thinks, we need to lower our expectations for schools. </div><div class="diigo-tags"><br />
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<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015184674_scholarship30.html">Tycoon pays bright minds to forgo college</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">PayPal tycoon Peter Thiel has started to award his 20 Under 20 scholarship, $100,000 to skip college for now and venture out to start an innovative business instead. Thiel has been in the news lately for his thoughts on the education bubble and what he considers a lack of innovation. </div><div class="diigo-tags"><br />
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</ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-35605457898734569652011-04-16T09:27:00.000-07:002011-04-16T09:27:47.320-07:00Advisory Bored Reading List 04/16/2011<ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/10/peter-thiel-were-in-a-bubble-and-its-not-the-internet-its-higher-education">Peter Thiel: We’re in a Bubble and It’s Not the Internet. It’s Higher Education.</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Peter Thiel is a Pay Pal co-founder thinks we're in a bubble, again, and this time the bubble is education. He says “A true bubble is when something is overvalued and intensely believed”, noting that you can't question the value of education today.<br />
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And if you think about it, our description of education sounds an awful lot like our description of housing a few years ago (and internet stocks a few years before that). Everyone needs to own property (bachelor's degree). The value of property (education) never goes down. Borrow the money for property (education) and buy now -- it's an investment. <br />
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Perhaps our problem is that we confuse education - life long learning - with degrees. While ongoing learning/relearning has never been more critical to individual success, the value proposition of a 4-year degree in the first 4 years after high school becomes ever more questionable. <br />
</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/university">university</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/bubble">bubble</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/highered">highered</a></div></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-27033767744851641262011-04-15T00:57:00.000-07:002011-04-15T00:57:45.005-07:00Advisory Bored Reading List 04/15/2011<ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110412/NEWS01/704129889">WSU’s future in Everett all but set</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Truly a sad commentary. The only state education institution that didn't participate in the University Center is the one that will be allowed to run it in the future. <br />
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My favorite quote was "providing new approaches to old problems". Honestly, this providing old approaches to new problems. But hey, it's only money. We got plenty of it for post-secondary education. Sigh ........ </div><div class="diigo-description"><br />
</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/university">university</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/university%20center">university center</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/WSU">WSU</a></div><div class="diigo-tags"><br />
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<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2014693677_danny06.html">UW gives us what we asked for</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Danny Westneat doesn't pull any punch in this article about the UW's decision to enroll more out-of-state students. In his opinion, the UW is doing exactly what we asked them to do - to get by with less and less money. <br />
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"Sheesh, we weren't even willing to go along with a temporary, 2-cents-per-can tax on soda pop last year. Now we're going to get all indignant when the UW looks to the other 49 states because we're too cheap?"<br />
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As Westneat points out, the funding is only going to get worse. The state paid 70% - 80% for the cost for me to attend the UW back in the ... well just you never mind. It's fallen to 45% today and heading south. <br />
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Westneat thinks we need to fund education as we had in the past, but I have to wonder if that's possible. It's a lot easier to subsidize 80% of a student's tuition if only 10% of graduating high school seniors go on to college. In a world where k-16 is almost mandatory of the "best paying" jobs, well that's a lot of money.</div><div class="diigo-description"><br />
</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/university">university</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/funding">funding</a></div></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-76722061834811007712011-04-11T06:28:00.000-07:002011-04-11T06:28:01.603-07:00Advisory Bored Reading List 04/11/2011<ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110408/OPINION02/704089935">Letters: What do we gain with WSU role?</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Nice letter to the editor of the Everett Herald questioning the value of WSU running the University Center at EvCC. I don't fully agree that north Snohomish county needs its own university, but her challenges to the idea of a "employer-centric" educational program and the replacement of the University Center with a WSU branch are right on target.<br />
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WSU has done nothing to earn that position. They failed to establish a presence at University Center when all the other universities choose to participate. </div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/university">university</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/WSU">WSU</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/university%20center">university center</a></div></li>
<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110408/NEWS01/704089917">UW rejects more qualified in-state students</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Everett Herald columnist Julie Muhlstein tries to put a "face" on the UW entrance issue - where students with extremely hight GPA's aren't getting in. As is often the case, Muhlstein's article seems short on analysis and heavy on drama.<br />
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I've got several issues with the article, but my biggest is this sense that the UW is the only university worth going to in this state. The former student featured couldn't get into the UW, so went out of state. Huh? No WSU, no Western, not even Evergreen? Could have got two years at a local CC then transferred in as a junior. <br />
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The mindset that every kid must go to the UW in the four years following high school graduation absurd. Elite schools leave good students out, that's what elite means. Sometimes it just a numbers game, too many students chasing too few openings. <br />
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I have little sympathy for the students or parents left out this year. It won't be the end of their life.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/university">university</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/admissions">admissions</a></div></li>
<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/va-board-of-education-urges-policy-on-social-networks-as-teaching-tools/2011/01/24/ABiuo3RB_story.html?hpid=z2">Va. Board of Education urges policy on social networks as teaching tools - The Washington Post</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">The Virginia Board of Education has mandated local school boards to develop policies for teachers and the use of social media to interact with student following one particular molestation case. But other teachers have found the tools useful from an educational standpoint. The article sites an example of one teacher using Twitter to help students write more concisely. The question is how districts will balance the benefits of the tools with the misuses.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/Social%20Media">Social Media</a></div></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-78959997773357719722011-04-09T09:27:00.000-07:002011-04-09T09:27:53.781-07:00Advisory Bored Reading List 04/03/2011<ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html">Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education | Video on TED.com</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Salman Kahn was a hedge fund analyst who recorded some videos to help him tutor his cousins. The videos were open to all, the visitors found their way to the videos. From that the Kahn Academy has grown hundreds (probably thousands) of videos. <br />
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In this TED talk Kahn explains the power of using video in the class room and how it can reshape education.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/reinventing">reinventing</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/video">video</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a></div></li>
<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014670294_admissions03m.html">Why straight-A's may not get you into UW this year</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Ignore the headline and read the article. After you get past the straight-A kids be left out of the UW and the increase of out-of-state students, the article gets down to some useful information about how funding of our post-secondary education. <br />
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One closing thought. At the end of the article Rep. Carlyle is quoted about qualified kids not getting into the UW. This requires some careful consideration. At some point, an elite public school is going to reject the good kids of tax paying parents. Expectations that everyone can go to the UW are just unrealistic and our government leaders shouldn't encourage that thinking.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/university">university</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/funding">funding</a></div></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-80679666682364930772011-03-09T07:30:00.000-08:002011-03-09T07:30:03.366-08:00Advisory Bored Reading List 03/09/2011<ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110305/OPINION04/703059995">Everett Herald Opinion: We shouldn't have to import engineers</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">In this editorial, Representatives Dunshee and Hope argue that establishing a branch campus of Washington State University in Everett will allow more of our citizens to get the skills they need to fill 21st century jobs, such as those created by the Air Force refueling tanker deal won recently by Boeing. Without such opportunities, we will continue to bring in talent from other states (and countries).<br />
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This is a continuation of the same tired, misleading rhetoric used in the debate for a standalone university, then a branch of the University of Washington. The topic deserves, and will get get, a full Advisory Bored blog post, but for now let's just focus on the notation that Snohomish county residents aren't getting engineering degrees because of the distance to a college. Attendance in engineering programs and all of STEM subjects has been dropping across the country for over a decade. While the slide seems to have hit bottom, programs aren't bursting at the seams just yet.<br />
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Hope and Dunshee seem to be taking a "if we build it they will come" attitude. However, the idea that engineering enrollment will surge merely because of the geographic proximity to a school of engineering is laughable. Which means that we will stop importing engineers and start importing engineering students. Oh great!<br />
</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/snohomish">snohomish</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/county">county</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/university">university</a></div></li>
<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110306/OPINION01/703069953/-1/OPINION">Everett Herald Editorials: Students need action now</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">The Herald's editorial board sides with the Governor in her efforts to consolidate the various education boards and committees into a single entity reporting directly to her (to the dismay of the publicly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction).<br />
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I so rarely agree with any thing the Herald's editorial board has to say about education, the fact that I agree this time warrants a comment. Our education system is many things, but it is not a system. Bringing focus to this effort by consolidating the groups is necessary, but not sufficient to bring about reform.<br />
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One area were I disagree is the Herald's advise to leave high-ed out of the discussion. Again, it's a system and all parts should be included. The Herald's own article about Running Start the previous week should make that point. But even without inclusion of post-secondary education, the reform is worth implementing.</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/Reform">Reform</a></div></li>
<li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110306/NEWS01/703069899">EdCC literacy program is helping 67-year-old Lynnwood woman fulfill her goal to read, learn</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Myandie Burton is a 67 year-old woman attending Edmonds Community College's adult basic education program to learn to read for the first time. The article discusses her history and her return to school to learn to read and, perhaps, to earn a GED.<br />
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Beyond the individual achievement story is another story about the profound impact basic adult education programs can have on families and communities. It is not critical that this woman at this time in her life earn a GED, but it sends a powerful message to those around her how important education is. If we believe that all citizens need high school and beyond education to be successful, then a culture of education needs to be infused into all communities. Adult basic education is part of that effort.<br />
</div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/literacy">literacy</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/education">education</a></div></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-63973215409703797122011-03-08T17:36:00.000-08:002011-03-08T17:36:53.199-08:00Advisory Bored Reading List 03/04/2011<ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/business/02graduates.html?_r=1">Recession Turns College Graduates to Public Service Jobs</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Due to the recession, plenty of recent graduates are finding employment in non-profits and in government work. While rewarding in many ways, the pay is less. Concern remains that this will have a lasting, negative impact on life-long earnings. </div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/career">career</a></div></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-1188282211062658832011-02-25T17:02:00.000-08:002011-02-25T17:02:01.543-08:00The scaffolding of learningEva has a great <a href="http://evablogged.blogspot.com/2011/01/flying-without-text.html">post </a>about teaching without a textbook over at the <a href="http://evablogged.blogspot.com/">Education Virtually Anywhere</a> (EVA) blog. Now I might be be a bit biased (truth in advertising: Eva is Mrs. Advisory Bored), but I find it a really insightful view of learning in the information age. <br />
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I hope, however, that technology educators and IT managers will consider this post with more than just passing intellectual curiosity at the changing nature of post-secondary education. I see in Eva's teaching methodology a model for long-term professional development and organizational transformation for IT professionals and their managers. Let me explain.<br />
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An IT professional, particularly in a smaller, corporate IT shop, can no longer assume that his/her manager can define his/her job responsibilities, career path, training needs or long-term organizational strategy for his/her area of specialization without significant input from the professional him or herself. This isn't the <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dilbertesque">Dilbertesque</a> dumbing down of IT management until they all resemble the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointy-haired_Boss">PHB</a>. Both the breadth and pace of technological change make it nearly impossible for a leader to dictate the work environment in a top-down, hierarchical fashion. 21st Century IT is not a 1960's assembly line.<br />
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Put simply, there is no longer room for IT <i><b><u>workers</u></b></i>, all staff must be IT <i><b><u>professionals</u></b></i>. Professionals accept responsibility for their own training and development. They identify and establish standards and practices for their area of responsibility. They remain abreast of the technology in their area of expertise and its impacts on the business, making recommendations to the IT manager. They build and maintain professional networks inside and outside the organization. <br />
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As the IT manager, it is my responsibility to create an environment for that to occur. It seems to me that's what Eva is expressing when she says:<br />
<blockquote><i>I make them do the work. I provide them with the framework or "scaffolding" of questions and problems to solve. They go looking for the answers and build their own library of resources along the way.</i></blockquote>One hopes that along the way, Eva is also sharing with her student the <i>method to her madness</i>. The knowledge her students gain on any given project is fleeting, whereas the method by which the gained it will be valuable for years and decades to come.Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-41433698576638452712011-02-22T10:02:00.000-08:002011-02-22T10:02:43.012-08:00Advisory Bored Reading List 02/22/2011<ul class="diigo-linkroll"><li> <div class="diigo-link"><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110220/NEWS01/702209961">Everett School Board member Jessica Olson faces censure</a> </div><div class="diigo-description">Everett School Board will discuss a possible censure of board member Jessica Olson on Tuesday, February 22nd. Olson's tenure has been marked by ongoing controversy with her interaction with the school district leadership and fellow board members. She won her seat on a platform of more openness.<br />
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Personal opinion here: After the past leadership of Everett schools, openness would be very welcome, but Olson has failed to move the objective forward. It's nice that she fights all these battles, but maybe she should consider winning a one or two. The real censure should come from voters who replace the ineffective Olson and the other secretive members of the board. </div><div class="diigo-tags">tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/Everett">Everett</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/School">School</a></div></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-20866446034313436612011-02-17T23:29:00.000-08:002011-02-17T23:29:38.019-08:00Advisory Bored Reading List<div class="diigo-link" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><ul><li><a href="http://www.michelemmartin.com/thebambooprojectblog/2011/01/how-school-screws-things-up-for-real-life.html">The Bamboo Project Blog: How School Screws Things Up For "Real Life"</a></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-description" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><blockquote>Michele Martin provides us with her thoughts of how school prepares students for more school, not "real" life. I couldn't agree more that we set an expectation of well-defined problems with single right answers. I wish I lived in that world.</blockquote></div><div class="diigo-link"></div><ul><li><a href="http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/1224">Why (Learning) Diets Don't Work | The Principal of Change</a></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-description" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><blockquote>The author draws an interesting analogy between testing driven education and fad diets. Even if we meet our goal, have we done so in a healthy manner that allows us to maintain that goal. </blockquote></div><ul><li><a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20110204/NEWS01/702049821">Praise for Granite Falls' car-building ShopGirls</a></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-description" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><blockquote>Secretary of Education Arne Duncan highlighted the efforts of Granite High School's ShopGirls team at last years Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition. He used there performance as an example of strong career and technical education (CTE) programs.</blockquote></div><ul><li><a href="http://www.care2.com/causes/education/blog/should-everyone-go-to-college">Should Everyone Go to College?</a></li>
</ul><blockquote>In this post the author highlights the findings in Pathways to Prosperity report that questions the current "College for All" goal for education. Many jobs will require more than high school but less than a BA. Many students may not be well served by the current 4-year university system which does not prepare students for careers.<br />
<br />
Questions and concerns are raised as whether college should just be about getting a job. REALITY CHECK: the only reason most people are going to college is to get ahead in their professional careers. This hand-wringing over creating "better, well-rounded people" is nonsense (that's my opinion, not necessarily the authors).</blockquote>Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">here</a>.Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-64725158417751441122011-02-05T23:48:00.000-08:002011-02-05T23:48:19.012-08:00Advisory Bored Reading List<div class="diigo-link" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><ul><li><a href="http://stumpteacher.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-resign-from-teaching.html">Stump The Teacher: I Resign From Teaching</a></li>
</ul><div class="diigo-description" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><blockquote>No more teaching for Josh, he's going to guide and encourage the students in his classroom.<br />
tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/teaching">teaching</a></blockquote></div><div class="diigo-link"></div><ul><li><a href="http://www.downes.ca/post/38502">Things You Really Need to Learn ~ Stephen's Web</a></li>
</ul><blockquote>Riffing on Guy Kawasaki post, Stephen Downes comes up with his own list of things you really need to learn, more than just to be successful in business.<br />
tags: <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/learning">learning</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/lessons">lessons</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey/AB">AB</a></blockquote>Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/heycorey">here</a>.Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-43582360224511560412010-11-07T12:55:00.000-08:002010-11-07T12:55:01.472-08:00Innovation is in the useAndy Rathbun's <a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20101107/NEWS01/711079937/1122">article</a> on innovative technology in Snohomish county classrooms gets the front page treatment in today's Everett Herald. Andy highlights a number of new gadgets in use including interactive white boards, document cameras, sound systems and clickers.<br />
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I had a chance to see the the white board in use last week at the kick-off meeting for the Mukilteo school district's professional advisory committee for business and technology. As if a teacher's job isn't difficult enough, the white board wasn't working right. But then, which of us hasn't been in that position before?<br />
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While I am really happy to see these tools making their way into the classroom, slowly breaking down barriers to technology adoption, I find it hard to consider this innovative. It feels like the early 90's adoption of information technology in business. Putting leading edge technology to use cutting paychecks was automation, not innovation.<br />
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Real innovation comes with changes to the system, to decision making, afforded by the technology. Take the use of the clicker described in the article. Automation of assessment has been going on for decades: multiple choice tests, mark sense forms, learning management systems. In a sense, the clicker is just one more step in that automation path. What's innovative about that scenario is that the teacher will adjust the instruction based upon that real-time feedback. Similarly, we saw the Everett school district's remarkable turn around in graduations rates as a result of the innovative, real-time use of student grade and attendance data. The collection and consolidation of data isn't innovative, but the personalized intervention based upon that data is.<br />
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I don't mean to discourage or disparage the adoption of technology as described in the article. Instead I hope we can lift up our vision of innovation in education. Let's use the <a href="http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/About">Flat Classroom Project</a> as an example of this bigger goal. Founded in 2006 by Vicki Davis (aka <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/">Cool Cat Teacher</a>) and <a href="http://123elearning.blogspot.com/">Julie Lindsay</a>, it uses web 2.0 tools to break down the classroom walls. Students across the globe work together on learning projects. Realize, however, that the technology didn't change the learning environment, Vicki and Julie did.<br />
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The lesson education can draw from business is that information technology affords you the opportunity to change, but it does not compel you to change.Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-66570249517501194302010-10-02T12:56:00.000-07:002010-10-02T12:56:39.646-07:00Sometimes a hyphen is just a hyphenI had to smile as I read a recent <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/alfredth/archive/2010/09/14/how-many-letters-are-there-in-the-alphabet.aspx">post</a> by <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/alfredth/about.aspx">Alfred Thompson</a> on validating character input strings for name. In it, Alfred walks through a number of ways to test for valid alphabetic characters while not limiting it to only the 26 letters of our English alphabet. Most options did not return the results he had hoped for. <br />
<div><div><br />
</div><div>You see, overly aggressive character validation was one of the reasons my wife became a programmer. Early in our marriage, Mrs. Advisory Bored used a hyphenated maiden/married last name. Most computer systems would not accept "<i>maiden</i>-<i>married</i>" as a last name. At some point she figured she couldn't do any worse than those programmers and she changed careers. </div><div><br />
I seriously doubt these businesses had a policy that said we don't want women with hyphenated last names as customers, but that's what they implemented. It is important that programming students understand they aren't implementing code, they're implementing the business. The implementation can't (properly) occur without the business context. <br />
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And that's a lesson that is just as important as the return value from the isLetter function.<br />
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</div></div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-52542907799298060152010-09-28T20:39:00.000-07:002010-09-28T20:39:33.958-07:00Teachers, unions and the Geo PrizmMrs. Advisory Bored and I both broke into the IT world as employees of Electronic Data System (EDS), a whole owned subsidiary of General Motors (GM). That honor bought us a one-way trip to the suburbs of Detroit, MI. While there, we bought ourselves a new car, our first "new" new car. We weren't really interested in an early 90's GM product, but that was neither the time or the place to buy Japanese. Fortunately GM had opened a joint venture with Toyota to learn <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing">lean manufacturing</a> techniques so we bought a Geo Prizm, Chevy's version of the Toyota Corola. We owned the car for 17 years and logged plenty of memorable trips in the East and the most important one, moving back home to Seattle.<br />
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This joint venture was called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NUMMI">New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc</a> (NUMMI) and was located at the site of the old GM assembly plant in Fremont, CA. What was so interesting about the NUMMI facility was that it was staff by former workers of the Fremont plant, generally considered to be among the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NUMMI#Background">worst workers</a> in the industry producing some of GM's worst vehicles. Re-energized and re-trained in the Toyota Production System (TPS), however, the plant lead by Toyota management started to produce a range of Toyota-designed products starting in 1984 until last year when the <a href="http://ww.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=125229157">plant closed</a> after GM pulled out of the partnership. The lesson to be learned was that while the UAW did itself no favors, union workers were not the problem. It was a change in leadership, a focus on quality, a top notch design and radically re-envisioned assembly model that made the difference. <br />
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It is well worth considering this lesson as we attack "bad" teachers and their union. When bloodletting is finally done, all you may be left with is a group of demoralized employees futilely trying to assemble a model that is ill-conceived and out-of-date, handed down to them by a bunch of bean counters more concerned with the numbers on the paper than the product on the street. If, as happened at NUMMI, we identify a new, better way of working first, the problems that need to be fixed may well fix themselves. <br />
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Just sayin'.Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-19622885396328424992010-09-17T23:29:00.000-07:002010-09-17T23:29:37.745-07:00Abundance, the mother of purchase ordersGood friend of the Advisory Bored blog, Paul over at <a href="http://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com/">Last Great Road Trip</a>, is at it again. He's been busy playing around with the technology. When Paul isn't giving some one's <a href="http://www.metagyre.com/">data center</a> an extreme makeover, he's either roaming the trails in a Toyota FJ or blogging about roaming the trails in a Toyota FJ.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>In a recent <a href="http://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com/4x4-adventure-how-to/diy-off-road-gps-system/">post</a>, Paul decided to build himself a good old fashion mobile GPS command center out of inexpensive or free parts. A second-hand laptop, some open source software and an inexpensive GPS receiver makeup his system (I'm guessing the nice vehicle mount for the laptop described in a <a href="http://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com/off-road-adventure-accessories/laptop-mount-install/">subsequent post</a> cost more than the rest of the system put together). <br />
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All of which reminds me that resource constraints aren't always a bad thing. Sometimes we forget that a little tinkering, some kludging, a roll of duct tape and a bit of ingenuity can lead to some pretty interesting outcomes and some really powerful learning (which is, after all, the only outcome of any real importance). More money doesn't necessarily improve learning. <br />
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Certainly you can plop 30 students down in a lab, each with a copy of "Google Maps for Dummies", but does that really make for more compelling resume entry than the experience of "building a mobile GPS command center, including configuration of the hardware, operating system, mapping software and integration with freely available online map information for under $75.00"? Do you really think the former learned more than the latter?<br />
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Remember, necessity is the mother of invention. Abundance is the mother of purchase orders.</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-55374612822189725842010-08-28T13:14:00.000-07:002010-08-28T13:14:49.726-07:00If it ain't broke, re-envision itI've been reconsidering my <a href="http://advisorybored.blogspot.com/2010/06/if-i-had-hammer.html">If I had a hammer</a> post this week because of some discussions I've been having about the redesign of our "broken" web site. I've tried to steer folks away from terms like "broken" and "fix" when dealing with changing requirements, but the average person isn't so concerned about the semantical differences. I found myself having to be much clearer in my reasoning than I was in the blog post.<br />
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Now I don't really care to engage in pointless arguments over semantics if I don't have to, but our words do matter a great deal. The language we use drives our thinking and, consequently, drives our behavior. When you say something is broken, you are inherently saying that the system in question - whether a simple appliance or a large social institution - is fundamentally sound and still capable of producing the outcome you desire, if you can fix the one malfunctioning part.<br />
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Saying that a system is broken puts you into troubleshooting mode. Think about troubleshooting for a moment. If a user says "my computer won't work", what's the first thing that comes to mind? Does it involve the electrical outlet or perhaps you want clarification on the current status. Either way, in troubleshooting mode you immediately move to the beginning of the process and work forward asking a series of yes/no questions looking for components that aren't functioning or are not functioning to standard. That's how we are trained. <br />
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What if, instead, that user said "I have all these new job tasks and I can't find the tools to help me get them done. This computer won't work for me."? Your attention is immediately focused toward the end of the process and the outcomes. Your questions are open-ended and probing for understanding. You are in requirements mode. Imagine the look you would get if your first response to this second question was "Is the computer plugged in?". <br />
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In a recent post, "<a href="http://weblogg-ed.com/2010/whos-asking/">Who's Asking</a>", <a href="http://weblogg-ed.com/about/">Will Richardson</a> advises leaders in educational reform that they must some how satisfy the complaints of the school-is-broken crowd without losing sight of real need, which is a re-envisioned education system focused on 21st century outcomes. In my mind, however, there is only so much that reformers can do until the question is rephrased from "what's wrong" to "what should we do". This is pretty much the same thing I said in this <a href="http://advisorybored.blogspot.com/2008/09/yeah-i-knew-20.html">rant</a> 2 years ago in response to a Scott McLeod post about building community backing for 21st century skills. <br />
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I think IT leadership is (still) uniquely positioned to help educational reformers, but not until we are clear in our own minds that we must first redefine the goals of education before we change the structure and funding of education. Let me recommend this post on <a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/1637619/redesigning-education-why-cant-we-be-in-kindergarten-for-life">Redesigning Education</a> in Fast Company Design as a starting point.Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-18597326726934934742010-08-15T00:55:00.000-07:002010-08-15T00:55:36.636-07:00Tag, you're itThis week I was investigating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code">QR Codes</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Tag#Microsoft_Tag">Microsoft Tags</a> when I came across this <a href="http://bit.ly/98nj6J">article </a>from <a href="http://www.educause.edu/">EDUCAUSE </a>. As a quick background, QR Codes and Tags are types of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode#Matrix_.282D.29_barcodes">matrix </a>or 2 dimensional <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode">barcodes </a>that contain information that a reader on a smartphone (using the built in camera) can use to route users to a website, add contact information to an address book or make a phone call. <br />
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</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITCf68nqk7_LWDUud_dLLjYR31j_em-KHu4ogAtxB_w7s642FcpfbA4WkRGY2MZgQos3lRSeiAMB9bLohgHkfszLYA2kS7K2PK-YTmowBbdkWvtzXMdJxsPIQEtM7V3FcnD61PlRUSv0V/s1600/The_Advisory_Bored_Blog_201081422490.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITCf68nqk7_LWDUud_dLLjYR31j_em-KHu4ogAtxB_w7s642FcpfbA4WkRGY2MZgQos3lRSeiAMB9bLohgHkfszLYA2kS7K2PK-YTmowBbdkWvtzXMdJxsPIQEtM7V3FcnD61PlRUSv0V/s320/The_Advisory_Bored_Blog_201081422490.jpeg" /></a></div>For instance, the image you see here is a Microsoft Tag with the web address of the Advisory Bored blog embedded. If you had a smartphone with the free tag reader you could point your smartphone camera at the image and it would launch the browser and navigate to the Advisory Bored blog. Now imagine if the image were on a business card, placed in a newspaper ad or printed on the side of a bus. (I was researching the idea of printing a Tag on those big white land use signs that go up whenever there is a new building development or a zoning code change.)</div><div><br />
</div><div>It was not, however, the use of QR Codes in particular that most interested me in the EDUCAUSE article; it was the cross-discipline student project highlighted on the first page. The project has at least four major aspects. First, there is the biology, compiling the information about the plants. Second, the team members had to deal with technological issues like information access and user education/training. Third, there was the information management challenge to make sure the content presentation was sensitive to different technologies (phones vs PCs). Finally, there was a myriad of logistical issues from coordinating with the docents to printing the QR Codes to staffing the guest booth.<br />
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More and more, work is characterized by this type of team project in which different people from different areas of the organization (and across organizations) must collaborate to accomplish a goal. It is my sense, however, that educational assessment, particularly in secondary schools, is still focused on individual performance. On more than one occasion I have heard from teachers that group projects present significant challenges for student assessment. That's unfortunate, because those are precisely the skills the workforce of today and tomorrow need. <br />
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An example that's a little closer to home is the <a href="http://vri.etec.wwu.edu/xprize/xprize.html#">Western Washington University V45 project team</a> for the <a href="http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/">Progressive X Prize</a> competition, a $10 million dollar challenge to build production-capable cars getting 100 MPGe. Look down that participant list. You've got business students, materials sciences students and vehicle design students all working toward that prize. (The V45 was eventually <a href="http://bit.ly/9T4jrp">eliminated</a>, but did an outstanding job getting to the finals.)<br />
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So what's the take-away? I'll toss out four, just to get us started:<br />
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<ol><li>project management and collaboration skills are essential and should be fostered even at the high school level</li>
<li>projects that cross areas of study and extend out beyond the campus are far more interesting and potentially more educational</li>
<li>teachers will need to develop curriculum that is team-based and be prepared to address all the issues that teams present (such as the ability for teams to "fire" members who aren't participating)</li>
<li>advisory boards need to be clear and indicate if they think a program should emphasize "team project work" or "individual project work"</li>
</ol><br />
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</div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-44901933332379143482010-06-20T14:09:00.000-07:002010-06-20T14:09:02.501-07:00If I had a hammerSuppose I asked you to join two pieces of wood, two 2 by 4's, three feet long. I need you to join the boards at each end and in the middle. I give you a hammer and you walk to the right end of the boards where you find a nail already started. Somewhat tentatively you take several swings before finally driving the nail in.<br />
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You take a step to the left and at the mid-point of the boards you find another nail. More confidently, you take a couple of really good swings and drive the nail home. Finally, you take another step to the left and at the left end of the board you find ..... a screw.<br />
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My question to you is a simple one. Is the hammer broken?<br />
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The obvious answer is no and most people would be smart enough to either get a screwdriver or replace the screw with a nail. A few truly creative, out-of-the-box thinkers, such as myself, would simply pound in the screw with the hammer, although I don't recommend it for finish work. (Oh please, that revelation didn't really surprise you, did it?) <br />
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Still, there are those that must bring work to a complete halt so they may blame the task master, the hammer, the screw or the over-reaching federal government seeking to nationalize the construction industry. <br />
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It is this question, is the hammer broken, that I come back to again and again as the battle over educational reform rages on. For far too many people, the current educational system can't merely be a tool that successfully met the challenges of the past, but is not design to meet our new requirements. It must be broken and someone must be to blame. However, as Gerry Weinberg reminds us in his wonderful book <a href="http://www.dorsethouse.com/books/soccontents.html">The Secrets of Consulting</a>:<br />
<blockquote>The chances of solving a problem decline the closer you get to finding out who was the cause of the problem. (<i>Spark's Law of Problem Solution</i>)</blockquote>The challenge then, is for us interested in the education of the IT professionals of the future to wade into the debate with our required outcomes in hand. We must continue to press for a discussion of the what and why of education, while steadfastly refusing to be drawn into the debate of how and who. Most of all, we must resist the temptation to play the blame game.Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-47851754736832263102010-05-23T19:39:00.000-07:002010-05-23T19:39:21.731-07:00Time for an IT apprenticeshipA recent New York Times (NYT) article, <a href="http://nyti.ms/90wvKQ">Plan B: Skip College</a>, examines whether a vocational alternative, like apprenticeships, needs to be offered to students for whom college is not a good fit. In it, author Jacques Steinberg says<br />
<blockquote>A small but influential group of economists and educators is pushing another pathway: for some students, no college at all. It’s time, they say, to develop credible alternatives for students unlikely to be successful pursuing a higher degree, or who may not be ready to do so.</blockquote><br />
Regular readers of this blog know that I favor having many different paths to the skills, knowledge and competencies required of IT professionals (see <a href="http://bit.ly/c4s6GF">2+2+2 = Bachelor of Applied Science</a>), so I won't bore you with my understanding of the article. You can read it for yourself, along with some interesting commentary <a href="http://nyti.ms/bkVd7J">here</a>.<br />
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Instead, I want to get a sense from local IT managers if there is a place for something like an apprenticeship for IT staff and if there are openings available to those with less than a bachelors degree. Specifically, I am focusing on corporate/government IT, not high-tech companies of the Microsoft variety. These are positions like help desk, email administrator and programmer at banks, retailers and insurance companies. I ask, because I know a lot of the jobs out there seem to carry educational requirements that leave many capable people out of the running. There's not much value in an apprenticeship if you won't hire the participants after they complete the program. <br />
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So I have a few question for all you IT leaders out there: <br />
<ol><li> Do you have or would you be willing to add an entry level IT position in your organization whose educational requirements would be fulfilled by vocational education at the high school or community college level? What types of position would that be (help desk, email administration, business analyst)?</li>
<li>Are there any IT certifications in particular that you would consider as replacing education requirements in your hiring consideration?</li>
<li>Would you be willing to be part of an apprenticeship program, some sort of public/private partnership to ensure training and work opportunities?</li>
</ol>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-20184827050091988002010-05-23T12:19:00.000-07:002010-05-23T12:19:39.613-07:00@advisorybored: Advisory Bored on TwitterWell I finally did it, I officially launched the Advisory Bored Twitter feed, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/advisorybored">@advisorybored</a>. I've been using Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/heycorey">myself </a>for a couple of years now and really enjoy the interaction that takes place there (your mileage may vary). When I started the Advisory Bored blog I also snapped up an email account and Twitter account under the same - it's a branding thing. I haven't been ready to leap into the extra maintenance, but with continued enhancement to my Twitter application of choice, TweetDeck, I feel like I can branch out now.<br />
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So, if you are a Twitter user yourself, please feel free to follow @advisorybored for links and updates on blog posts. If you're not a user, then you will find a list of my 5 most recent tweets here at the blog in the right-hand column. Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-47314299154125667092010-05-02T19:26:00.000-07:002010-05-02T19:26:42.193-07:00EvCC adds more 4-year degreesDid you catch the <a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20100424/NEWS01/704249899">story</a> about a new 4-year degree in nursing to be offered at the <a href="http://www.uceverett.org/">University Center</a> at <a href="http://www.everettcc.edu/">Everett Community College</a> (EvCC)? The Herald reports that the Governor signed the law that allocates $158,000 to enroll 25 students to earn a bachelor of science in nursing. The program is offered in conjunction with the <a href="http://www.bothell.washington.edu/">University of Washington Bothell</a> (UWB), which has a similar program at their campus.<br />
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This is the second new B.S. degree in as many months. In March, Saint Martin's University <a href="http://heraldnet.com/article/20100313/NEWS01/703139917">announced</a> a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering to be offered at the University Center. That gives the University Center over 20 undergraduate and post-graduate degree programs.<br />
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Given the current budget situation in is hard to image that just two years ago we were debating the location for a proposed 4-year university campus here in Snaohomish County. I was blogging against the idea at <a href="http://nosnou.blogspot.com/">NoSnoU</a>, characterizing the effort as a grab for construction dollars with little consideration for education. In the end, neither of the two competing sites would give up and we ended with nothing - which suits me fine. These additions to the University Center prove that we can expand the education opportunities in the county without lots of physical infrastructure.Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-57611280050696631342010-03-14T13:22:00.000-07:002010-03-14T13:24:42.344-07:00Skeptic 101: The history of current eventsSkepticality is the official podcast of Skeptic Magazine, or so they say .......<br /><br />No, seriously, they really are the official podcast of Skeptic Magazine and one of a just a couple of true podcasts (not a recording of an over-the-air radio show) that I listen to regularly. Recently I've been listened to some episodes I missed last summer and came across an <a href="http://bit.ly/cz2qNt">interview of David Cullen</a> author of <a href="http://bit.ly/ahABjn">Columbine</a>, a book that looks at what we know, or think we know, about the 1999 school shooting in Littleton, Colorado.<br /><br />Co-host <a href="http://bit.ly/9EmNvl">Swoopy</a> opened the interview with this:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">.... what we were told was a group of students possibly involved with a gang called the Trenchcoat Mafia, in retaliation for bullying and gay-bashing, had started shooting their classmates as punishment for the ridicule they had long endured. The two outsiders, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were cast as the perfect villains who were part of the goth subculture, worshiped Hitler and listened to Marilyn Manson. They were dark, brooding kids typical of the kind who would snap and start killing those they thought deserved their wrath - jocks, African-Americans and Jews. They would reportedly ask their victims if they believed in God and shot those who professed to believe. The problem is almost none of that is true</span><br /><br />In the interview Cullen identifies many of the myths that exist to this day, the most notable being that Columbine was a school shooting when the evidence shows their intentions were to blowup the building and kill everyone in it. Cullen also discusses the role of the media in creating the popular myth and their failure to correct it. I haven't read the book yet, but the interview was certainly a good use of an hour.<br /><br />Leaving aside the specifics of this particular incident for the moment, the theme that the media needs to do a better job of covering these big incidents and correcting errors is a consistent one in the era of media self-flagellation. Granted that needs to happen, but at some point don't we need to acknowledge that this type of news coverage is error prone in the best of situations and we, the media and general public alike, must adapt our understanding or beliefs to match the evolving truth.<br /><br />The answer to that last question is, of course, yes so I propose a class called <span style="text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold;">Skeptic 101: The History of Current Events</span>. Instead of analyzing the event, the class would analyze the general understanding of the event at different time perspectives. It would be like a history MRI, analyzing little slices of understanding over a sustained time period. This would give the student the opportunity to see how truth emerges (or fades) over time and its effect, if any, on popular understanding of the situation and our reaction to it.<br /><br />What, you might ask, does this have to do with IT education? You may remember that in earlier post like <a href="http://bit.ly/cNyx5x">The Great Debate</a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/dpvkwZ">The Data Model of Dorian Gray</a> I discussed teaching foundation skills as a preparation for later teaching career-specific skills. In the Great Debate post I said:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">As more work becomes analytical in nature we need to have programs that help students develop those capabilities in general even when we aren't training them for a specific job.</span><br /><br />A class like the History of Current Events can surface the analytical strengths needed in most IT and business jobs while not necessarily preparing students directly for any one career. For instance, a Business or Systems Analyst is required to think critically, to question what is known in an area of the business and to re-evaluate what is held to be true over and over again. While high school might be a bit early for a requirements gathering class, it isn't too early to learn foundation skills they will need when they do take a requirements gathering class.<br /><br />So what do you think?Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-52328260979314653972010-02-27T11:18:00.001-08:002010-02-27T11:18:31.882-08:00At cross purposes: funding vs. attendanceAt the same time that we are cutting education budgets, especially for post-secondary education, we are also encouraging attendance at those very same institutions, whether though worker retraining dollars or exaggerated claims of job marketability. Our educational funding mechanism is so convoluted and disjointed that perhaps this contradiction really does make sense, but I doubt it.<br /><br />In particular, I think of those students back at the community college who need or want new skills, but not necessarily a degree. As we know, or should know, our education system is structured to encourage and reward the granting of degrees. Education is only a means to that end, not the end in itself. <br /><br />These student I refer to, however, work in areas where degrees or certifications aren't important or who already have degrees or certifications at a higher level (community college student with a Bachelors degree). Is there a more effective, flexible and cost effective way to help them identify and gain the education they need?<br /><br />You may remember sometime back in a post called <a href="http://bit.ly/c9cfvd">Basic Cable</a> I floated the idea of the community college as career health club. When you sign-up you get a counselor to help you define your goals and then establish an exercise plan to help you reach the goals. The "club" is always open so you can drop in and use the equipment whenever you need to. In addition, you may team up with other clubmembers to push each other to be better. What the fitness counselor doesn't do is prepare the gym for you before each session. She doesn't stand over you with every lift and tell you how good you're doing. She does not declare "you are healthy", give you a piece of paper to confirm that and send you on your way, never to be seen from again.<br /><br />And that, to me, seem to be the problem. We can't run more people through the system because we can't get more instructors or because the existing instructors can't handle the increased load. Or can they?<br /><br />Let me change metaphors on you for a moment. The <a href="http://bit.ly/cQY4qB">Theory of Constraints</a> says the organization's ability to achieve a goal is limited by one (or a very few) constraining factors. The only way to achieve more is to maximize the throughput through the constraint. In education, the instructor is the constraint. I don't mean this in a bad way, it's just that there is only so much course creation, class prep, lecturing and grading one instructor can do. If you wanted to double or triple the students through the class you would need more instructors or more TA's or .... a different mindset. <br /><br />What if education, not degrees were the goal? What if the content was already freely available? What if the class was not time-bound or geographic-bound? What if certification was available from an independent entity or wasn't required? As we know, those are all true. Class materials and tutorials on hundreds of subjects are readily available across the web for the instructor to select from. Both vendors and independent organizations offer certifications. Podcasting and learning management systems allow teachers to break the boundaries of time and place. Freely available wiki's allow cohorts to collaborate and share the learning. Books 24X7 and other online library resources provide access to many books that don't fair well on the library shelves (in technology where change is frequent and constant). <br /><br />Could an instructor who now is limited to teaching 30 students, instead facilitate the education of 90 students with the same effort? I don't know, but it hard economic times it might be worth some consideration.<br /><br /> <br /> <div class="flockcredit" style="text-align: right; color: #CCC; font-size: x-small;">Blogged with the <a href="http://www.flock.com/blogged-with-flock" style="color: #999; font-weight: bold;" target="_new" title="Flock Browser">Flock Browser</a></div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049864865671054329.post-29751300565092755172010-02-14T16:12:00.001-08:002010-02-14T16:12:00.291-08:0021st century computer literacyIn the last month I have attend two advisory committee meetings for career and technical education for local school districts and in both the question of computer basics classes came up. One district had canceled their basic computer skills class, the other about to. Somewhere along the line someone - student, administrator, parent, upstanding citizen - decided the millennials were born knowing how to use a computer (my take on that in my post <a href="http://bit.ly/ceBKbb">Digital Naivete</a>). One district appears to be getting a basics class back because it is can be taken for University of Washington credit while in high school (see <a href="http://bit.ly/4SmuhU">iSchool in the high schools</a>). <br /><br />The point of this blog is to carry on the advisory committee discussions beyond the two-hour meeting and to gain more feedback from a broader audience. So I'm looking for those of you out in the workforce or teaching post-secondary to share your wisdom with instructional staff on the topic of computer skills for all students (not just those interested in technical fields). <br /><br />Let me get this started with a few thoughts of my own on a standalone computer literacy class in high school.<br /><br /><ul><li>It's never to late - I would agree that high school students <span style="font-style: italic;">shouldn't</span> need a basic computer literacy class, that they <span style="font-style: italic;">should</span> have gained those skills before they reach high school. If, however, they don't have those skills then high schools must have a remedial class, just as they do for Math or English. Otherwise the problem, and the costs, just gets passed to colleges or employers. By the way ... let's stop debating whether digital natives know everything about computers or not. Someone needs to establish a baseline skill set, develop an assessment and make all students take the test. If they fail, welcome to Computers 101. I'm tired of arguing about the measurable.<br /></li><li>Evolution of essential skills - As with the broad-based adoption of any technology, what you needed to know to use computers ten years ago is different than what you need to know today, and what you'll need to know ten years from now will be different still. If a Computers 101 class is teaching config.sys files, well it is irrelevant and should be dropped. </li><li>Computer drivers license - To carry the last point a step further, we want to teach the computer equivalent of Drivers Ed, not Auto Shop. The general computer user needs to know how to responsibly use the computer (anti-virus software, cyber-bullying, file management) and how to use applications. The don't need to know how to rebuild a transmission. <br /></li><li>Information literacy - As we move away from teaching the hardware and internals, aren't we really focusing on information literacy instead of computer literacy? Let's use file management as an example. We need to teach creating directories and maintaining files, but that's just the mechanics. If you look at any hard drive, particularly a shared network drive, you will see a complete disaster. People can create directories and copy files alright. What they can't do is categorize information so that it is retrievable. Categorization is an information topic, not a computer topic. <br /></li><li>Teach in context - Finally, it seems to me that those skills - responsible use, applications, information literacy - are best taught, practiced and evaluated within the context of other types of coursework, not in a standalone computer class. In my post <a href="http://bit.ly/9YOb9J">What's the Word</a> I suggest ten things everyone should know about MS Word. It's my opinion that those ten items should be taught, practiced and evaluated in a language arts class, not a technology class. I learned to write with a pencil in an English class, not in a pencil class.</li></ul>Okay guys, what are your thoughts? What are the basic computer and information skills everyone needs? Is high school too late for that class? Should we use a standalone class or should it be embedded throughout the curriculum? <br /><br /> <div class="flockcredit" style="text-align: right; color: #CCC; font-size: x-small;">Blogged with the <a href="http://www.flock.com/blogged-with-flock" style="color: #999; font-weight: bold;" target="_new" title="Flock Browser">Flock Browser</a></div>Corey Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16361442398281155690noreply@blogger.com1