Robert Pearl Starks

Robert Pearl Starks

Location: phoenix, arizona

About me

As Vice President of Product Development, I lead cross-functional teams of designers, developers, QA testers and product stakeholders to develop, launch, and improve products customers need and love. 

Previously, I've worked in a variety of leadership roles in education / learning & professional development. Through my experience, I've become accustomed to working across departmental silos and with various stakeholders (executives, end-users, faculty, staff, students / learners, alumni, parents, regulatory agencies, partners and employers) to facilitate collaboration and advance common goals. In my previous roles, I've advocated for student needs and driven organizational change that helped educators do their best work, students thrive in their careers, and employers connect with quality talent.

Despite different contexts, a common theme in my career journey has been to do work that contributes to a mission which improves people's lives. It's also always been important for me to work with an organization whose values align with my own. I'm a listener, empathizer, customer advocate, servant leader, and lifelong learner. I'm never satisfied with status quo, I constantly strive for "better," and I'm driven by genuine curiosity to solve complex problems.

“Work to become; not to acquire.” -Elbert Hubbard

Interests

social media, career development, training, higher education, web 2.0/3.0, career services, leadership, marketing

Skills

social media, marketing, training, consulting, management, strategic planning

Activity

It took a life-threatening condition to jolt chemistry teacher Ramsey Musallam out of ten years of “pseudo-teaching” to understand the true role of the educator: to cultivate curiosity. In a fun and personal talk, Musallam gives 3 rules to spark imagination and learning, and get students excited about how the world works.

As a high school chemistry teacher, Ramsey Musallam expands curiosity in the classroom through multimedia and new technology.  How do you elicit the curiosity of your students?

Watch this TED Talk:

Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish -- and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational "death valley" we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility.

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

Watch the TED Talk:

A college degree has long been touted as a key component for a successful and prosperous life. But a more critical look reveals that coming in prepared and graduating is often the biggest challenge, especially for disadvantaged students.

Senior fellows Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins discuss the findings from in the latest issue of The Future of Children journal which is devoted to post secondary education preparation as well as a new Center on Children and Families brief that examines the college return-on-investment. Isabel Sawhill explains how shocking it is that the U.S. spends $100 billion subsidizing college grant programs… >>>

Being effective at solving problems in the workplace (and throughout life) requires using a combination of memory, logic and insight. Your experiences combined with your logic abilities help you determine which problem-solving method is best for each challenge you encounter but there are several practices people commonly demonstrate which can hinder problem solving.  6 practices having to do with illogical thinking are listed below:

Recognize when you, your employees, or others adopt these 6 illogical practices:

  1. Speaking in absolutes, such as all, none, no one, everybody, never or always
  2. Generalizing that is either unsupported or supported by only one or
  3. >>>

In formal training, the needs of the job dictate the required training for the job. Good formal training includes the following characteristics:

 

1. Analysis
Many factors can contribute to performance problems that cannot be solved by training. A needs analysis involves knowledgeable personnel who are aware of the requirements of the job and the necessary level of performance. This analysis determines whether a need for training exists.

A job analysis determines the specific tasks critical to competent performance of a job. These tasks may be frequent, repetitive, important, difficult, or error-prone. It is this analysis that provides the basis… >>>

Jennifer, Thanks for sharing your experience with using social media in your career center. Beyond communication and research to discover what graduates are up to, I am wondering if you use social media as a part of your strategy for other goals such as employer outreach, increased student participation in career services, etc. Anything to share in this regard perhaps on what specific campaigns you may have done or metrics you use to measure success as it correlates to your social strategies? Robert Starks Jr.

@GTelesco :How do you go about selecting your article?  Is it a topic related to a lesson or more broadly related to the course in general?  Where do you curate your content - have any favorite places? 

Thanks for sharing your tips.

The Progressive Goal Attainment Program (PGAP) is curriculum-based and taught to Veterans to help them overcome their barriers to integration and employment - many of which are psychological.  

From the research document:

"MDRC’s Accelerated Benefits (AB) Demonstration found that when delivered alongside medical case management and employment and benefits counseling, PGAP started to increase job search and job preparation activities within a year among individuals who receive SSDI. A follow-up analysis by the Social Security Administration found that beneficiaries who received PGAP and related counseling services sustained higher employment and income levels two years after the study began." … >>>

Improving Employment Outcomes and Community Integration for Veterans with Disabilities

MDRC (formerly known as Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) has published research that discusses the Early Implementation of the Progressive Goal Attainment Program (PGAP) for Veterans as an effective method for improving employment outcomes and community integration.  As most educators know, veterans have unique challenges for integrating into the community (college and civilian) and can struggle with their transition to civilian life and work.  Many of the obstacles are not only physical but emotional and psychological.  Veterans represent a student niche that must be better understood so that institutions can better… >>>

Research that discusses the Early Implementation of the Progressive Goal Attainment Program (PGAP) for Veterans as an effective method for improving employment outcomes and community integration

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