“…a specialized skill development position in a corporation where the goal is to help improve the "soft skills" or "people skills" of the workers in the corporation. The term is generic and could be applied to nearly any skill whether technical, physical or otherwise, but is most often used to refer to soft skills like getting along with others, effective communication, motivation, leadership, management, etc. Also, the role is not solely reserved for corporations, other organizations such as on profit groups can make use of a corporate trainer's services.”
Utah Pay for Curriculum Specialist
http://monster.com
Utah Pay for Training Assistant Level I
http://Monster.com
US National Average for Employee Training Manager
http://cbsalary.com
Lighting Design for Schools and Universities in the 21st Century
By Randall Fielding, Fielding is a partner with Fielding Nair International an educational planning facility, and founder and editorial director of DesignShare.com. This article touches on some of the 25 design patterns in The Language of School Design, by Nair and Fielding.
“Effective design is grounded in a firm knowledge of how we do learn, which involves both analysis and synthesis and is alternately sequential and simultaneous.”
“…we learn when we feel secure and cozy, and also when we feel challenged.”
“..an effective learning environment… has little in common with the rows of classrooms and desks…”
“Identifying patterns of learning activity and design prior to laying out a building is a good way to ensure an effective solution—one that takes advantage of the full range of human capabilities.
“Learners that feel a sense of connection and personal identification with a small learning community (150 students or less) attain higher test scores and have a significantly greater graduation rate.” This can be done by breaking down the environment into smaller buildings or clusters of spaces. Then have the entry to each community individualized with a signature element that is highlighted, reinforcing its unique identity.
“The lighting should vary to reflect the character of each space.”
“Myth #4: Neutral colors are best.”
Uniform lighting “…has nothing to do with how we learn…”
“…natural light is perhaps the single-most important element in the learning environment. Research shows that in daylighted classrooms math scores improve by 20% and verbal scores by 22%.”
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Reading these articles on flexible spaces to help in learning makes me wonder why the IP&T program doesn't have better furnishings. At the MTC we tested several chairs and tables to see what will work best for the missionaries. Everyone--missionaries, teachers, and staff--dislikes the tablet chairs. It's important that the furniture is easily moved. At the MTC we are going with comfortable chairs, probably with wheels, and tables that are about 5' x 20". That way the missionaries can put their books on the tables and spread them out. Two missionaries will be at each table. This will allow for individual, small group, and large group learning activities.
IP&T ought to look into some of these options for their classrooms.
David Merrill of Utah State University said of motivation:
By Prakash Nair, international school planning consultant, and director of Educational Facilities Planning for Vitetta and President of Urban Educational Facilities for the 21st Century.
“By not having to ask the "but will they learn" question, leadership can exist without vision and the bureaucrats can become fixated on the system - not on the needs of individual learners.”
“…all aspects of the school creation process including the school facility should be oriented toward realizing those stated outcomes.”
“What is remarkable about Harbor City and so many other innovative schools is that they cost no more than traditional schools. Harbor City’s innovative plan calls for about 100/SF per student whereas the recommended national average is about 150 SF/student for high schools.”
“…learning is a highly individual thing and cannot be mass-produced. Each learner needs a tailored program and children need to have active roles in their learning. … The role of adults is to provide a caring and supportive presence.”
“…most ideas are "inert" to a child unless he or she gets to try it out in some fashion (Coppen, 2002). … True engagement comes when children are asked to implement the ideas in some fashion. That means often having opportunities to build things with their own hands, trying out a computer simulation or applying a theory to create something completely new.”
Some ways to create a learner-centered school:
“My advice to all organizations... contemplating a new school is to step back, throw away all your own pre-conceived notions about what school is or should be and take a fresh look at the research about how children (and adults) learn. Then, bring all stakeholders into the process and challenge them to figure out what needs to be done to realize a vision for the future.”
Language Learning
The Religious Educator (www.tre.byu.edu - BYU Religious Education). Contributors: Apostles, professors, institute, seminary, etc.
Digital Creativity concerned with the development of technologies of media, and relationship to education.
Performance Improvement Quaterly designed for anyone responsible for performance.
Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction
Gagne's book, The Conditions of Learning, first published in 1965, identified the mental conditions for learning. These were based on the information processing model of the mental events that occur when adults are presented with various stimuli. Gagne created a nine-step process called the events of instruction, which correlate to and address the conditions of learning. The figure below shows these instructional events in the left column and the associated mental processes in the right column.
| Instructional Event | Internal Mental Process |
| 1. Gain attention | Stimuli activates receptors |
| 2. Inform learners of objectives | Creates level of expectation for learning |
| 3. Stimulate recall of prior learning | Retrieval and activation of short-term memory |
| 4. Present the content | Selective perception of content |
| 5. Provide "learning guidance" | Semantic encoding for storage long-term memory |
| 6. Elicit performance (practice) | Responds to questions to enhance encoding and verification |
| 7. Provide feedback | Reinforcement and assessment of correct performance |
| 8. Assess performance | Retrieval and reinforcement of content as final evaluation |
| 9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job | Retrieval and generalization of learned skill to new situation |
Too often teachers will lecture to the students. We sometimes feel as a teacher that I have knowledge and my goal is to transfer that knowledge to the students. Students can be seen as a sponge and like water they will just soak up all the knowledge I tell them—the traditional “chalk-talk”.
Learning is not passive, but rather active. Elder Bednar said it this way, “…experience has enabled me to understand that an answer given by another person usually is not remembered for very long, if remembered at all. But an answer we discover or obtain through the exercise of faith, typically, is retained for a lifetime. The most important learnings of life are caught—not taught” (“Seek Learning by Faith,” Ensign, Sep 2007, 60–68).
Rather than learning about a topic, a learner needs to be able to do, and to participate. They need to be able to become. For example, a missionary can never “be” a missionary if they just listen all day to their teacher for 15 hours each day. An article on social learning states, “Mastering a field of knowledge involves not only ‘learning about’ the subject matter but also ‘learning to be’ a full participant in the field. This involves acquiring the practices and the norms of established practitioners in that field or acculturating into a community of practice” (John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler, “Minds on Fire”, http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0811.pdf, 19).
Until missionaries do what missionaries do that they begin to become missionaries. For example, missionaries teach. Therefore, in the MTC missionaries should teach because missionaries are teachers, and teaching is a big part of their curriculum and what they do in the field.
One example of this is the Faulkes Telescope Project, sponsored by the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network. The project allows students collaborate with scientists. The students can control telescopes in Australia and Hawaii to do their own research and collaborate with expert astronomers. Students have made “…small but meaningful contributions to astronomy” (John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler, “Minds on Fire”, http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0811.pdf, 24).
I think one of the failures in teaching is where we teach learners concepts that are not relevant to them. The learner should not have the question unanswered, “Why should I learn this?” A teacher must help the learners see how a concept is relevant to them, how will it help them, or why should they learn it. When a learner understands the “why”, his or her level of motivation to learn increases.
I think we see this with things like food storage. When hard times come, demand for food storage items increase. More people start getting their food storage ready when they can see a need for it. Likewise, when a student knows he or she will present a topic in front of the class, they want to do better on the presentation than he or she would do otherwise.
One reason I mention relevancy as a factor is because of my work at the MTC. In the MTC missionaries have 3 – 10 weeks to learn to be a missionary and do what missionaries should do in the field. We tell them the doctrine they should know, how they should teach, how they should plan, how to study, how to use the Book of Mormon, teach by the spirit, etc. I have no doubt that missionaries are motivated to learn, in fact, I don’t think you can find a more motivated group of learners. However, I think what is missing is relevancy. We teach them all these things they should do, but the one important element is why they should do it. Yes, we tell them why, but until they are actually teaching someone and trying to “invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel…” (Preach My Gospel, p. 1), do all the concepts taught in the MTC really begin to make sense. When they get to the field and begin teaching people is when the missionaries really see the “why”—whey must they plan, set goals, know the doctrine, etc. Until someone starts asking a missionary questions about the doctrine they believe, a missionary won’t see the importance of knowing it themselves. In the MTC no one is challenging their doctrinal beliefs.
Several years ago, a young man was struggling with his testimony. I invited him to volunteer with me in the Referral Center once a week for about 2 months. There in the Referral Center people would call in and request offers from the media campaigns the Church would run, like a Book of Mormon or video.
I remember one of the calls the young man received which I listened in on. After some conversation the man asked, “Do you believe in Christmas?” The young man answered, “Yes, we believe in Christmas.” “Do you practice polygamy?” “No”, was the response, “We stopped that a long time ago.” Then the next question was, “Why are you called Mormons?” The young man paused for a moment and thought about it. Then looked at me and while holding the phone so the caller couldn’t hear he whispered, “We’re called Mormons because of the Book of Mormon, right?” I whispered back to him, “Yes, that’s right.”
http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-module-pbl
"Take a real-world topic and begin an in-depth investigation. Base your question on an authentic situation or topic. What is happening in your classroom? In your community? Select a question about an issue students will believe that, by answering, they are having an impact on. Make it relevant for them. The question should be a "now" question -- a question that has meaning in your students' lives."
"Assessment meets many needs. It
Whenever possible, give the students the opportunity to conduct self-assessment. When a student's assessment and the teacher's assessment don't agree, schedule a student-teacher conference to let the student explain in more detail his or her understanding of the content and justify the outcome."
"Allow for individual reflection, such as journaling, as well as group reflection and discussion. (For example, validate what students have learned and make suggestions for improvements.)
To enable effective self-evaluation, follow these steps:
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