Conditions that trigger behaviour change — from peoplealchemy.com by Paul Matthews; via Learning Now TV

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Learning Transfer’s ultimate outcome is behaviour change, so we must understand the conditions that trigger a behaviour to start.

According to Fogg, three specific elements must converge at the same moment for a specific behaviour to occur. Given that learning transfer is only successful when the learner starts behaving in the desired new ways, Fogg’s work is critical to understanding how to generate these new behaviours. The Fogg Behavioural Model [*1] states that B=MAP. That is, a specific behaviour will occur if at the same moment there is sufficient motivation, sufficient ability and sufficient prompt. If the behaviour does not occur, at least one of these three elements is missing or below the threshold required.

The prompt is, in effect, a call to action to do a specific behaviour. The prompt must be ‘loud’ enough for the target person to perceive it and be consciously aware of it. Once aware of a prompt, the target immediately, and largely unconsciously, assesses their ability to carry out the requested behaviour: how difficult would this be, how long will it take, who can help me, and so on. They base this on their perception of the difficulty of the requested behaviour, and their ability, as they see it, to achieve that behaviour.

 

Career-Connected Learning: Preparing Students for a Dynamic Future — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark and Victoria Andrews

Key Points

  • Connecting young people with career awareness needs to start at an early age to provide them with the necessary landscape view of opportunity and skills.
  • Whether young people engage client-focused opportunities, internships, or endure academically challenging coursework, career-connected learning is an environment to cultivate a sense of self-awareness, determination, and direction, essential for their success in both education and life.

Also from Getting Smart, see:

CHILD: A Microschool Unlocking the Potential for Unique Learners — by Maureen O’Shaughnessy

Key Points

  • The success of adaptive learning is not solely based on the program, but rather on the people behind it.
  • Clarity on “who you serve” is critical to success.
 

A Community Micro-Credentials Effort Connects Students to Local Employers — from gettingsmart.com by David McCool

Key Points

  • Partnering credentialing opportunities alongside pre-existing regional initiatives is a great way to get buy-in and create momentum.

***

When Polk County schools began focusing on career and technical education in the spring of 2023, one of their goals was to help students succeed in the workplace by offering the opportunity to develop soft skills and earn micro-credentials to communicate with potential employers. The district collaborated with Education Design Lab, Muzzy Lane, Polk Vision, the Central Florida Development Council, and Southern New Hampshire University to make this dream a reality.

In its first few years, this collaboration has not only taught students valuable skills but has also provided employers with new recruitment opportunities and a linkage to a talent pipeline that they otherwise wouldn’t have had.

 

Vocational training programs for special education students teach work, life skills — from edsource.org by Lasherica Thornton
Programs also foster acceptance in the community

Through hands-on experience at the hotel, students gain skills to work in the housekeeping and hospitality industry – whether at El Capitan or elsewhere – after they graduate. And they develop life skills for adulthood.

This is not the case with Merced County’s program which, instead, integrates students into the housekeeping career, making it one of a few in California and across the nation to do so. The program now serves as a model for other districts aspiring to integrate students with disabilities into careers and society.

Fong said the year-long program is critical for the students “to be in the actual field,” get on-the-job training and be able to model employees’ behavior, which in turn provides them with real world experience while allowing them to interact with others.


From DSC:
This hits home for my family and me. We are entering a phase of our youngest daughter’s life where we need to help her build life skills. This type of program is excellent — highly relevant to many families out there.


 

From DSC:
The following item from The Washington Post made me ask, “Do we give students any/enough training on email etiquette? On effective ways to use LinkedIn, Twitter/X, messaging, other?”


You’re emailing wrong at work. Follow this etiquette guide. — from washingtonpost.com by Danielle Abril
Get the most out of your work email and avoid being a jerk with these etiquette tips for the modern workplace

Most situations depend on the workplace culture. Still, there are some basic rules. Three email and business experts gave us tips for good email etiquette so you can avoid being the jerk at work.

  • Consider not sending an email
  • Keep it short and clear
  • Make it easy to read
  • Don’t blow up the inbox
  • …and more

From DSC:
I would add to use bolding, color, italics, etc. to highlight and help structure the email’s key points and sections.


 

In Memphis, A New School Graduates Its First Class — from samchaltain.substack.com by Sam Chaltain
And a new documentary film captures it all…

Crosstown High: Rethink High School

Crosstown High is a learner-centered public charter school that engages students in meaningful, project-based work and authentic relationships that will prepare them to be self-directed, lifelong learners. We are located inside Crosstown Concourse, a landmark adaptive reuse development project in the heart of Memphis.

Also relevant/see:

 

In Iowa, a “Billy Madison Project” Yields a Different Way to do School — from by Sam Chaltain
A great flood reveals a new path . . .

The idea was simple: ask sixty community leaders to fan across the city’s public schools, follow in the footsteps of its youngest citizens, and report back on what they saw.

Fifty-nine said yes. What they found, Pickering says, “were kids with dead eyes. Kids not engaged. And kids who knew that school was a game – and the game was rigged.”

So the Billy Madison team used its findings to design a prospective high school that would actually produce what its participants said they wanted to see: 

Let kids pursue their passions. Give them real work to do.  And get them out of the school building, and in the community. 

Passion. Projects. People.


How 9 of the World’s Most Innovative Schools Ignite Children’s Love for Learning — from learntrepreneurs.com by Eva Keffenheim
And equip the next generation to become changemakers.


This thought-provoking discussion delves into the topic of system replacement in education. Is school transformation possible without replacing the existing education system? Joining [Michael] to discuss the question are Thomas Arnett of the Christensen Institute and Kelly Young of Education Reimagined.

In an educational landscape that constantly seeks marginal improvements, [Michael’s] guests speak to the importance of embracing new value networks that support innovative approaches to learning. They bring to light the issue of programs that remain niche solutions, rather than robust, learner-centered alternatives. In exploring the concept of value networks, [Michael’s] guests challenge the notion of transforming individual schools or districts alone. They argue for the creation of a new value network to truly revolutionize the education system. Of course, they admit that achieving this is no small feat, as it requires a paradigm shift in mindset and a careful balance between innovation and existing structures. In this conversation, we wrestle with the full implications of their findings and more.

From DSC:
This reminds me of the importance of TrimTab Groups who invent or test out something new apart from the mothership.


Technology in education — from unesco.org by ; via Eva Keffenheim
A tool on whose terms?

The 2023 GEM Report on technology and education explores these debates, examining education challenges to which appropriate use of technology can offer solutions (access, equity and inclusion; quality; technology advancement; system management), while recognizing that many solutions proposed may also be detrimental.

The report also explores three system-wide conditions (access to technology, governance regulation, and teacher preparation) that need to be met for any technology in education to reach its full potential.



Campus Road Trip Diary: 8 Things We Learned This Year About America’s Most Innovative High Schools — from the74million.org by Greg Toppo & Emmeline Zhao

Since last spring, journalists at The 74 have been crossing the U.S. as part of our 2023 High School Road Trip. It has embraced both emerging and established high school models, taking us to 13 schools from Rhode Island to California, Arizona to South Carolina, and in between.

It has brought us face-to-face with innovation, with programs that promote everything from nursing to aerospace to maritime-themed careers.

At each school, educators seem to be asking one key question: What if we could start over and try something totally new?

What we’ve found represents just a small sample of the incredible diversity that U.S. high schools now offer, but we’re noticing a few striking similarities that educators in these schools, free to experiment with new models, now share. Here are the top eight:
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Campus Road Trip Diary: 8 Things We Learned This Year About America’s Most Innovative High Schools

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Learners need: More voice. More choice. More control. -- this image was created by Daniel Christian

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Empowering Parents: School Choice and Technology — from obviouslythefuture.substack.com
Ep 2 | Joe Connor, Odyssey Education, ESAs, Streamlined Technology Platform, Informed Choices

What does it take to empower parents and decentralize schooling? Why is a diversity of school models important to parents? Are we at a tipping point?
.


PROOF POINTS: Lowering test anxiety in the classroom — from hechingerreport.org/ by Jill Barshay
Review of 24 studies finds quizzes boost achievement and alleviate stress over exams

Several meta-analyses, which summarize the evidence from many studies, have found higher achievement when students take quizzes instead of, say, reviewing notes or rereading a book chapter. “There’s decades and decades of research showing that taking practice tests will actually improve your learning,” said David Shanks, a professor of psychology and deputy dean of the Faculty of Brain Sciences at University College London.

Still, many students get overwhelmed during tests. Shanks and a team of four researchers wanted to find out whether quizzes exacerbate test anxiety.  The team collected 24 studies that measured students’ test anxiety and found that, on average, practice tests and quizzes not only improved academic achievement, but also ended up reducing test anxiety. Their meta-analysis was published in Educational Psychology Review in August 2023.


The End of Scantron Tests — from theatlantic.com by Matteo Wong
Machine-graded bubble sheets are the defining feature of American schools. Today’s kindergartners may never have to fill one out.


Benefits of Pretesting in the Classroom — from learningscientists.org by Cindy Nebel

There are several possible reasons why pretesting worked in this study.

  1. Students paid more attention to the pretested material during the lecture.
  2. The pretest activated prior knowledge (some of them are clearly doing a lot of prework), and allowed them to encode the new information more deeply.
  3. They were doing a lot of studying of the pretested information outside of class.
  4. There are some great spaced retrieval effects going on. That is, students saw the material before lecture, they took a quiz on it during the pretest, then later they reviewed or quizzed themselves on that same material again during self-study.

 

Next, The Future of Work is… Intersections — from linkedin.com by Gary A. Bolles; via Roberto Ferraro

So much of the way that we think about education and work is organized into silos. Sure, that’s one way to ensure a depth of knowledge in a field and to encourage learners to develop mastery. But it also leads to domains with strict boundaries. Colleges are typically organized into school sub-domains, managed like fiefdoms, with strict rules for professors who can teach in different schools.

Yet it’s at the intersections of seemingly-disparate domains where breakthrough innovation can occur.

Maybe intersections bring a greater chance of future work opportunity, because that young person can increase their focus in one arena or another as they discover new options for work — and because this is what meaningful work in the future is going to look like.

From DSC:
This posting strikes me as an endorsement for interdisciplinary degrees. I agree with much of this. It’s just hard to find the right combination of disciplines. But I supposed that depends upon the individual student and what he/she is passionate or curious about.


Speaking of the future of work, also see:

Centaurs and Cyborgs on the Jagged Frontier — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
I think we have an answer on whether AIs will reshape work…

A lot of people have been asking if AI is really a big deal for the future of work. We have a new paper that strongly suggests the answer is YES.
.

Consultants using AI finished 12.2% more tasks on average, completed tasks 25.1% more quickly, and produced 40% higher quality results than those without. Those are some very big impacts. Now, let’s add in the nuance.

 

How Schools Can Use Cultural Performing Arts to Reimagine Community-Engaged Learning — from edsurge.com by Christopher Sandoval

Excerpt:

My experience has taught me that if students do not believe their school is invested in activities and programs that reflect their community and culture, they will not feel a sense of belonging in the classroom, which will negatively impact student engagement and their ability to understand and appreciate cultural differences among one another.

Unfortunately, not every school believes the performing arts are worth the investment; if anything, the trend of school funding in the performing arts has been in sharp decline for some time. While student engagement continues to be a significant issue for classrooms across the country, I believe the performing arts can be an opportunity for schools to reimagine community engagement in schools and get students back on track.

 

Trend No. 3: The business model faces a full-scale transformation — from www2.deloitte.com by Cole Clark, Megan Cluver, and Jeffrey J. Selingo
The traditional business model of higher education is broken as institutions can no longer rely on rising tuition among traditional students as the primary driver of revenue.

Excerpt:

Yet the opportunities for colleges and universities that shift their business model to a more student-centric one, serving the needs of a wider diversity of learners at different stages of their lives and careers, are immense. Politicians and policymakers are looking for solutions to the demographic cliff facing the workforce and the need to upskill and reskill generations of workers in an economy where the half-life of skills is shrinking. This intersection of needs—higher education needs students; the economy needs skilled workers—means that colleges and universities, if they execute on the right set of strategies, could play a critical role in developing the workforce of the future. For many colleges, this shift will require a significant rethinking of mission and structure as many institutions weren’t designed for workforce development and many faculty don’t believe it’s their job to get students a job. But if a set of institutions prove successful on this front, they could in the process improve the public perception of higher education, potentially leading to more political and financial support for growing this evolving business model in the future.

Also see:

Trend No. 2: The value of the degree undergoes further questioning — from www2.deloitte.com by Cole Clark, Megan Cluver, and Jeffrey J. Selingo
The perceived value of higher education has fallen as the skills needed to keep up in a job constantly change and learners have better consumer information on outcomes.

Excerpt:

Higher education has yet to come to grips with the trade-offs that students and their families are increasingly weighing with regard to obtaining a four-year degree.

But the problem facing the vast majority of colleges and universities is that they are no longer perceived to be the best source for the skills employers are seeking. This is especially the case as traditional degrees are increasingly competing with a rising tide of microcredentials, industry-based certificates, and well-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree.

Trend No. 1: College enrollment reaches its peak — from www2.deloitte.com by Cole Clark, Megan Cluver, and Jeffrey J. Selingo
Enrollment rates in higher education have been declining in the United States over the years as other countries catch up.

Excerpt:

Higher education in the United States has only known growth for generations. But enrollment of traditional students has been falling for more than a decade, especially among men, putting pressure both on the enrollment pipeline and on the work ecosystem it feeds. Now the sector faces increased headwinds as other countries catch up with the aggregate number of college-educated adults, with China and India expected to surpass the United States as the front runners in educated populations within the next decade or so.

Plus the other trends listed here >>


Also related to higher education, see the following items:


Number of Colleges in Distress Is Up 70% From 2012 — from bloomberg.com by Nic Querolo (behind firewall)
More schools see falling enrollement and tuition revenue | Small private, public colleges most at risk, report show

About 75% of students want to attend college — but far fewer expect to actually go — from highereddive.com by Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

There Is No Going Back: College Students Want a Live, Remote Option for In-Person Classes — from campustechnology.com by Eric Paljug

Excerpt:

Based on a survey of college students over the last three semesters, students understand that remotely attending a lecture via remote synchronous technology is less effective for them than attending in person, but they highly value the flexibility of this option of attending when they need it.

Future Prospects and Considerations for AR and VR in Higher Education Academic Technology — from er.educause.edu by Owen McGrath, Chris Hoffman and Shawna Dark
Imagining how the future might unfold, especially for emerging technologies like AR and VR, can help prepare for what does end up happening.

Black Community College Enrollment is Plummeting. How to Get Those Students Back — from the74million.org by Karen A. Stout & Francesca I. Carpenter
Stout & Carpenter: Schools need a new strategy to bolster access for learners of color who no longer see higher education as a viable pathway

As the Level Up coalition reports ,“the vast majority — 80% — of Black Americans believe that college is unaffordable.” This is not surprising given that Black families have fewer assets to pay for college and, as a result, incur significantly more student loan debt than their white or Latino peers. This is true even at the community college level. Only one-third of Black students are able to earn an associate degree without incurring debt. 

Repairing Gen Ed | Colleges struggle to help students answer the question, ‘Why am I taking this class?’ — from chronicle.com by Beth McMurtrie
Students Are Disoriented by Gen Ed. So Colleges Are Trying to Fix It.

Excerpts:

Less than 30 percent of college graduates are working in a career closely related to their major, and the average worker has 12 jobs in their lifetime. That means, he says, that undergraduates must learn to be nimble and must build transferable skills. Why can’t those skills and ways of thinking be built into general education?

“Anyone paying attention to the nonacademic job market,” he writes, “will know that skills, rather than specific majors, are the predominant currency.”

Micro-credentials Survey. 2023 Trends and Insights. — from holoniq.com
HolonIQ’s 2023 global survey on micro-credentials

3 Keys to Making Microcredentials Valid for Learners, Schools, and Employers — from campustechnology.com by Dave McCool
To give credentials value in the workplace, the learning behind them must be sticky, visible, and scalable.

Positive Partnership: Creating Equity in Gateway Course Success — from insidehighered.com by Ashley Mowreader
The Gardner Institute’s Courses and Curricula in Urban Ecosystems initiative works alongside institutions to improve success in general education courses.

American faith in higher education is declining: one poll — from bryanalexander.org by Bryan Alexander

Excerpt:

The main takeaway is that our view of higher education’s value is souring.  Fewer of us see post-secondary learning as worth the cost, and now a majority think college and university degrees are no longer worth it: “56% of Americans think earning a four-year degree is a bad bet compared with 42% who retain faith in the credential.”

Again, this is all about one question in one poll with a small n. But it points to directions higher ed and its national setting are headed in, and we should think hard about how to respond.


 

Promoting Student Agency in Learning — from rdene915.com by Rachelle Dené Poth

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

In many conversations, teachers are starting to shift from what has been a focus on “learning loss” and instead focus on reflecting on the skills that students gained by learning in different yet challenging ways. Some skills such as digital citizenship, how to collaborate and build relationships when not in the classroom together, and essential technology skills. Teachers learned a lot about themselves and the importance of reflecting on their practice. We learned in new ways and now, we have to continue to provide more authentic and meaningful learning experiences for all students.

From DSC:
I couldn’t agree more. There was a different type of learning going on during the pandemic. And that type of learning will be very helpful as our students live the rest of their days in an increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VOCA) world. That kind of learning wasn’t assessed in our normal standardized tests. It may not have shown up in official transcripts. But it will come in handy in the real world.

When students experience learning that is meaningful, purposeful, and relevant to their lives, it boosts student engagement and amplifies their learning potential, to better prepare students for their future careers.

— Rachelle Dené Poth

 

Employers value microcredentials but don’t know how to assess their quality — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz

Dive Brief:

  • Although a majority of surveyed employers say they value alternative credentials, many also harbor concerns over assessing the quality of education and understanding the skills and competencies they represent.
  • That’s according to a recent survey of 510 employers from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, also known as UPCEA, and Collegis Education, a technology services provider for colleges.
  • Despite their concerns, 23% of respondents said the greatest benefit alternative credentials provide are giving workers real-world experience. Also, 16% of respondents said alternative credentials help employees develop specialized skills and 13% said they improve performance.
 

Why Faculty Must Learn to Swim in Other Waters — from insidehighered.com by Rachel Toor, professor of creative writing at Eastern Washington University in Spokane.

Excerpts:

Academics, even with the best intentions, and especially if we’ve never left school, don’t realize that we’re all swimming in our own little pond.

Most faculty members continue to teach how they were taught. We focus on our disciplines. We indoctrinate students into academic conventions and genres. We sling jargon like short-order cooks. We ask students to write 20-page research papers—the likes of which few professions would ever require.

But how often do faculty members require students to create final projects that will help them get a job?

How many professors are adept at writing a one-page job cover letter? Or a one-page résumé?

From DSC:
I appreciate these great thoughts here from Rachel Toor. Besides helping students learn about networking (and actually putting those skills into practice), applying their research skills to finding good job/organization fits, write effective cover letters, etc., I think such real-world skill development needs to be integrated into the very core of what they are teaching. It needs to be integrated into the curriculum. 
 

Why Are Students So Disengaged? — from insidehighered.com by Johanna Alonso
A new survey by Wiley finds that one-fourth of students said they would be more invested in their courses if they learned in a way that emulated their future careers.

Excerpt:

Undergraduate students are struggling to stay engaged in class—and they believe that material more directly connected to real-life issues could help solve the problem.

That’s a key finding of the recent State of the Student 2022 survey by the academic publishing company Wiley, which noted that 55 percent of undergraduate and 38 percent of graduate students said they struggle to remain interested in their classes. The same proportion of undergraduates and 34 percent of graduate students also said they have trouble retaining the material they learn.

The survey of 5,258 students and 2,452 instructors in North America was conducted in August 2022 and sought to understand the factors that most impact student success, as well as what factors instructors perceive as the most impactful.

 

What can work colleges teach the rest of higher ed? — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak
Amid high worries about higher ed’s value in the job market, work colleges offer lessons on integrating classroom learning with employment opportunities.

Excerpt:

To qualify as a work college, an institution must be nonprofit, offer four-year degrees and provide students with employment through a work-learning-service program that will contribute to their education.

It found work colleges’ strengths — reduced or free tuition, job experience and mentorship from college faculty and staff — address student concerns over the cost and real-world applicability of a college degree. Work colleges can also make adult learners’ lives logistically easier by combining academics and work, the report found.

The intentional connection of learning, work and service is the most compelling part of the model, according to Louis Soares, chief learning and innovation officer at ACE and one of the report’s authors.

 

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian