David Leon Cooper

Some instructors are a wailing bore. After 5 degrees, I am here to bear witness. At various times I have talked to students from other schools. They will really tell you the way it is. Some individuals drone on until everyone is either falling asleep or sleeping with their eyes open. Their eyes glaze over. As I was trained to be a school principal, I am aware that evaluations and gentle feedback can be helpful. I am referring to evaluations of instructors. Their peers and supervisors need to gently help them see themselves and re-ignite their excitement. Sometimes their lack… >>>

It has been my observation that there is widespread use of "test banks" in the career colleges. The test banks are provided by the publisher of the textbooks. Instructors also draw from other sources. Some programs are writing their own tests. One big problem is content validity. The tests are really supposed to match the course objectives. Sometimes instructors simply "teach to the test" in so called "reviews" in order to patch over the problem and avoid post testing riots! Professional teachers know that "teaching to the test" scientifically skews the results. It is better to discard questions post test… >>>

Actually, government programs are not likely to be the answer. Private industry is the sector that could most effectively do this. The large "not-for-profit" organization that I am affiliated with is offering free tutoring in math and English for all of its employees. Additionally, they are PAYING individuals to attend their certified nursing assistant program. There is zero tuition. The huge private postsecondary industry is mostly "for-profit." It is doing a great job. It is creating employed people--taxpayers--here. We have structural problems in education. The taxpayers should not be proping up governmental postsecondary educational entities. If they are so good,… >>>

A great deal of work has been done with general education (essential skills)assessment instruments and correlation of them to success in specific programs. Psychometricians (PhDs) perform this work by designing them and running the statistical data. Some challenges of the vocational or technical programs ("career college")are weaknesses in English and math. Many students are not primarily English speakers. (They are "English as a second language" individuals.) Many come from "at risk" homes and inner city environments with many social-economic issues. These tests can identify individuals who are not properly suited for the desired program. Some students can then be diverted… >>>

Socrates never wrote anything. His student, Plato, wrote a number of documents on his teacher. Basically, Socrates was a master of questioning. He essentially debated the great teachers and thinkers of his time; through the use of questions, he would demonstrate the contradictions in their arguments. He was also known to help his opponent with a way out of their situation so as not to cause embarassment. He tried to get to the first cause of things. He wanted someone to define what something was before he let them try to apply or judge it. By the way, the Bloom's… >>>

The conscious awareness of the preferred learning style is paramount for learner success. This fact is well known with educators. What is not so well known is the various modes of learning as they relate to Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. Higher order learning skills run from the lowest "knowing" to the highest "creating." (Creating was formerly systhesis and #2.) All of this basically reflects the complexity of brain function in a given cognitive situation. This taxonomy is also relevant to the other realms such as psychomotor. The emotive area is intertwined into the other two but is often ignored by educators.… >>>