tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27105283351513066672024-03-13T22:36:36.278-07:00Rethinking education and workThoughts on education, work and all things in-betweenCharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-64340597233734890842014-08-13T12:30:00.000-07:002014-08-13T12:32:19.620-07:00Look for customers and markets, not jobs.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently saw a news post on Facebook that had a photo of
youth from an East African country in a public demonstration. The young people
were on the street in a protest to highlight growing unemployment among
university graduates. One placard read: ‘For every ten applicants only one gets
a job. Where should we go?’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Young people find themselves in difficult times with growing
unemployment in all continents. And instead of joining everyone around you
moaning, what else can you do?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8RuJlqYhzbs/U-u7GyFmpvI/AAAAAAAAC2s/VBo8y6U4cUc/s1600/JobSeekers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8RuJlqYhzbs/U-u7GyFmpvI/AAAAAAAAC2s/VBo8y6U4cUc/s1600/JobSeekers.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Think for yourself</b>. All along you have had a teacher or
parent come to your rescue when there seemed to be darkness all around. It is
your turn to establish why you are here, what you are living for and what you
will do with your time and gifts (yes, you have some). You are likely to end up
on a path to slavery if you let other people do that for you.</span><br />
<ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finding a job after graduation lets you have a place where you
are serve clients in a business that other individuals have struggled to set up
over many years. You probably do not know their story. But they may have taken
loans, begged help from family and perhaps failed many times before managing to
stay afloat. No one is entitled to entering that safe place straight from
college. Would you like to <b>try square
one</b>?</span><br />
<ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are opportunities in the various circumstances we find
ourselves in if we bother to stop and ask: how did I get here? Why did I enroll for a course that makes one
feel useless unless they are looking at the job advert supplement of a
newspaper? If you chose the easy way through college, you may want to consider
finding a course that gives you hard skills and empowers you to provide
services and produce goods that society needs.</span><br />
<div>
<ul>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The days of secure, paid employment in government offices or
the private sector are over for the majority of the population. There will be
more workers offering their services for pay in short or long-term contracts. Prospective
customers are no longer those within country boundaries. New opportunities can
be accessed in new ways with technological advancement. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop moaning about jobs and go after the markets. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">***</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quote of the day:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 20px 0px 10px; text-align: -webkit-center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.<br />(Leonardo da Vinci)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-60058847809663555832014-08-12T09:02:00.000-07:002014-08-12T09:22:38.022-07:00Here come the robots<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you live in the developed
world, you will already have noticed the rising influence of automation in
industry, especially in manufacturing and agriculture. The Oxford Martin
Program on the Impacts of Future Technology <a href="http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf">estimates</a>
that 45 percent of American jobs may be taken by computers in the next 20
years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jQMVwg24tl8/U-o-9unmhcI/AAAAAAAAC2I/PwziDHCzYro/s1600/Robot1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jQMVwg24tl8/U-o-9unmhcI/AAAAAAAAC2I/PwziDHCzYro/s1600/Robot1.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo: Jiuguang Wang (Flickr)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the Canadian province of
Ontario where I live, there are machines to milk cows, prune grapevines and to
do a whole range of farm and store-related tasks. At one farm in Seaforth, the
new equipment is not only able to milk a cow, but also indicate when the animal
is likely to fall sick or is ready to get pregnant.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The number of areas where
machines are able to replace human beings is not only restricted to routine
operations. Car manufacturing plants in Japan have used robots for a while. At
one of the Toyota factories in Japan, 96 percent of production is done by 760
robots even as Toyota tries to </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-06/humans-replacing-robots-herald-toyota-s-vision-of-future.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">reverse</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
this trend in order to nurture master craftsmen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where do these developments leave
the hordes of job-seeking young people (many without any technical skill)? Harvard
University researcher Tony Wagner <span style="line-height: 115%;">provides</span> a useful maxim
for those entering college or about to leave in search for work: ‘the world
doesn’t care what you know. What the world cares about is what you do with what
you know.’ As more jobs are taken over by machines, more individuals will be
required to acquire new higher-order skills and continually learn in order to
keep jobs or offer their services in the market. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The depth of learning that takes
place in our colleges and universities will determine whether young people can
do something with their education and even muster machines before they take
their jobs. In many of my posts I will highlight the value of learning to write
computer code. Computer programming is one of the tools that will enable many
young people enter <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/14301346">portfolio</a>
careers and to ride ahead of machines (as machines depend on our instructions).
In England, programming is going <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10410036/Teaching-our-children-to-code-a-quiet-revolution.html" target="_blank">to be taught</a> from elementary school (through to 16
years) starting this September.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ability to write instructions for machines is the literacy of the 21</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> century. Do not get left behind.</span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/hvDjh4l-VHo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">(Dr Tony Wagner speaks about 7 essential survival skills in this video)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-64194992356221376222014-01-29T20:53:00.000-08:002014-01-30T09:23:56.798-08:00African youth need trade skills not university degrees<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 130%;">An International Conference on Putting Youth to Work
is underway in Dakar, Senegal until 30 January 2014. The event has been
organized by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in
partnership with the Partnership for Economic Policy. It is meant to be a
platform for sharing ideas towards solutions to Africa’s predicament of mass
youth unemployment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; line-height: 130%;">It has been reported that 83 percent of the unemployed
in Uganda are youth; the figures in Zimbabwe and Senegal stand at 68 and 56
percent respectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; line-height: 130%;">Youth unemployment is not unique to Africa. Western
Europe and other parts of the world are in difficult circumstances as well. In
the UK, it has been </span><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/youth-unemployment-uk-parents-feel-ill-equipped-when-it-comes-careers-advice-1433997"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; line-height: 130%;">found</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; line-height: 130%;"> that
half of the parents are in the dark about their children’s career options. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; line-height: 130%;">In a survey done by Ernst and Young in the UK, it was
found that parents and employers had different perceptions about the value of
going to university. While parents valued a university qualification, employers
were more interested in work experience. In the OECD’s Africa Economic Outlook
2012 </span><a href="http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/development/african-economic-outlook-2012_aeo-2012-en"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; line-height: 130%;">Report</span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; line-height: 130%;">
focusing on youth employment, it was noted that though schools and institutions
of higher learning in most African countries are not providing young people
with the skills employers are looking for, a bigger problem is the low demand
for labour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">Instead of going sheepishly following everyone
spending money on university programs that lead into the unemployment abyss,
let us encourage young African men and women to look for trade skills that give
them power to work with their head and hands and offer high quality services
that we need every day (vehicle, power installation repairs, plumbing,
fabrication, computer software solutions, etc). Charles Handy called it </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/14301346" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">portfolio work</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">.</span>CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-38075361809946365052013-09-11T18:35:00.000-07:002013-09-11T18:35:15.814-07:00What are you teaching your children?<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<em><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I recently came across important questions on a
blog of a famous American businessman. He was writing in connection to the
beginning of a new school year in the fall and on educational achievement of
school-going children. His main thrust was <a href="http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog.aspx">financial education</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<em><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The questions: “What are our schools teaching our
kids? Is it really the information they need to succeed in life? Are they being
taught to think for themselves and to solve problems?”</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The businessman
contends that our traditional schools have failed to teach children to <a href="http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/9074">think for themselves</a> and
all key skills they need to be successful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It seems majority of
parents or guardians of young people consider that the job of educating their
children belongs first to the state, or a school. As a result, parents focus on
providing food, clothing, medical care and entertaining their children (or
filling up houses with gadgets). Schools then do whatever they can in fulfilling
the duty of education. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I will turn the
first question to the parents: what are you actively teaching your children? Although
I won’t belabour the case for parents as the first educators of their children;
here is an alternative question. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Where
else do parents go</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">when
schools and higher education system </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">fail to be good guides and become instead sources
of confusion and hindrances to </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">true
education</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">?</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> In the heart
of the child that each one of us is we would consider ‘going home’ to a parent,
to family.<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">So then, what and
how are parents to teach their children? I suppose every parent would want to
teach their child what would make them competent in life’s varied circumstances
(work, leisure, difficulty, and uncertainty) and ultimately how to find
happiness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">How to teach? Let’s
break down the task of teaching. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">T</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">eaching
takes place only when its </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">intended
result</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> -- which must be </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">known</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> from
the start -- is achieved -- when the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">child</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> is </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">‘</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">taught</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">’</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One
can try to teach their child forgiveness, but they have not taught until the
message reaches the child and the he or she is seen forgiving habitually (even
in petty matters). </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Being
taught means to perceive that what the teacher has said is true and valid, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">to perceive why it is so and to do it.<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One
way parents try to teach is by modelling the behaviour they would like taught
to their children. Children usually assimilate the behaviour and messages (good
and bad) in the home without the need to be drummed into them. However, the
teaching is not done until the message (forgiving is good, forgiving helps
relationships) reaches them and they practice it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Parents
who decide to leave education to the schools will find (albeit rather late) that
their children did not learn much else apart from subject facts that are soon
forgotten after receiving a grade. For those who choose to take up the
challenge, there’s much work to do in learning and seeking wisdom to teach one’s
children. <span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Parents who have the time and ability may decide to
home-school whereas others may only manage to teach children how to play a
musical instrument. </span></span>Whichever course is taken, you will have made
a choice to give of yourselves and that is an invaluable legacy for your
children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What
can you begin to do now? Here is some <a href="http://peterbregman.com/articles/a-question-that-can-change-your-life/">inspiration</a>
from Paul Bregman.<span style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-55415252364140124282013-07-29T16:49:00.000-07:002013-07-29T16:55:29.670-07:00Woe to the teacher who has not embraced the internet<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week the American
businessman and financial education activist </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kiyosaki" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Robert Kiyosaki</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> made a
remark on Facebook that did not go well with many people who follow him. He
said the ‘old idea of a teacher is obsolete; the internet and mobile devices
are how people are learning’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were many individuals who
insisted he was so wrong and that the statement undermined the work of
teachers. They, like many of us who use public forums like this, were too quick
to disagree without observing how Kiyosaki presented his claim. The key words
there were ‘old idea of teacher’. With the opportunity to stay judgment until
they have thought about the statement, many who disagreed may have a different
take.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few decades ago (and
unfortunately in some places today), the transmission approach to teaching was
the way schools operated. Teachers and prescribed text books were the deposits
of knowledge and understanding. Students paid attention to learn as much as
they could from the teacher. Once in a while, a prudent teacher realized the
students also had something to offer and would incorporate discussions and
feedback sessions. The students mostly took the teachers’ interpretation, who
in turn may have gleaned it from a textbook author. In other words, one would
learn what the teacher had learned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was important to learn what
was expected because one would be tested at the end of a school term.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In many cases then (and today)
what is not prescribed in the curriculum does <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/mar11/vol68/num06/High-Stakes_Testing_Narrows_the_Curriculum.aspx">not
get taught</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The advent of information and
communication technology and tools now gives the teacher and student new
possibilities. The teacher may use podcasts with ideas and perspectives from
other teachers to supplement their own effort. Almost all the knowledge the
teacher previously brought to the class is now available for the student on the
internet. The student only needs prudence to ask guidance on where to find
reliable resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Robert Kiyosaki is not against
teachers. He wants to point out that the internet and related technology tools
are a big part of the teaching and learning process. Teachers who will not step
up to the challenge of incorporating new technology tools in their practice are
not only at a disadvantage, but dangerous for our schools. Although they can be
great mentors and offer inspiration for young people, they offer an impoverished
learning experience as they are likely to keep behind developments in their
respective teaching areas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alvin Toffler has said that the illiterate of the twenty
first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot
<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenkotler/2013/06/02/learning-to-learn-faster-the-one-superpower-everyone-needs/">learn</a>,
unlearn and relearn. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-63591767778845407252013-07-27T14:09:00.000-07:002013-07-27T14:20:39.348-07:00Do you need that Master’s degree or experience?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You have hardly been a year out
of university after a three or four-year Bachelor’s program. In these times I
suspect most of the year has been spent enjoying your new found freedom from
academic study, course tests and exams. After a few months of rest, the race to
find work begins. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you have found a
job or started your own small business (as a sole service provider), you are
now trying to stabilize in that new undertaking. In the case of those looking
for employment, the search continues.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hardly a year or two after
leaving university there will be cries for you to acquire new qualifications.
This is made to appear even more urgent for those who <a href="http://rethinkschoolwork.blogspot.com/2013/07/why-you-are-still-jobless.html">have
no work</a> or are in employment that they do not find fulfilling. You have
been told that there are so many people ready to present a Bachelor’s
certificate with their next job application. It will be at least a second class
computer science, engineering, social science or physics degree. So yours is
not that special. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is true a Master’s degree may give
you an edge at the job interview following elimination of many others. But this
is not always the case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I argue here that the best
approach to the decision to advance to a Master’s degree is to consider what
the extra credential will contribute to your productive ability. Furthermore,
that the best measure of one’s productive ability is in what they can do with
what they know (not just what they know). The best way to improve your
productive ability is by obtaining work experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One is better off spending two or
three years working full-time in a busy finance department of a large
corporation than a year or so on a MBA program straight after a bachelor’s
degree. If a Master’s degree does not offer you the possibility of working on
real products or services for real clients (say with a semester of internship),
you really have to think twice about spending money or time on it. Besides,
working with real clients solving real problems gives you a wide range of
experiences to take to graduate lecture discussions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Should it matter if I’m offered a
Masters scholarship? Yes. Time spent shuffling more pages in text books and solving
structured problems keeps you behind colleagues who learn from <a href="http://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/everything-you-know-about-curriculum-may-be-wrong-really/">performance
challenges</a> at the frontlines on the job. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another way of looking at the
decision is to consider what material rewards a promotion (resulting from a new
Masters qualification) will bring or the intellectual rewards of advanced study
in your discipline that gives you the capacity for deeper analysis of workplace
problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would definitely discourage
young people fresh from university from advancing to Masters study just to <a href="http://careers.guardian.co.uk/master-s-degrees-do-employers-value-them">fill
time</a> without employment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">***</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A must share: Bob Parsons' <a href="http://www.bobparsons.me/bp_16_rules.php">16 rules</a> for business and life</span></div>
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CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-25954923640538720622013-07-26T11:09:00.006-07:002013-09-11T16:34:24.130-07:00Why you are still jobless<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are quite a number of
writers on unemployment, but they mostly </span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/shenegotiates/2013/03/05/six-reasons-you-may-still-be-unemployed/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">write</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
from a narrow perspective. They assume they are writing for an audience
of people seeking employment and not those who wish to start a business on
their own or in partnership with others. They tell you that you are jobless
because you do not know how to demonstrate what you know and can do, that your
resume is disorganized and strewn with errors and you do not take networking
seriously.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The result of drumming the wrong
message without end is obscuring the option of using whatever skill young
people have to enter the goods and services market. There's another view.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Increasing competitiveness and
technological advances have brought greater uncertainty in the way we work and
the kind of work we do. That is something you can benefit from if you decide to
change to an entrepreneurial mindset. It is a new way of thinking that one can
benefit from the uncertainty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The internet as a new medium of
business has unbelievable potential to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?index=books&keywords=0374292787&tag=macmillan-20">transform</a>
all aspects of life including prospects for those joining the workforce. So how
will you get started? Here are a few things to take note of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p>Begin with a dream. We all have
dreams and can have new dreams. The trouble is, when we encounter the slightest
difficulty, there is a chance of a dream getting shelved and never revisited.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seek out opportunities daily. Be
alert and observant for changes in what is advertised in the papers, what
people are talking about, trouble you may be having with appliances at home, etc. Read
biographies of outstanding entrepreneurs, they are treasure houses.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keep a record of your business
ideas. Write a short description of the business idea (concept), find data that
can help you establish whether the idea is feasible. This may include things
like estimates of likely customers.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You need to examine who is
already in the market with a similar service or product and how you can
differentiate your offering from theirs.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look out for particular skills or
resources that you will need to thrive in the market. Establish ways of
acquiring them. There are plenty of Teach Yourself resources online.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The business opportunity
should be something you love to do. That way you will go to
work that is tough, but something you are committed to and find enjoyable.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There will be difficulties and
rejection as you start out. Remember the way of beginning on your own is one of
restlessness, persistence and perseverance. In the 1950s Ray Kroc, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0312929870" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">founder</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of
McDonald’s approached relatives and friends for backing to start a new kind of
hamburger restaurant. They discouraged him and told him to stick to selling
milkshake blenders.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 3M Corporation did not see
potential in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-it_note">post-its</a> (sticky notes) when Art Fry first brought the idea to
management. He did not give up. Sticky notes are now a several hundred million business
for 3M. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They did not give up. You too can
succeed as an entrepreneur, initiator and developer and not just an employee. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Listen to Thomas Friedman speak about changes in times of rapid technological advance</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/l0ucULwwOes?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-53346889860844853602013-07-24T13:20:00.000-07:002013-07-25T18:53:02.839-07:00A generation without work!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few days ago Pope Francis, enroute to the Catholic World Youth Day in Brazil, </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/10194784/Pope-Francis-warns-of-lost-generation-of-unemployed-young-people.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">warned</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of a global crisis of unemployed young people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said we run the risk of losing an entire generation of young people to unemployment. The pope has probably had a look at the OECD 2013 youth employment </span><a href="http://www.oecd.org/els/emp/oecdemploymentoutlook.htm"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">projections</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> where Spain and Greece are expected to reach about 28 percent (in both countries) in 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YySAhxztvJQ/UfA2d_KklXI/AAAAAAAAA7c/NP-QZLDtOwY/s1600/ID-10021221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YySAhxztvJQ/UfA2d_KklXI/AAAAAAAAA7c/NP-QZLDtOwY/s320/ID-10021221.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="right">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Courtesy of Freedigitialphotos.net)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/news/international/21576657-around-world-almost-300m-15-24-year-olds-are-not-working-what-has-caused"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Economist</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> also addressed this issue a couple months ago. It was reported that about 300 million 15-24 year olds around the world are without work. How did all this begin? What can we do about this crisis? Is it failure of individuals or system failure? </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think that a close look at the ways our schools and other institutions of learning operate and the ways employers (especially industry) seek out, recruit and retain workers may provide some clues. In this post, I will address the school system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A fair portion of young people without work are those who may have left school early or had to leave prematurely. Others have in fact attended university or a college and still find themselves jobless.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A key problem may be the expectation that spending a few years at university or college equips one for the world of work. It turns out that a whole new mindset is now required to avoid the unemployment trap. Young people should be encouraged to reach an engagement level where they aim to do something with what they know other than simply passing knowledge tests and qualification certificates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.tonywagner.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tony Wagner</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, a Harvard professor has </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvDjh4l-VHo"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">outlined</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the skills our schools and homes should seek to impart if young people are to innovate in an increasingly competitive world. They are: critical thinking and problem-solving, collaboration across networks, agility and adaptability, entrepreneurism, effective oral and written communication, how to access and analyze information and curiosity and imagination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">School experiences of young people should engage them in real work and prepare them to work, not to seek work. The management consultant Charles Handy has observed that the work of the future is </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/14301346"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">portfolio work</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. A portfolio worker will not depend on an employer in the long term. They will only look for individuals who require their services and once they get a job done (probably short contract), they move on to the next task. We can already see the rise of freelance work with such sites as </span><a href="http://www.odesk.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">oDesk</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="http://www.elance.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elance</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally it is time to reform our schools to reflect the new circumstances in which we live. We must prepare young people to </span><a href="http://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/everything-you-know-about-curriculum-may-be-wrong-really/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">perform in the real world</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and not simply remember facts here and there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This, in my view, is one way to deal with the crisis of youth unemployment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-53867250450547149162013-07-23T12:20:00.001-07:002013-07-25T13:18:34.831-07:00Asiana flight 214 crash and the problem of workplace training<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On 6th July 2013, Asiana airlines Boeing 777 flight 214 from Incheon, South Korea to San Francisco in the US crashed during a landing attempt at San Francisco international airport. Most of the 307 people aboard were able to evacuate safely, 182 were injured, and two Chinese students and another unnamed minor died. As the US National Transportation Safety Board continues its investigation into the accident, the Board chairman has said preliminary work shows the aircraft was ‘too low, and too slow’ during its approach. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I2NVMa1QW9k/Ue7XEnaHL5I/AAAAAAAAA68/V4u6SfAYTNA/s1600/Asiana_214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I2NVMa1QW9k/Ue7XEnaHL5I/AAAAAAAAA68/V4u6SfAYTNA/s320/Asiana_214.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has also been noted that the flying pilot Lee Gang-kuk, with about 10,000 hours of commercial pilot experience, had only about 35 hours operating the Boeing 777 and was flying the big jet into San Francisco for the first time. The instructor pilot, Lee Jeong-min, an experienced pilot who has landed a this same aircraft at San Francisco airport 33 times was in the Boeing 777 trainer role for the first time. It is not clear what qualified Jeong-min as an instructor other than many years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although I do not intend to speculate as to the cause of the crash, I would like to isolate the issue of workplace training and what organizations might learn. I will argue that length of work experience as basis for selection as an trainer/instructor is erroneous because knowing how to perform and teaching others to perform are different skills. The many years of experience that enable one acquire and master job skills do not naturally translate into ability to instruct novices. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To teach another individual how to perform in real life requires giving them a performance challenge. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 130%;">In the case of an aircraft pilot, this would be spending hours flying until a particular qualification threshold. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">I will use an example that many a reader will be more familiar with, driving a car. Knowing how to maintain control of a car on the road, monitoring speed and paying attention to road signs and other road users are crucial skills for all drivers. Knowing how to maintain speed in one’s car, for instance, is a different matter from teaching another individual to do the same. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">A good driving instructor knows how to maintain required speed and how to see others through performing the same task. They know crucial points when not to let one make mistakes with speed that can be fatal or at least criminal. They will watch out for what a novice driver may not see, like people who may suddenly choose to cross the road.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same can be said of a good school teacher. A biologist, holder of a PhD, considering high school teaching may be asked to join a secondary school teacher preparation programme. Those who would consider this uncalled for soon realize teaching is not just about content, it brings other matters to bear. The good teacher is called not only to try to engage the student to the point that they take responsibility for their own learning, but also pay attention to realize when the student is astray. The teacher is often called to admonish the student in a stern voice, but will also be found offering a sympathetic ear as a parent would do with their own child. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact very experienced workers may be worse than less experienced colleagues because sometimes the former bring experience that is mis-educative to the job of training. Mis-educative work experience has the effect of arresting growth of further experience. For instance, one may propose the work methods they used through the many years of work as the only successful ones in spite of knowledge advancement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A counter-argument may be advanced that experienced workers learn to train by training. This is only true to the extent that organizations acknowledge that training is not a role that one simply switches to given many years of job performance. Training others requires understanding how individuals learn, what may impede learning, what can go wrong (especially when errors may result in loss of life) and the circumstances under which the student should have lee-way to take risks and experiment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The false assumption that experienced workers can seamlessly become trainers leads many organizations to expecting too much of experienced staff who do not know how to perform in a teaching role. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2710528335151306667" name="_GoBack"></a>In a follow-up post, I will take up the issue of how employees in a bureaucratic work environment think and react in the face of emergencies.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*The author is a mechanic engineer with several years of experience in education.</span></div>
CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-50888445659293626222010-11-11T12:00:00.000-08:002013-07-23T17:57:45.471-07:00Writing by hand helps mental efficiency<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 140%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are experiencing ever growing
use of mobile devices like the smart phone to do the sort of things we did solely
on a computer many years ago. Hand writing is now threatened with extinction. There you have students with an entire quarter
of a year for holiday taking a break from school work that requires writing
anything. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the proliferation of computers
and all manner of electronic word-processing tools, people migrate from paper
to keyboards. When one’s job does not involve any serious writing, planning and
constantly working with teams studying situations and proposing solutions,
there’s hardly any writing by hand. You may also not be surprised to discover
that most of the elegantly dressed men and women going into offices do not have
a pen with them. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For many, the pen is simply décor that tops their neat shirt
and tie or corporate uniform. They hardly use the pen to write anything personal
save for completing papers that are part and parcel of their day routine.
Writing by hand is costly when one has to spend time word-processing their
notes. But the activity is useful in other ways. Reader, here is why you should
not fall for the trap of easy word processing facilities. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mental
efficiency<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The writer Robert Stone was once
asked whether he mostly types his manuscripts. He said he types most of the
time until he encounters difficulty going forward. He prefers writing with the
hand for greater precision. The pen compels lucidity. The exercise of writing
is indispensable part of effort towards mental efficiency. It helps for one to
be able to compose sentences and achieve continuity. I do not know how many
people keep diaries today. They are certainly fewer than they were few decades
ago. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing by hand is more than just a
way to communicate. Research has established that we do not only learn letters
but also idea composition and expression when we put pen to paper. In a 2008
study, adults were asked to distinguish between new characters and a mirror
image of them after producing the characters using pen and paper and a computer
keyboard. Those writing by hand had a stronger and lasting recognition of the
characters’ proper orientation. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This suggests the movements one makes when
writing help visual identification of shapes. It has also been found in a
separate study that students who write essays by hand write more words, write
faster and express more ideas than when they write with a keyboard. It is also
true that people often judge the quality of our ideas from handwriting.
Teachers who grade homework or examinations know about this. There’s often
mental bias when you see a script with neat handwriting and orderly
presentation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Culture<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After school there may not be many
opportunities to write by hand other than those created by the individual. In
order to avoid getting out of touch with the practice, I propose the use of a
diary or a journal. Diaries are not as engaging as one may enter details about
their day into a diary with very little mental effort. They also allow for
exaggeration of our egotism. When left lying loose, they may cause strife in
relationships and homes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A journal is better. Whereas a
diary mostly caters for self and one’s activities exclusively, a journal roams
wider. A diary relates that one woke up with a headache that may have been
attributable to mental stress. The journal follows through to the way the young
lawyer at the corporate dinner that day had brown eyes and a trick of throwing
her head back when asking a question. Writing a journal helps one to discover
motivations for their actions and to uncover other internal tendencies. Many
people today tend to reproduce idly the thoughts of others and to swayed by
every passing gust of emotion. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our new handheld devices may have
many advantages, but I doubt that they can capture what happens when a human
hand and a pen meet paper.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(This article was first published in the <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/">Daily Monitor</a> newspaper)</span></span></div>
CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-81005281609042759322010-10-05T12:00:00.000-07:002013-07-23T17:56:02.659-07:00Why students enter reading frenzy at eleventh hour<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Students across world tend
to descend upon libraries and reading rooms a few weeks to examinations in a
bid to catch up. In most of the universities I attended there is a special
fortnight in which the library operates 24 hours. This is usually to allow
students more time to use resources they might need to prepare for
examinations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do students always get
into a reading frenzy only weeks to examinations? I will try to examine one possible
view. It is the failure to translate an objective meaning of time into adequate
preparation for everyday school tasks and examinations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Preparation<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think a student who finds
that they still have so many untouched reading tasks a month to final
examinations may be found to have problems with using time well. At the
beginning of the school year, there is always plenty of leisure time because
everybody looks at exams in the distant future. It is at that point that a
student would consider that all their preparation can be broken up into bits
and spread over eight or nine months. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know of some schools that
give students year-planning notebooks replete with all the guidelines for
daily, weekly and monthly monitoring of study and homework time. Interestingly,
the students may feel it is not fair to compel them to do this kind of planning.
Students who won’t use this kind of planer argue that they have mental
timetables which they have recourse to when they feel like studying! <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meaning of time<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One important aspect I’d like to highlight
here is the problem of time: that human life is uniquely personal, but also
absorbed in the life of our cultures from which we draw the first meanings of
time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elizabeth Taylor, in a 1989 <i>Time Magazine</i> <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,957137,00.html">article</a> noted that for a
child in kindergarten, the day is typically divided into time for listening,
playing, colouring, eating and sleeping. As children grow up their development
is determined by how well the social setting supports an organised approach to everyday
activities. But for many young people today growing up in challenging family
circumstances, the structure of the school day seems totally unfamiliar. They
often resist the idea that they should stop doing one thing simply because it
is time to do something else. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taylor was interested in understanding why many
children of the urban-poor were so uncomfortable in school. She drew an explanation from the work of
University of Chicago Professor Dolores Norton, who had conducted a unique
study of the intellectual development of children in poor families. Dolores’
concluded that growing up in an unstructured home environment prevents
development of a sense of time that enables adaptation in school. ‘When these
children come to school, they enter a world that was not created for them and
that does not build their known skills,’ Norton noted. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She compared these young people growing in
challenging homes to students in a classroom with adults who speak their
language, yet are unable to interpret what they want them to do, even though
they wish to please them. A failure to understand the meaning of time, she
asserts, is a handicap that may partly account for the poor academic performance
of many inner-city children throughout their school careers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Norton’s insights came from years of
observing forty children born to young mothers living in the most blighted,
impoverished pockets of Chicago. Norton found that references to time were rare.
Most parents hardly ever provided instructions like ‘finish lunch so you can
see your favourite TV program at 5:30,’ or ‘you can play for about half an hour.’
Daily routines, such as parents leaving home for work at a particular time and
regular times for bed and meals, are usually non-existent in these homes. Students
from disorganised homes may be able to read a clock, but that does not mean
they understand time. Norton found that most of her young subjects scored lower
than average on tests which measured their abilities to understand sequences of
events. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These insights may challenge parents to
provide support in developing students’ capacity, not only for managing time
well, but also managing their actions.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(A slightly edited version of this article was first published in the <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/">Daily Monitor</a> newspaper)</span></span></div>
CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-737669491678610892010-09-10T17:08:00.000-07:002013-07-23T17:12:41.544-07:00Ability groups may demoralize weak students<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You seldom come across a secondary
school teacher who has not felt the pinch of increasing failure to take charge
of the conduct of his or her students on account of strong peer influence. I
have previously supported the need to teach young people to think for
themselves as one way to address negative influence. But sometimes seemingly
well-adjusted and capable students are misled by peers (commonly referred to as
mates) into activities that do not contribute to their school success. I argue
that this tendency is often rooted in such practices in school like ability grouping
and the negative appraisal teachers often give weak students.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Self esteem and ability groups<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Self-esteem is a self-maintenance
motive. It is can be seen as a social product (consequence of social influence)
or as a social force (a cause of social behaviour). School performance may be a
cause of self-esteem. This is because academic success is a public and visible
indicator of a pupil’s standing and society generally upholds academic success.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are causal connections
between low self-esteem, juvenile delinquency and poor academic performance. Prior
poor performance in school brings some school authorities to draw categories of
top performers, mediocre and poor performers. Ability grouping is a practice in
some schools to place students in a given year in different streams according
to their previous academic performance. You may have streams A, B and C with C
being the class with the poorest grades. The aim of keeping these groups
separate may be to give each group (especially C) the attention they need to
improve. Unfortunately the C group may come to be looked on by some teachers as
the students in whom there’s very little hope for improvement. I recall that my
primary school had four streams with pupils achieving aggregate 4 and 5
learning together. With time even friendships I had with second grade students
weakened because there were no longer close. In the A stream pupils who fooled
around where sometimes threatened with instant deportation to stream D. In
stream D the methods teachers used where different and sometimes <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To understand how teacher feedback
is important in building or eroding esteem, let’s take a look at one principle of
self-esteem formation—that is, reflected appraisal. The principle of reflected appraisal holds
that people’s feelings about themselves are strongly influenced by their judgments
of what others think of them. Here self esteem is a product of social
interaction. This principle has implications for ability grouping. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
success of failure<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Young people are very keen and can
tell when a teacher does not care enough when they need help. Students with low
self esteem often face undesirable conditions in school experiences that create
feelings of doubt about their self-worth.
A peer group who live for entertainment may be the place where a
youngster finds favourable reflected appraisals. This group replaces the
negative feedback from teachers with positive reflected appraisals they receive
from one another. In addition, defiance of authority in school may be played
out before an appreciative audience of mates yielding positive reflected
appraisal. A student may come to compare more favourably with peers in keeping
up with the music charts than he or she does in classroom study. This student
considers that they gather more positive self-attributions by observing success
in keeping up-to-date with music than school work. A student’s failure to keep
up with others in class becomes an avenue for acquiring positive appraisal from
peers in activities in which they have genuine interest!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stream of poor performers or
those students who have little interest in school sometimes resist alteration
of the image they have developed of themselves. As a result students are
motivated to maintain the level of positive or negative judgments of their
ability. The A class know they are good and often work hard to maintain their
good grades. The trailing group is also constantly aware of their weakness and
may not work any harder.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Optimism<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unless there is a deliberate effort
by teachers to show that they have faith in weak students’ potential to work
harder and excel, to constantly encourage and reward their every effort, weak
students soon find alternative activities outside school that are rewarding and
in which they obtain positive appraisal from peers. They may immerse themselves
in sports, music or hanging around with little regard to any other
responsibilities. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Teaching is a profession founded on
optimism. It is here that people invest much time in others’ lives and future
without any guarantee that beneficiaries will use their learning profitably. It
is especially in the lives of students in various kinds of need (counsel, love
or remedial tuition) that the most enduring and useful contribution of a
teacher may be. </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 140%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(This article was first published with a few changes in the <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/">Daily Monitor</a> newspaper)</span></span></div>
CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2710528335151306667.post-34817019268386175692010-02-22T12:00:00.000-08:002013-07-25T13:17:12.175-07:00What are we doing with computers in schools?<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last two decades have been
a period of proliferation of information and communication technology in almost
every aspect of life—from the mobile phone to banking and the remote tracking of
motor vehicles. This technology revolution mostly driven by computer
applications has also affected the education sector. There is ever growing
concern about equipping classrooms with computers and to wire each of these
computers to the internet. Private school TV adverts these days necessarily
include a view of computers, perhaps as a up-to-date institution qualifier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Technology-enhanced classrooms
are inspired by constructionist theories that propose that learning is an
active process wherein learners are actively constructing mental models and
theories of the world around them. Social justice-inspired programmes like ‘One
laptop per child’ also continue to roll out supplies of computers to developing
world schools in view of what has been referred to as ‘bridging the digital
divide’. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The drive to provide computers is based on the thinking that if these
machines are made available, they will be used; and if they are used, they will
contribute to improvement of learning. Will computers deliver on the expectations
of policy-makers and educational philanthropists? My argument is that the most
needed energy for reviving and improving schools and higher institutions of
learning should be sought in student agency manifested in reliable work habits
and critical thinking skills. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why bring computers to classrooms?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The social rationale is that
digital technologies have become part and parcel of everyday life, and that
schools should prepare students to be active participants in a digital
age. Similarly, the thinking behind a
vocational, or market-oriented, rationale is that children should learn how to
work with computers and later be able to compete for jobs at front ends of
interview queues. Proponents of this position promote ‘computer literacy’
courses, concentrating on computer programming and the use of popular
application programmes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pedagogical
rationale emphasizes a contribution to improving teaching and learning,
sometimes through the use of new computer-assisted learning software in the
classroom, or by using the computer as a tool that can expand and enrich
knowledge acquisition and construction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another impulse for bringing
computers to the classroom is from academics and educators in favour of
self-directed learning for children. This coalition, inspired by John Dewey,
Jerome Bruner, Maria Montessori and Lev Vygotsky, seek to transform schools in
which learning comprises tediously absorbing large bodies of non-functional knowledge
unconnected to life. They want schools in which teachers help students
construct their own understanding.
Classroom learning has also been greatly influenced by growth of the
internet and its World Wide Web resource stockpiles. Computer workstations that
give students internet access increase the size of the available learning
resources to consult and also the efficiency with which they can search huge
chunks of literature for relevant references.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although computers may be
useful educational tools for quicker processing and analysis of information,
they often present an opportunity for students to grow their leisure time and
get away from learning tasks.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Educational tools or toys?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The potential for computers to
facilitate learning is often met by a challenge of choosing what one may use
from several applications on a computer. The standard desktop computer will
come with word-processers, drawing applications and entertainment accessories
like music and games. When the computer is connected to the internet, there are
myriad opportunities for a student to access online games but also to link up
with other people for a chat. When presented with a play arena and an
opportunity to work out mathematics problems, the former is likely to become of
secondary interest. A computer can be a collection of some of the most enticing
distractions that easily overwhelms a teenage student who is still struggling
to develop self-mastery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without appropriate guidance,
many secondary (even university) students working away at a computer remain
incapable of assessing the quality of the resources they have access to.
Students using workstations with internet access are also susceptible to
‘pathological internet-use’ that could draw them into pornography or with the
feeling that the internet is my only friend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When computers are delivered to
classrooms, they usually meet archrivals, the teachers. Teachers are not always enthusiastic about
altering their ways of working to accommodate new technology. Even though some
teachers are willing to undergo training in the use of new learning support
facilities, they rarely acquire pedagogic expertise to help them make the most
effective use of ICT in their lessons. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of new and bigger
investments in computer infrastructure, schools should also invest in giving
students skills that increasingly get neglected: writing and reasoning,
reliable work habits, capacity for concentration and face-to-face
communication. Computers are useless without primary material—ideas and
concepts generated through dedicated study and thought; and this can only be
done by human beings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m of the view that learning mostly
depends on what human beings, rather than computers, do best. The teacher may
be the one to meet a most important need for the student—lighting a fire in the
student’s heart, role modeling and nurturing as these can contribute more to
learning now and in the future than the neatest hyper-linked courseware. </span></div>
CharlieMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13713437563378740433noreply@blogger.com0