Category Archives: Reform & Improvement

State of Continuing Education 2012

Posted on January 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Presenting the ‘State of Continuing Education’ comes with at least two outdated and conflicting terms. Some changes have occurred, but many have not. We have been hopeful and disappointed, gone through set-backs and have led the way.

We see Education has taken many forms and have been used for different purposes. The challenge going forward will involve defining the education you need among multiple options. Some are costly, many are cheaper, a few are unnecessary, but all of them will teach.

Learning has also come into fashion, which makes it harder to determine its real impact. The shift has turned away from learning individually to learning as a group, with a community, or in a society.

It appears that problems will define what we decide to learn, instead of also curiosity. Although both are needed, the expectations for education and learning to provide solutions and credentials on a timeline, within a budget, for a job and trying to keep one, are trending increasingly higher.

What is getting better and expanding is that education is not just k-12, but throughout a lifetime.  What will be interesting to see is whether adults will capture all of their grade-school experiences, good and bad, and return back to these schools and improve them: Wouldn’t that be continuing education?

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Adult Learning, Higher Education, K-12 Education, Reform & Improvement, State of Continuing Education

Tagged , , , ,

Let’s Salute Returning Veterans with Solutions

Posted on November 10, 2011 | 1 Comment

“Don’t give me a parade, give me a job” is a common cadence you will hear concerning the dismal employment options for returning military veterans. These kinds of statements are battle-cries to awaken the rest of Americans to honor these veterans by hiring them and offering more than the past.

In an earlier time, the G.I. Bill offered incentives for colleges and universities to open their doors and give educational access to our veterans. Back then, there was a certain expectation that a job would be there after earning a degree, even many government jobs were available. But in recent times, with the government shrinking, unemployment rising, and job options diminishing, going back to school for a degree seems pointless, since no future job will be waiting.

In these upcoming days, months, and years how can Americans still honor returning military veterans?

Perhaps this is a time to reassess or redefine education, learning, and employment. The experiences of war have given many veterans all of the required education needed for securing a job. However, these experiences are not easily documented or transferred into customary courses or resumes. The lessons many veterans have learned are worth more than college credit.

Yet there is an approach within some colleges called ‘prior learning assessments’ (PLA), which attempt to evaluate learning from experiences such as the military.  Traditionally, these assessments suggest academic credits when attending college. Although this is a good start, perhaps these assessments could provide more recommendations when searching for job openings too.

For example, there are other assessments such as the National Work Readiness Credential (NWRC) that attempts to score test-takers of their readiness for future employment. In a similar way, prior learning assessments could be transformed into future work assessments that could rival traditional resumes and other job-readiness exams.  Many of these evaluations look for reasoning, judgment, attention-to-detail, and other characteristics that many returning veterans already have; in addition to having character, integrity, and loyalty, which any future employer would value.

What I would like to see are more transition programs that would place veterans in work internships while improving any additional education and learning needed.  But instead of just the traditional skills and competencies, learners are given an opportunity to nurture their strengths and talents.  These programs would point veterans in the right direction in pursuing the most appropriate profession, equipped with an entrepreneurial knowledge and spirit to create their own jobs in the future.

In the end, what I’ve noticed about many returning military veterans is that they are committed to making a difference. All that Americans need to do, is to honor them by giving them something different; not just a welcome-home salute, but alternative solutions that they fully deserve.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Experential Learning, Military Veterans, Prior Learning Assessment, Reform & Improvement, Training & Development

Tagged , , , ,

Working Value of Education

Posted on September 2, 2011 | 4 Comments

“Who says you can’t put a value on education,” points a friend illustrating a chart by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The results favor the relationship that the higher the education, the lower rate of unemployment.  Yet, these numbers do not give any more comfort to those who may have a job with less education, and especially to those who are currently jobless or under-employed (educated with more schooling or not).

Yet this chart raises some important questions about the connection between education and work. So what can we learn about this issue?

First, maybe we need to start a different discussion. For example, some philosophers have questioned the ‘centrality of work’ and its dominating role in our society. Other thinkers see work as giving essential meaning to our personal lives.  Nevertheless, because many people still need to work, these kinds of discussions can come up empty if not tied to real-life solutions. 

Here is where the role of education is critical.  I would agree, it doesn’t help a jobseeker to hear that he or she must take more time, to spend more money, to get more education without any guarantee of a job waiting at the end. 

Therefore, there must be a closer link between education and the certainty of work. One of the drawbacks to selling the need of education is that it looks like an isolated pursuit, disconnected from the real world and current issues. More education requires a measure of time, patience, and money that appear unavoidable, yet conflicts with our technological, high-speed, microwave era.

Simply there’s no time. People want their degrees now, expressed as wanting to  learn what’s needed today-in-a-day. Offering alternatives may devalue the traditional process of education and undermine the efforts of those who have put in additional time and effort.

But what if education was apart of the job?  Not just continuing professional training for people with some level of experience and expertise; but rather positions for those with no experience, where jobs are created upon changing needs and connected to local schools, colleges, and universities for approved instruction and support.  

A suggestion in this different discussion would be for us to turn the old expressions such as ”hands-on-training” and “learning on the job” into serious strategic approaches to pursuing work while getting an education:  Sort of working internships for adults where a person who has a job, or looks for one, is fulfilling the needs for more education, satisfying the requirements for current credentials, and hopefully securing the paths for continued employment.

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Community Engagement, Experential Learning, Experiential Education, Money, Work, & Lifestyle, Organizational Learning, Prior Learning Assessment, Reform & Improvement, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Linking Music Lyrics to Learning

Posted on August 1, 2011 | 2 Comments

Many have different tastes and styles about the best music for reading or studying. Melodies like classical or light jazz are occasional suggestions, but there is something about hearing words, lyrics, and turn-of-phrases that teaches the experiences of living and learning. 

I think musical lyrics are often ignored lessons for learning and education.

In fact, I have a couple of questions for you:

First, what’s your favorite song or best lyric, verse, or title?  I mean the kind of song that you can remember without assistance from karaoke or concert.

Next question: Why is it remembered?

For me it depends on the specific lesson that the song brings. This can be the way the singer captures a moment that explains my whole life; or a key verse that teaches me something about society I won’t find in books.

We as listeners learn stories from music and its lyrics.  Stories about singers, situations, and solutions summed up into 3-5 minutes.   I argue these harmonious snapshots consist of our continual ups-and-downs, either personally, socially, or even spiritually. Sort of reminders of thoughts, choices, and actions seen through the mirrors of music.  Certain lyrics speak to us and lead in transforming our thinking, in how we treat others, and in the kind of life we would like to pursue. 

If all of us can agree that music teaches, then why not feature it in classrooms too.  In lectures, conferences, and discussions as well as exams, essays, and other forms of evaluation.  As adults, in addition to crafting a resume for employers, what about building a portfolio of learning music for yourself, linking lyrics to lessons learned that teaches others about who you are and in what ways you  have grown.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Lifelong Learning, Money, Work, & Lifestyle, Reform & Improvement, Self-Directed Learning, Teacher Development, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Emotions of Education: A Passion for Reform

Posted on July 15, 2011 | 2 Comments

Many agree that emotions can rule over all reason and sense. Emotions can also encourage and drive us to achieve enormous feats. They are a power with a wide range of potential. 

Now what if emotions were targeted toward education? I mean, what would be the emotional range that we could learn from?

I can think of three in particular: Pain, Pleasure, and Passion.  These emotions when geared toward education can reveal some surprising insights. For instance: What is it about education that brings us pain? Some are failing grades, tuition, student loans, finding the right schools, filling out entrance applications for our children or ourselves, and so on.   

What about the  pleasures of education? Some can identify with receiving great grades, degrees, diplomas, even ‘aha moments’ from learning something new or seeing someone grow in understanding and perspective.

Lastly,  there is the emotion of passion in education.  This is arguably the most misunderstood.  On one hand, we think about passion as a desire, pursuit, personal calling, or profound interest in an area or discipline.  Along these lines, experiencing passion in education would be a welcomed thing that helps define our purposes and pursuits.

On the other hand, passion relates to endurance. In fact, a Latin version of passion ties to patience and ’suffering.’  Remember the ole saying: ’Patience is a Virtue’? Well in this case, patience is having the passion to endure, suffer, and even overcome the circumstances.

Which leads me to a final insight for those who claim to have a passion for education: teachers, school boards, politicians, governments, and learning institutions such as schools, colleges, and universities. 

Can all of them match their desire to pursue education with the suffering and endurance that is necessary  to change it for everyone, especially for those who do not know educational reform and improvement must take place.   

My worry is that many are distracting us with superficial solutions for educational pains, promoting unearned pleasures, while ignoring the most important and emotional impact of advancing a full passion toward a lasting and lifelong education.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in K-12 Education, Literacy & Language, Money, Work, & Lifestyle, Reform & Improvement, Teacher Development, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , ,