- 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.
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. - 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.
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.
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.
I have little sympathy for the students or parents left out this year. It won't be the end of their life. - 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.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Advisory Bored Reading List 04/11/2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Advisory Bored Reading List 04/03/2011
- 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.
In this TED talk Kahn explains the power of using video in the class room and how it can reshape education. - 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.
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.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Advisory Bored Reading List 03/09/2011
- 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).
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.
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!
- 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).
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.
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. - 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.
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.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Advisory Bored Reading List 03/04/2011
- 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.
Friday, February 25, 2011
The scaffolding of learning
Eva has a great post about teaching without a textbook over at the Education Virtually Anywhere (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.
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.
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 Dilbertesque dumbing down of IT management until they all resemble the PHB. 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.
Put simply, there is no longer room for IT workers, all staff must be IT professionals. 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.
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:
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.
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 Dilbertesque dumbing down of IT management until they all resemble the PHB. 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.
Put simply, there is no longer room for IT workers, all staff must be IT professionals. 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.
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:
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.One hopes that along the way, Eva is also sharing with her student the method to her madness. 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.
