Promoting Significant Learning - 30 January 2012

Promoting Significant Learning


In the days of our students’ parents and grandparents, learners thrived on memorization, mostly out of context. Much learning was abstract, theoretical, dry, and irrelevant to people’s careers or everyday lives. Teachers clung to their “content” as if it were Holy Scripture that could not but benefit their pupils. Times have changed though, and that type of education is now considered inappropriate.

Researchers have realized that what engages students is the usefulness of the knowledge gained and the likelihood that it will impact others. That is why teachers these days are expected to demonstrate the relevance of their courses to their students, promoting creative applications. Showing students the significance of a course promotes intrinsic motivation. An excellent definition of significant learning comes from Dr. L. Dee Fink, author of the book Creating Significant Learning Experiences. Dr Fink came up with a “Taxonomy of Significant Learning”, which he sees as a successor to the classic taxonomy of cognitive skills developed by Benjamin Bloom and his associates in the 1950s. In his view, “individuals and organizations involved in higher education are expressing a need for important kinds of learning that do not emerge easily from the Bloom taxonomy, for example: learning how to learn, leadership and interpersonal skills, ethics, communication skills, character, tolerance, the ability to adapt to change, etc.” (“What Is Significant Learning?”).

Fink’s taxonomy revolves around the following kinds of learning:

• Foundational knowledge

• Application

• Integration

• The human dimension

• Caring

• Learning how to learn

In a recent interview, Fink elaborated on the importance of the shift from the content-centred approach to a learning-centred approach, stressing the need for change not just at the classroom level, but also at the organizational and national levels ("Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An HETL Interview with Dr. Dee Fink"). If you’re an educator still stuck on Bloom’s ideas, read Fink’s work. You’ll surely find it significant.


Posted by May Mikati on 30 January 2012, 2:36 PM

Are Books Out of Fashion? - 26 January 2012

Are Books Out of Fashion?


Are books out of fashion? Five years ago, Thomas Benton, a college English lecturer observed that “The library -- perhaps like the human body -- must be purged of its decadent physicality and relocated into the realm of pure intellect, pure information, pure rationality, eternally updated, preserved as an endless stream of instantaneous electronic data” (“Red-Hot Library Lust”). Back then, researchers were wondering whether print books would still be available in five years’ time: “Does print really have an anticipated life span of five more years? Will e-books finally take off? After nearly two decades of talking about how e-books are right around the corner, have we finally reached the corner?” (Nelson, "E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype?")

Electronic publishing clearly is not erasing books in the sense of content; on the net, even “old books” are available. Online one can find old, out of print, and rare books, in electronic form. It’s not just a matter of hard copy versus electronic books though: people prefer shorter texts these days, and they read in a different way. Our students are an excellent example. They skim, scan, and read small chunks of text, unlike previous generations. Their preference seems to be for information from web sites rather than books, whether electronic or hard copy; the wider web is more appealing to them in its immediacy than the e-book section of the online library, just a few more clicks away. On the other hand, some academics claim “We're Still in Love With Books”; the transition away from old-fashioned reading has been slower than anticipated. As William Pannapacker put it, when new media emerge, they do not immediately replace old media.


Posted by May Mikati on 26 January 2012, 11:08 AM

In Defense of Cheating? - 20 January 2012

In Defense of Cheating?


One of my favourite essays on contemporary approaches to assessment is Donald Norman’s “In Defense of Cheating”. First of all, the title is clever, and secondly, the message is well thought out: change the educational system instead of accusing students of cheating; they only “cheat” because of the way they are taught and assessed. Emulate real life by replacing memorization and individual work with engaging activities and more collaborative work.

Norman emphasizes from the beginning of his article that his purpose is not to encourage deception but to reform the outdated curriculum and assessment practices. In his view, eliminating the need to “cheat” is more important than punishing students after the act. Prevention is better than cure. Changing the instructional philosophies is a must to avoid situations where “students cram for exams, regurgitate the material at exam time, and seldom retain it afterwards.” He underlines the need to emphasize processes – giving students credit for the way they reach their answers, including collaborative work (required in the workplace), and stressing comprehension rather than seeking answers in a vacuum.

Next Norman discusses plagiarism and grading. On plagiarism he has something clear to say: “The sin of plagiarization is not that it involves copying -- this should be rewarded -- but that it doesn't give credit for the originator.” I have to admit that while “copying” is not necessarily as great an idea as Norman makes it sound, using and acknowledging sources is an important skill, not just in academic work, but in real life. What he probably means is that the worst part of plagiarism is the unethical claiming of others’ ideas or work as one’s own. As for grading, Norman is opposed to the way it is done on a curve rather than for mastery: currently, “a person can only get a higher grade if someone else receives a lower grade.” He prefers a system where competition is de-emphasized, and absolute standards are spelled out, even if that means everyone receiving an A. Additionally, he proposes dividing the curriculum into modules that students can master at their own pace: “Admission to higher grades or to universities -- or even employment -- could be based upon what students know. Schools or employers would not look at grade point averages, rather they would judge students by their particular skills, by their ability to work in teams, and by the set of modules that they have mastered."

“In Defense of Cheating” should not fail to grab the attention of educators, employers, or – of course – students!


Posted by May Mikati on 20 January 2012, 1:02 PM

The Psychology of Projection - 13 January 2012

The Psychology of Projection


I recently came across this well-expressed observation on Dr. Wayne Dyer’s Facebook page and have been mulling over it ever since: “Persistently viewing others as dishonest, lazy, sinful, and ignorant can be a way of compensating for something you fear. If there's a pattern of seeing others as failures, you need to notice this pattern as evidence of what you're attracting into your life.”

The first part of Dyer’s statement struck me because I have encountered suspicious, cynical people who have turned out to be unscrupulous themselves. The psychological mechanism at work in their case is known as “projection” – such people often project their own shortcomings on others. You may encounter these individuals anywhere: at school, in the workplace, and in society at large. The lazy may suspect hard working people of laziness; cheats may see honest people as probable cheats, etc. This phenomenon, first identified by Freud as a psychological defence mechanism, is generally thought to be unconscious. Mentally ill people, especially paranoid schizophrenics, are notorious for their displays of projection. The second part of the statement also rang true because even if those around you are actual – rather than imagined - failures, it would only be fair to ask yourself why you are in that situation: why haven’t you managed to attract better people into your life? Couldn’t you be partly to blame? Could you have possibly even caused others' failure? These are interesting questions to ponder for people in the workplace in general, and in education in particular.


Posted by May Mikati on 13 January 2012, 11:55 PM

What Employers Expect from Our Graduates - 08 January 2012

What Employers Expect from Our Graduates


Our students want an education that satisfies the requirements of potential employers, but what do employers look for in fresh graduates these days? Globally, employers may be shifting their attention from grades and experience to softer qualities, and communication skills appear to be the top requirement. In the U.S., writing skills are a “threshold requirement” as reflected in a 2004 report of The National Commission on Writing: “Writing: A Ticket to Work … Or a Ticket Out” .

A recent survey by the National University of Singapore Careers Centre also ranked communication at the top of the requirements list, based on the responses of 118 companies. This was done as part of the Graduate Global Talent Development Programme (GGTP) – a new initiative by NUS to produce global-minded graduates. The other top criteria identified were passion, analytical thinking, interpersonal skills, and the desire to learn (see Andrew Abraham’s “Top 5 Qualities Employers Seek in Fresh Graduates”). In Australasia, similar results were obtained. Based on a 2010 Graduate Outlook Survey of 350 graduate employers, the list of employer criteria other than communication skills does include academic results and experience. However, these rank fourth and sixth respectively (see “Skills Employers Want” ). Likewise, U.K. companies seek soft skills, which they often find lacking in fresh graduates, according to a study by Industry in Education, a national education trust: employers "are looking as much (or more) at personal skills for immediate deployment, as they will be at the specialist content of the degree" ("Graduate Job Seekers 'Lack Personal and Interactive Skills' Demanded by Industry").

With the increasing massification of higher education, finding the right job is no longer a piece of cake for the average university graduate. In an increasingly competitive global job market, it is useful for students to know the variety of qualities they should cultivate in order to strike the right chords with potential employers. It is also important that educators integrate these soft skills into their teaching, or at least bring them more to light.


Posted by May Mikati on 08 January 2012, 6:57 PM