The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 5,600 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 9 years to get that many views.
Today I am sharing information about three new Education start-ups from an article by Nick DeSantis from The Chronicle of Higher Education: The first is a transfer college called Altius Education (a very much needed idea for South Africa, with our problematic achievements in Grade 12). The second is OpenStudy which has focused on soft skills, again an area requiring attention in South Africa. The third is about Sophia a social learning platform purchased by Capella Education System.
“The theme of disrupting higher education was buzzing among hundreds of conference attendees this week at the Education Innovation Summit at Arizona State University. The event offered start-up companies a captive audience for pitching their products. Here’s a small sample of announcements they made:
Altius Education: This company has already gained prominence among educators for its creation of a “transfer college,” which gives students a bridge to a bachelor’s degree by helping them transfer to traditional four-year institutions. And now the chief executive of Altius, Paul Freedman, has bigger plans—he wants to put “the flying car of higher education” in the driveway of every student. The engine, he says, is called Helix, a new tool that seeks to reinvent what learning-management software can do…
OpenStudy: Traditional grades are one-dimensional. Transcripts don’t convey how good students are at working with others and
Image via CrunchBase
solving problems. That’s the argument made by the leaders of OpenStudy, the social-learning network that calls itself a “global study group.” To fill in those gaps, the company has introduced SmartScore, a measurement of “soft skills” including teamwork, problem-solving, and engagement. In a blog post that previewed SmartScore’s introduction, OpenStudy’s co-founder, Preetha Ram, said the tool would ‘challenge the traditional notions of intelligence normally quantified by grades…’
Sophia: The social platform for teaching and learning was purchased this week by Capella Education Company, the parent of the for-profit Capella University. The partnership means Sophia will roll out low-cost college courses online, beginning with a college-algebra course in June…”
[Creative Commons licensed Flickr photo by tsutatsuta]
Reference: http://ht.ly/1iT2ic (Accessed 19/04/2012).
“Workplace experiences where career development learning is effectively embedded provide benefits to the student, their educational institution, and the workplace. A critical success factor in the workplace experience being transformational for all parties is that the underpinning reflective practices are designed around career development learning. The metaphor of the two-way mirror embodies the unique capacity which career development learning brings to the experience. Therefore, career development learning becomes the process which brings clarity and understanding to workplace experiences.”
See: http://www.hecsu.ac.uk/graduate_market_trends_summer_2010_linking_career_development_learning_and%20_work_integrated_learning.htm for research on this topic.
This is a very valuable insight. Workplace mentors and/or supervisors who work with learners have a large role to play in the 70% workplace experience component of these learners. This role is insufficiently understood and often neglected.
MARCH MADNESS SPECIAL!
Get 10% off for all development work secured in March.
Contact Carol NOW! aruraza@gmail.com
Go here for a video on workplace listening skills:
http://onthejobtv.org/site/2008/01/special-listening-skills/
“In OECD countries, many young people enter vocational programmes at upper secondary level. Sometimes these programmes are linked to workplace training, and sometimes they are formal apprenticeships, alternating on-the-job learning with school-based training. Despite its international diversity, some common issues and challenges remain. For example:
Learning for Jobs, the thematic review of initial VET, looks at these issues among others. The work got under way in 2007 and, following 17 country reviews across the globe, was completed with the publication of a final comparative report in 2010.”
http://www.oecd.org/edu/learningforjobs
See here ready to work videos covering time management, listening skills etc., from on the job TV.
Benjamin Bloom – Cognitive Domain – Level 1 (other levels to follow…)
The cognitive domain, (Bloom, 1956), involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. Domains can be thought of as categories. Trainers/Facilitators often call these three categories KSA, (Knowledge, Skills, and Attitude). This taxonomy of learning behaviours can be thought of as “the goals of the learning process.” That is, after a learning episode, the learner should have gained new skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes.
Reference:
Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc. Picture link: Edublogs: http://taspd.edublogs.org/2007/04/23/revised-blooms-taxonomy/ (accessed 24/02/2012).
See below a guide to writing learning objectives in the Cognitive (Knowledge Domain) – Level 1:
|
Level |
Level Attributes
|
Keywords
|
Questions
|
|
1: Knowledge
|
Exhibits previously learned material by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers.
|
who, what, why, when, omit, where, which, choose, find, how, define, label, show, spell, list, match, name, relate, tell, recall, select
|
What is …? How is …? Where is …? When did _______ happen? How did ______ happen? How would you explain …? Why did …? How would you describe …? When did …? Can you recall …? How would you show …? Can you select …? Who were the main …? Can you list three …? Which one …? Who was …?
|
