A Learning College for the 21st Century: Learning Research, Outcome Measures, and Learning Organizations

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Learning Research, Outcome Measures, and Learning Organizations

Terry O'Banion makes it clear that in order to build a strong foundation for a learning college, technology is a key. However, there is another building block to help this foundation grow even stronger and that is research on learning and different styles of learning, along with new concepts of assessment and outcomes measures. O'Banion says that, "Pedagogy is the science and art of education. If pedagogy is stretched to mean 'how learners learn,' then applying what is known about learning becomes the underlying rationale for organizational culture" (p. 82). How learners learn dictates how the learning college is organized. The following presents theories of learning:

Constructivism vs. Objectivism - "Construction does not cause learning. At best it can support and nuture it." Constructivists create real problems for real environments where learners examine, analyze, and create to solve these problems and make meaning for themselves.
Multiple Intelligences - Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Brain-Based Research

"The greatest challenge of brain research for educators does not lie in understanding the anatomical intricacies in brain functioning but in comprehending the vastness, complexity, and potential of the human brain" (p. 88).

Assessment - Defined as "an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning" (p. 95).

O'Banion points out that the ultimate goal of education is to help the student develop satisfactory answers to these questions:

- Who I am?

- Where am I going?

- What difference does it make?

However, the learning college wants to answer these questions:

- What does this student know?

- What can this student do?

I believe these are much better questions setting the learner up for more chances to succeed.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

TQM refers to an integrated approach by management to focus all functions and levels of an organization on quality and continuous improvement. Over the years TQM has become very important for improving a firm's process capabilities in order to achieve fit and sustain competitive advantages. TQM focuses on encouraging a continuous flow of incremental improvements from the bottom of the organization's hierarchy. TQM is not a complete solution formula as viewed by many – formulas can not solve managerial problems, but a lasting commitment to the process of continuous improvement.

Learning Organizations

"A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights" (p. 99).

Goal- Create a community of commitment

Key Lesson: "a learning organization" IS NOT automatically "a learning college"

No comments:

Post a Comment

Quotes

When Describing Educational Reform - "All of these solutions work toward trimming the branches, when attacking the root is the only viable source of action" (p. 7).

"The reform movement of the past decade has been trimming the branches of a dying tree" (p. 7).

"Putting learning at the heart of the academic enterprise will mean overhauling the conceptual, procedural, curricular, and other architecture of postsecondary education on most campuses" (p.9)

"The student has always been the first priority in the community college, and the current interest in learning is the next evolutionary step in the continuing quest for quality education" (p. 28).

"The purpose of teaching is to help students make passionate connections to learning" (p. 28).

"Technology is like a Swiss army knife, in adept hands, it has many uses including that of opening a 'can of worms'" (p. 70).

"For technology to 'work' in the classroom, there has to be a convincing pedagogy and rationale behind it" (p. 82).

"The world is not won by those who are right. It is won by those who can convince other they are right" (p. 130).

"The community college as an institution is one of the most important innovations in the history of higher education" (p. 232).

About Author - Terry O'Banion

Terry O'Banion, Ph.D., is president and CEO of the League for Innovation in the Community College, an international consortium of leading community colleges in the United States and Canada dedicated to experimentation and innovation. He is the author of 12 books, including Teaching and Learning in the Community College, Innovation in the Community College, and Teachers for Tomorrow: Staff Development in the Community Junior College. During a 36-year tenure in community college education, he served as dean of students at two Florida community colleges and as professor of community college education at the University of Illinois in Urbana. Dr. O'Banion has written more than 100 articles on community college issues and has been a consultant to over 500 community colleges and universities in 45 states and Canada. He earned a doctorate in administration in higher education from Florida State University and holds a master's degree in guidance and counseling from the University of Florida.