patricia barnett

Hi Brooke: Can you clarify how you believe this course was beneficial during the hiring process?  I ask because, to be honest, I was a tad bit confused with some of the reasoning with it came to coaching an employee.  But, for the most part- it was beneficial. 

Leaders should always be the facilitator, but typically (in the meetings that I've been in), they do too much talking. Often, others in the meeting are intimidated to say anything because of the fear of looking or sounding foolish. That is why I like sub-committees. They offer others (who might normally not speak up) a chance to contribute more. However, when an organization has strong leadership (like mine does), this typically does not happen- but I've seen it happen many times before.

Although lectures cannot be expected to be eliminated, I strongly believe that if they are to be conducted- students should be the presenters.  In other words, prepare students to work in groups and have the instructor as the guide. The more social learning our students perform, the deeper the learning.  For example: I use an "up-graded" example of elementary literature circles for textbook chapters but I call it "Adult Literary Groups".  Each adult student has a "job" to do as they read a textbook chapter. It sets a purpose for the reading. Then, the next time the students meet, they… >>>

I never even thought about the important role that Admissions could play in student retention. Before, I only thought about how they enrolled students.  I learned so many benefits of collaborative activities that Admissions and Academics can get together on, in order to increase student retention.  I do, however, work a lot with Career Services. Regardless, the idea of creating a website of graduates who are looking for positions and post-graduates who are already employed is a brillant idea.  Talk about showing students how to make connections!  I have already spoken to our Career Services Administrator and we might try… >>>

What a great reminder of psychosocial stages again! The reminders (and working with adult students) is a necessity!~

Greetings!  This is a great question!  Learning partnerships, to me, mean that both the students and the instructor learn from each other.  For example:  For the past few years, I have implemented "literary groups" (a beefed-up version of K-12 literary circles) with my career students.  For homework, the entire class reads a textbook selection/chapter -but not before the students break-up into small groups of 5 or 6 students and individually accept a specific "job" to perform during the reading (i.e. Leader, word-searcher, illustrator, etc...).  At the next class, the "teams" get together and discuss each other's work.  As the facilitating… >>>