Re: Re: Re: new thread - old topic ( NOT BBb vs. CC)


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Posted by Rick Denney on March 03, 2003 at 16:46:40:

In Reply to: Re: Re: new thread - old topic ( NOT BBb vs. CC) posted by Chris R on March 03, 2003 at 15:45:05:

I'm not sure I agree that everything must be learned by experience. Quoth Poor Richard (aka Ben Franklin):

Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.

Education should provide the tools to transcend our experience. We don't need schools to provide experience, we should get plenty of that outside school. My point is that we cannot depend on school to provide an complete education, because they are not constituted to provide that and they are not measured by that metric. The point of being educated is that you gain a wide understanding of the part of the world you can't see and experience for yourself. Training, on the other hand, is all about building experiences progressively to teach a skill. Schools really ought not to do so much of that, at least until graduate school, it seems to me. Employers should provide that level of training.

In terms of learning methods, there are a number of ways to teach. Lectures are not always ineffective, just as experiments and class interaction are not always effective. Some teachers give great lectures, so that learning takes place, while others put the students to sleep. And some can't keep interaction on track, with the result that the class discussion lapses into story-telling that doesn't stay on topic. Been there, done that.

Rick "whose current work includes lots of instructional design and teaching, which is training not education" Denney


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