Professional Education

I recently had the opportunity to hear a presentation by Diane Auer Jones, the former Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education, on the importance of accountability in higher education.  This presentation was incredibly eye-opening to me on many levels, and has encouraged me to more deeply consider how assessment can improve the student experience at professional colleges and universities.

A Single Definition

A primary goal of Jones’ presentation was to advocate for a “single definition” in education through a rethinking of accountability and student success across institution types.  Early in the presentation, Jones argued that while a distinction is often made between so-called traditional schools and career or vocational institutions, in reality program offerings at these institutions are increasingly similar to one another.  For example, proprietary schools are offering an increasing number of degree programs, including advanced degree programs while at the same time, the majority of graduates from traditional, comprehensive universities are earning degrees in vocational fields like nursing, education and business.

In addition, when outcomes are assessed for all students, and not just the shrinking minority of traditional, “first-time-full-time” students, we see a similar convergence in outcomes among demographically-matched students regardless of where they attend college (including at a number of selective institutions).   As highlighted by the report, Time is the Enemy¸ when part-time students are included in the statistics, public institutions that boast of graduation rates as high as 60 percent among their first-time-full-time students show far more sobering results.   While the relative proportion of traditional versus non-traditional students might determine the overall graduation rate at a given institution, these averages may in no way represent the likely outcome for an individual student.

One of the most striking quotes that came out of this year’s Professional Colleges and Universities Summit came from Frank Mulgrew, the President of the Online Education Institute at Post University.  During his presentation on the next generation of online learning environments, Mulgrew stated that “the lecture does not work” at professional colleges and universities.

Though we often take lectures for granted, it’s important to remember how commonplace they are in higher ed, to recognize the implications of Mulgrew’s bold statement.  If lectures “do not work,” then every day, thousands of professors in lecture halls across the country are ineffectively educating their students.  With that in mind, how did Mulgrew come to this thought-provoking conclusion?

He began by explaining the difference between passive and active learning.  Face-to-face lectures are considered passive because the learner simply sits and listens to the instructor without actively participating in the learning and teaching process. Mulgrew went on to argue that the part of our brain used to receive information in lectures – and to retrieve that information later – is weaker than the part of our brain that participates in more active learning.  Examples of active learning include group discussions or experienced-based learning that allows students to take ownership of their education and actively participate in the classroom.

I have to agree with Mulgrew that active forms of learning are incredibly beneficial to students – especially those at professional and career colleges. Since these learners often pursue programs that are geared towards a specific career path, it is critical that they learn practical skills and information that they can quickly transfer to the workplace.  In other words, simply listening to a lecture about a technical skill would probably be less effective than a more hands-on learning experience.

But even still, is the lecture really as ineffective as Mulgrew discussed in his presentation?

What do you think? Is the face-to-face lecture “dead” at professional colleges and universities? If so, what teaching methods and technologies will replace them in the future? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Win a $100 AMEX Gift Card by becoming one of the first Blackboard Sys Admin Superstars!

Did you know? 75% of students use course content from at least one of these four leading publishers: Cengage, Wiley, Pearson and McGraw-Hill. And the way students are consuming this course content is dramatically changing. In just the last 4 years, we’ve seen a six-fold increase in digital content sales in education globally and most experts suspect that we are still at the shallow end of the growth curve. Faculty and students increasingly want their course content, assignments and grades built right in to their Blackboard course in order to be more efficient, save time and focus on what is important to them – teaching and learning.

And YOU have the ability to make this digital content readily available to those who need it most this fall! With the publisher building blocks, faculty will have an opportunity to integrate digital content from Higher Ed’s leading publishers in to their fall courses. When you download these building blocks, we know you will be dubbed as a Sys Admin Superstar on campus and Blackboard would like to make sure you are recognized as a superstar and MORE!

To become a Blackboard Sys Admin Superstar and win $100, all you need to do is download and install at least 3 of this fall’s hottest Blackboard building blocks from our partner publishers: Cengage, Wiley, Pearson and/or McGraw-Hill. Then, fill out your name and email address here. The first 25 superstars will be awarded a $100 AMEX gift card because here at Blackboard – we know everyone in education is busy this time of year.   And that’s not all! We will also celebrate your superstardom on the Twitter-sphere so that you are recognized by all of your peers! So make sure to follow our Blackboard blog, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Official contest rules can be found here.

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In a little over one month, sales practitioners and industry experts from around the world will gather at Dreamforce 2012 in San Francisco. What is Dreamforce, you ask? It’s the annual gathering of the entire community of salesforce.com experts who share practices, hands-on training, and new innovations with the Salesforce user community.  This year’s four-day conference will feature over 650 breakout sessions as well as keynote addresses from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts…and others!

Most sales representatives can relate to this scenario:  A few months after your sales training program ends, you find yourself forgetting insightful information discussed in a training session. Maybe your instructor had great advice about how to handle sales calls with a difficult client, or helped you come up with a new strategy to close an upcoming sale. Whatever the information may be, you wish you had it in that very moment – but that knowledge is seemingly lost.

One way to eliminate this all-too-familiar scenario is to provide just-in-time training to sales teams. By providing training content that can be accessed any time, anywhere, your sales representatives will be able to leverage new knowledge and skills when it matters most.  This is especially true if your sales team has already been equipped with mobile training solutions that allow them to learn on-the-go.