Is Learning Ever Passive?

“We cannot think first and act afterward.  From the moment of birth we are immersed in action,and can only fitfully guide it by taking thought.”          Alfred North Whitehead The learning strategy presentations this week were both on a specific method of active learning.  One was hands-on learning and one was effective learning in groups and […]

You Must Click It

“It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and THEN do your best.”  W. Edwards Demming We had the first group presentations of learning strategies in class tonight.  The first was my group on using concept mapping as an adaptive teaching strategy.  The second was on using student response […]

Time – Is On Our Side?

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.”      William Penn In The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook, Roger Schwarz points out, “Organizations have used the word facilitator to define many different roles.  Human resource experts, organization development consultants, trainers, coaches, and even managers have sometimes been referred to as facilitators.  Even if you are […]

Which Came First?

“The transformation of students into autonomous, self-directed learners is not the inevitable outcome of educational experiences, even learner-centered ones.”  Maryellen Weimer The ability to choose and to use effective instructional strategies for the class population is a hallmark of a truly professional educator. While chosen instructional strategies are highly dependent on the course objectives, effective […]

That Which You Cannot See

“Some people think that if they change the names of things, the things themselves will have changed, too.”  David McKay Believe it or not, social networking was actually in existence before the Internet.  It is the organizing of individuals into specific groups.  Although social networking is possible in person, it is steadily gaining in popularity […]

What About You? (It’s not)

“Dr. Marvin, guess what? Ahoy, I sail!  I’m a sailor, I sail!” Bob Wiley (as played by Bill Murray in What About Bob) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrbY4hsNh64 For Bob Wiley in the movie “What About Bob” life was a series of ‘baby steps’ toward leaving his insecurities behind and developing a new identity through positive self image. This […]

Standing on an Empty Box

“The improvement of understanding is for two ends: first, our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others.”     John Locke (the philosopher, the character on LOST) At our last class session, we had a guest instructor.  She made a statement toward the beginning of class about teachers of adults. […]