Jay Hollowell

Recently, I had the opportunity to blog on the Five Top Reasons for Student Attrition, yet there are also significant reasons why adult learners stay in school despite the obstacles. Each student may very well ask three categories of questions when he or she comes, or comes back, to school.

1. What? What will I be expected to learn or know?
2. How? How will it benefit me directly in concert with my career and/or personal objectives?
3. Next? What next? How can I apply what I have learned? How does it integrate into what I already know and
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The mission of the career training sector of higher education has always been, and will always be, to teach adult learners the applicable skills needed for employment and promotion in careers that are in demand. As we develop and implement ongoing training for our faculty on ways to enhance student success in school and in the workplace, one key factor is to focus on a specific bridge between the classroom and the workplace. This bridge is crucial to graduate workplace survival and is based on the four skill sets that employers want - skills that go beyond the technical,… >>>

When we borrow money, we usually provide collateral – a pledge of property that backs up the promise to pay the money back.  In marketing, collateral materials are items that describe what an organization does.  However, what about managerial collateral?

In the workplace, managerial collateral is the written documentation that describes and backs up our accomplishments. As we develop our management talent, let's encourage each of them to start an individual, workplace diary that keeps track of accomplishments.  Has a project been completed ahead of schedule and/or under budget?  Has a workplace challenge or problem been creatively solved? Has… >>>

We hear the term "coaching" often in today's workplace. We know that managers should be coaches to their employees, but what does coaching really involve? In both sports and academic competitions coaches rally up their teams and help ensure success. It’s the same in business. Bottom line, an effective coach in the workplace has a genuine interest in helping others improve their performances. It could be teaching an employee a new task or skill, guiding a coworker through a difficult workplace challenge, helping facilitate a necessary change, recharging a colleague’s motivation or, perhaps most importantly, collaborating with employees on their… >>>

One of the things that I have encouraged fellow faculty to consider when planning for a class or lab experience is to take into account what the students themselves may bring to the table. It goes without saying that one of the many reasons adult learners come to school, or back to school, is to learn new skills in a particular profession or discipline. Yet they have as well many transferable skills and life experiences to offer which can make the learning environment even more engaging, interesting and relevant.      

As faculty plan their teaching strategies and utilize their… >>>

Sometimes when our graduates are challenged with surviving the workplace, it's not because they can’t do the job, but because they can’t work the job. They may have the necessary technical training to perform tasks and assignments, but working the job requires successfully managing all of those human relationships and competing responsibilities that define the workday. As we work with the ongoing development of our professional faculty, we should encourage them to provide opportunities in the classroom or lab, through interactive and critical skills assignments and activities, for their students to practice those workplace survival skills. 

In post-training observation, it should be clear that you are not rating faculty as good or bad instructors, rather you are observing them for professional growth.  Though the observation instruments may contain different assessment levels, their purposes are to highlight those areas, from a professional development perspective, where an instructor demonstrates mastery of a training application or where improvement may be needed.  Your intention is to provide positive feedback and support as they progress through your faculty development program and accomplish their individual objectives. An instructor should never feel that his or her job is on the line!

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