Hi Randy:
I think true learning is the transfer of knowledge from teacher to student. I think there are many way and methods this can be accomplished but in essence, that's the goal.
Regards, Barry
Hopefully the goal is to give the student the opportunity to experience their knowledge of the material. As instructors, we often provide information that we hope the student is learning, but many times once that learning has taken place, the instructors don't have the opportunity to preview the student's experience with that knowledge
Hi Cynthia:
Good thoughts. Giving what you have learned and conveying it to the students is one broad way to define educational purpose: Transfer of knowledge.
Regards, Barry
The goal is to teach them skills & knowledge that they can use & apply in their career & in life.
Hi Kathleen:
You've touched on some key points. In a more universal sense, we can think of educating students as the transfer of knowledge from teacher to student. How, when, where, and who describe the process that achieves this goal.
Regards, Barry
To me educating students is about assisting in providing new skill sets, new knowledge, helping them to apply the new knowledge and skill sets to enhance their opportunity to achieve their goals whether personal or professional. Kathleen
Hi Lou:
Great post! I often talk about the purpose of my classes and although grades are involved as a measuring guide, they're not the sole purpose, rather being the best at what they're bring trained so they can be top notch employees.
If we can focus on the established student learning outcomes (SLO's), we're more likely to provide quality instructional service to our students.
Regards, Barry
I think that my goals are (or should be) their goals. My students have paid money, and shown up to class to get something. If their goal is to get a good grade in the class, I'll educate them on how to do that, but also remind them that their goal should also be to gain in skills and knowledge.
If a student's goal is to be a better sausage-maker, then my goal should be to help them achieve that. All of these goals should add up to something - a degree, completion of a course, a useful base of knowledge or set of skills, or whatever makes the goals relevant.
Hi Guy:
Instilling passion and desire to learn definitely has to come from within. Encouragement, patience, giving extra time to weaker students - these are just a couple of methods to try to inspire an unmotivated student.
Regards, Barry
The goal of education is to pass on the necessary skills to complete the course AND pass the class. Now the education process of how you go about doing that is complicated because everyone is different. The thing that I feel is the most frustrating is the fact you can't make them study or feel the same passion. I went over a quiz (almost read it word for word) for review and they still did not do well test day. So some put forth the effort and some don't.
Hi Janet:
You've got a good point. I think most successful gradutes remain in their jobs longer because they possess both the technical and employment rules (hard and soft skills) required of them. I believe mor people lose their jobs due to failure to adhere to soft emmployme4nt skills. Your emphasis on both seems to contribute to a well rounded student.
Regards, Barry
Hi Cindy:
I think it's great that you relate your classroom lessons and teaching to what industry standards and expectations dictate. And getting your students to that "trainable" mentality is terrific!
Regards, Barry
When talking with industry, they always say that they want students that can adapt to different situations based on the knowledge that they have obtained in college. Businesses always state that they will "train" their new employees on how they want particular tasks completed but they need to be "trainable".
Thus, I think it is very important when educating students that they are taught how to learn and how to take the knowledge that they learn in one area and change it to be able to apply it different areas.
I have always used the example of the "Karate Kid" movie with the "paint the fence, wax on-waxoff,..." I tell the students that they may not understand directly the approach of the information being presented but to be able to take the what they have learned and apply it to other situations is the key.
Hi Carlos:
Application of theoretical concepts completes the cycle of of learning, that being putting the knowledge to work. As you say, if your students can be instilled with confidence too, that will only make them more marketable.
Regards, Barry
My goal is to give students hard skills and soft skills. Talent for a vocation is only as good as the person's ability to "sell" himself or herself as a good worker and good communicator.
TO MAKE SURE THAT WHAT THEY LEARN CAN BE APPLIED INTO THE REAL WORLD WORK FORCE WITH CONFIDENCE.
Hi Natasha:
Yes - and feeding the mind with the needed information for successful workplace achievement.
Regards, Barry
To feed ones mind.....
Think about it for a moment.
Hi Brian:
One definition of learning is the transfer of knowledge from one to another. We are hired because of our technical expertise. When we can impart many things that have been gained from experience we pass the knowledge on to the next generation. Hopefully, they will be inspired to surpass what we know and have accomplished.
Regards, Barry
To make sure that they leave my class confident in their understanding of the material we covered
