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Job-Hunting Tips for Recessionistas: Benefits of Learning Programs in a Depressed Economy

Michael Hanley — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:24:00 +0000

We’ve been doing a lot of good work on Instructional Design over the last week, so I think you deserve a break. Today I’m going to consider the wider implications of the benefits of learning and professional development in the current global economic environment.

Now read on…

Job seekers take heart! In the current financial maelstrom, you may suddenly find yourself unemployed, laid off, or downsized, with too much month at end of the money. Well, a report from the Harvard Business Review will bolster your confidence as you search for that all-too-elusive new role. So, especially you executives, take this time to retrain, build your skills, and take advantage of the excellent career development and e-learning programs that have emerged over the last decade or so.

No.

Actually: that’s wrong: it seems that you won’t be getting the keys to the executive restroom unless you’re a member of the correct ‘old school tie’ network, the right golf club, or can give the interview panel a "positive gut feeling" – whatever that is – in your single, not-very-rigorous meeting with your interrogators. That’s if a C-level exec bothers to attend your interview at all.

According to HBR,

…only half of those recruited for the top three tiers of management [in Fortune 500 companies] were interviewed by anyone in the C-suite. And fully half the companies relied primarily on the hiring manager’s gut feel, selecting a candidate believed to have ‘what it took’ to be successful in any job.

When the publication surveyed fifty CEOs of global companies, along with a pool of executive search consultants who work with about 500 organizations, they found hiring practices to be “disturbingly vague:” respondents relied heavily on subjective personal preferences or on largely unquestioned organizational traditions, often based on false assumptions.

Sir Fred Goodwin, ex-CEO, Royal Bank of Scotland: did he have “what it takes?” [Image courtesy The Guardian]

Even better news for jobseekers: the evidence of the survey indicates that regardless of a candidate’s suitability for the role, their professional experiences, and their range of competencies, the executives surveyed held

…widely differing views regarding the desirable attributes of new hires. They emphatically disagreed on whether it was best to hire insiders or outsiders, on who should be involved in the recruiting process, on what assessment tools were most suitable, and on what the keys were to successful hiring and retention.

Little surprise then that about a third of promising new hires leave an organization within three years of being recruited.

The HBR admitted to being "stunned" that many CEOs are ignorant of their company’s own demographic projections mandating hiring to replace soon-to-be-retiring managers; "even those who recognize the looming shortage of talent are ill-prepared to fill it."

However, don’t despair: I’m pleased to say these redoubtable captains of industry, the self-styled masters of the universe who got our economy into this whole mess are maintaining their impeccable record of due diligence, risk assessment, and forward planning, and can’t be accused of continuing to behave like the greedy, short-sighted, self-serving parasites they’ve proved to be in the past. Could anyone really agree with a shareholder who said of the board of one of the Irish banks:

If we didn’t live in a tolerant society, the chairman and the rest of the board would be hanging by their necks by piano wire.

Now – that’s wrong too.

In a recent blog post, I discussed some of the implications and consequences of the ‘PlayStation Generation’ entering the workforce; the HBR report supports the view that if the world’s ‘top’ organizations can’t even establish a process for on-boarding employees in the present, we ordinary working Joe’s and Josephine’s are all pretty much up the Swanee if we rely upon them to hire – and perform – effectively in times to come.

The famous Suwannee River, Florida. What we are up.

The Review published a very useful seven-step guide outlining the phases of a properly-structured interview process (see Figure 1).

Don’t forget, that these fine fellows – for it is mostly men – are all looking for gainful employment too, since they have all resigned their positions in ignominy, if not shame (most of them don’t seem to understand shame). Perhaps they can take advantage of this comprehensive process too:

Figure 1. Hiring Executives Process Guide (after Harvard Business Review, 2009)

Look and learn.

___________

References:

Fernández-Aráoz., Groysberg, B., Nohria, N. (2009). The Definitive Guide to Recruiting in Good Times and Bad. Harvard Business Review [Internet] Available from: http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/05/the-definitive-guide-to-recruiting-in-good-times-and-bad/ar/1?cm_mmc=npv-_-DAILY_STAT-_-MAY_2009-_-STAT0519 Accessed 19 May 2009

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Discovering Instructional Design 3: A Systems Approach

Michael Hanley — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:00:00 +0000

The process of instructional design specifies all the interrelated learning components that collectively constitute a specific training program for one content area. The generic high-level process is typically characterized as having four basic stages, each of which can be further divided into smaller constituent elements:

Analysis
Development
Implementation
Improvement

A Systems Approach to Instruction
According to Paul Saettler (1990), the systems approach to instruction emerged in the later 1950s and in the 1960. It grew from the then-current focus on integrating contemporary technology into learning environments including language laboratories, (the quaintly-named) teaching machines, programmed instruction, and Computer-Assisted Instruction. Most systems approaches are similar to computer process flow diagrams (see Figure 1). The instructional designer steps through the process during the development of the four stages. With its foundations in the military and business worlds, the systems approach involved setting goals and objectives, analyzing resources, devising a plan of action, and continuous evaluation/ and modification of the program during implementation.

Figure 1. A Systems View of Instructional Systems Design

ANALYSIS

Several types of analysis are undertaken when using the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) strategy to learning program development.

Training Needs Analysis (TNA)
This focuses on:

the business goal related to the training need (e.g. more sales, higher productivity, employee retention, product knowledge, customer satisfaction, reduced costs, employee satisfaction).
the improved or new performance needed to realize the business goals

Performance Analysis
This process:

reveals the differences between what people are actually doing and what they should be doing
identifies those differences that can be eliminated by instruction.

Note: Not all performance-related issues can be enhanced by training.

Task Analysis
The outcome of a task analysis is a step-by-step description of what a skilled person does when performing a task, whether the task is cognitive or psychomotor in nature.

The purpose of a task analysis is to develop an understanding of what competent people actually do (or should do) when performing a task. From this understanding, we can deduce what others have to be taught to enable them acquire the skills to perform the task competently.

The instructional designer often undertakes a task analysis with the assistance of a subject matter expert (SME), who identifies and illustrates key elements and tasks related to the skill or activity. Here are some useful approaches to elicit an effective analysis of a task under investigation:

Work Behaviors
The SME demonstrates the steps or aspects of the process required to complete work-driven tasks. These can be organized in many ways (for example, chronologically, by level of complexity, frequency etc). The instructional designer records what each step or process is called, and its place in the overall structure of the activity. The instructional designer documents:

how often the task is done
what percentage of users will need the task
how critical the task is
task complexity

Expert Behaviors
Here the SME demonstrates tacit tips and tricks that are not usually documented in source materials. Expert behaviors typically have lower frequency and higher complexity ratings.

Analytical Behaviors
The instructional designer asks the SME to describe decision-making processes that are performed during the task. As useful inquiry strategy to follow is the 4WH1 approach ("How?, Why?, Who?, Where?, and When?").

More…

________________

References:

Saettler, P. (1990). The evolution of American educational technology . Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

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Characteristics of Informal Learning

Michael Hanley — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Changes in the world economy are forcing corporations to rethink how workers learn and to perform effectively. How do people learn? Why? What accounts for the upswing in interest in less formal learning? Does it work?

In the corporate context, learning is about mastering technical and social skills, and product knowledge. The focus is on attaining the skills. knowledge, and expertise required to meet the promise made to the customer.

In an interview in 2005, the estimable Jay Cross articulated a concept that many (including myself) felt was an emerging trend in corporate learning and development:

Well, I had to redefine all learning …because the world is changing so fast. The concepts we had when knowledge was fixed in place, like something you could put in a library, don’t work anymore. So I look at all learning as adaptation to the communities that matter to you, to your ecosystems, if you will. Informal Learning is simply that, which is not directed by an organization or somebody in a control position.

(Interview with Jay Cross: Informal Learning)

The year 2005 heralded the recovery from the Dot-Com Crash in 2001, a year Kevin Kruse has described as one that

…brought the harsh, steep slope of unfulfilled promises. Several high-profile [e-learning] providers shut their doors while many more announced large-scale layoffs in the face of missed revenue targets and crashing stock prices. E-learning advocates retreated to the more defensible ground of “blended learning. This year [went] down as the Trough of Despair.

As a result of this turn-of-the-century disillusionment, a key document on lifelong learning published by the European Commission in the same year went unnoticed by many training professionals. In their 2001 document Communication on Lifelong Learning, the authors Holford, Patulny & Sturgis defined the terms formal, non-formal and informal learning (p.9):

Table 1 Definition of learning types

Learning Type	Description
Formal Learning	Learning typically provided by an education or training institution, structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support) and leading to certification. Formal learning is intentional from the learner’s perspective [my italics].
Non-formal Learning	Learning that is not provided by an education or training institution and typically does not lead to formalized certification. It is, however, structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support). Non-formal learning is intentional from the learner’s perspective [my italics].
Informal Learning	Learning resulting from daily life activities related to work, family or leisure. It is not structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support) and typically does not lead to certification. Informal learning may be intentional but in most cases it is non-intentional (or “incidental”/ random) [my italics].

More next time…

___________

References:

Cross, J. (2004) An informal history of eLearning. On the Horizon [Internet] 12(3). pp.103-110. Available from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/2740120301.pdf (Subscription required) Accessed 20th February, 2007

Holford, J. Patulny, R. & Sturgis, P. (2005) Indicators of Non-formal & Informal Educational Contributions to Active Citizenship. A Paper Prepared for the European Commission by the University of Surrey. [Internet]. Available from: http://farmweb.jrc.cec.eu.int/CRELL/active_citizenship.htm Accessed 25th October, 2006

Kruse, K. (2002) The State of e-Learning: Looking at History with the Technology Hype Cycle. [Internet] Available from: http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/hype1_1.htm [Accessed 12th February 2008]

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Characteristics of Informal Learning

Michael Hanley — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0000

In an interview in 2005, the estimable Jay Cross articulated a concept that many (including myself) felt was an emerging trend in corporate learning and development:

Well, I had to redefine all learning …because the world is changing so fast. The concepts we had when knowledge was fixed in place, like something you could put in a library, don’t work anymore. So I look at all learning as adaptation to the communities that matter to you, to your ecosystems, if you will. Informal Learning is simply that, which is not directed by an organization or somebody in a control position.

(Interview with Jay Cross: Informal Learning)

The year 2005 heralded the recovery from the Dot-Com Crash in 2001, a year Kevin Kruse has described as one that

…brought the harsh, steep slope of unfulfilled promises. Several high-profile [e-learning] providers shut their doors while many more announced large-scale layoffs in the face of missed revenue targets and crashing stock prices. E-learning advocates retreated to the more defensible ground of “blended learning. This year [went] down as the Trough of Despair.

Table 1 Definition of learning types

Learning Type	Description
Formal Learning	Learning typically provided by an education or training institution, structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support) and leading to certification. Formal learning is intentional from the learner’s perspective [my italics].
Non-formal Learning	Learning that is not provided by an education or training institution and typically does not lead to formalized certification. It is, however, structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support). Non-formal learning is intentional from the learner’s perspective [my italics].
Informal Learning	Learning resulting from daily life activities related to work, family or leisure. It is not structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support) and typically does not lead to certification. Informal learning may be intentional but in most cases it is non-intentional (or “incidental”/ random) [my italics].

More next time…

___________

References:

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To-Learn Lists: September 2008 Learning Circuits Blog Big Question

Michael Hanley — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:52:00 +0000

This month’s Big Question emerged from a short essay written by James Collins in LEARNING JOURNEYS Top Management Experts Share Hard-Earned Lessons on Becoming Great Mentors and Leaders (2000). The author wrote:

A true learning person also has a “to-learn” list, and the items on that list carry at least as much weight in how one organizes his or her time as the to-do list.

More specifically, The Big Question is about:

If you have a to-learn list and are willing to share, and willing to share how you work with that list, that would likely be helpful information.
As Knowledge Workers, work and learning are the same, so how does a to-learn list really differ from a to-do list? How are they different than undirected learning through work, blogging, conferences, etc.?
Are to-learn lists really important to have? Are they as important as what Jim Collins tells us?
Should they be captured? If so how?
How does a to-learn list impact something like a Learning Management System in a Workplace or Educational setting?
What skills, practices, behaviors do modern knowledge workers need around to-learn lists?

So it’s really a bunch of Big Questions this month. I’m not going to answer any of them, as I’m not so conceited as to think that you haven’t better things to do with your time, than to think about what I do with my time. However, the topic did get me thinking…

First of all, some context – I undertook some research on the text that the idea of the To-Learn List originated from. Learning Journeys contains 37 two- to three-page essays by

some of the best and most well known of human resources and organizational leaders and pioneers. From Stephen Cover to Dave Ulrich, from Marshall Goldsmith to Robert Eichenger, these individuals have done much to shape current thought in the areas of organizational development and leadership.

Amazon.com reviewer

As such, the text is orientated towards the needs of HR and organizational development people, rather than learning & development professionals. No harm: it’s always useful to get a different perspective (or to put it another way – a friend of mine reads a certain national newspaper because he “…likes to know what the enemy is thinking!”). One of the elements of the text that became apparent to me (from reading a part of the text using Amazon.com’s Look Inside functionality) was that the learning perspectives discussed would probably work better for people who are not professionally involved with training others: in this capacity, it indicated some potentially useful approaches on how to engage others in continuous learning, and pointed towards some avenues that might assist in achieving this objective.

As discussed in a previous blog entry on the E-Learning Curve, one of the central components of the impact of learning (and specifically the development of knowledge workers’ expertise in organizations) is the context within which the learning takes place. A central element of this context is the type or format of the learning taking place. In the literature, it is apparent that a dichotomy exists between the paradigms of formal, goal-directed training programs, and informal “learning at the watercooler” (Grebow, 2002); what Michael Eraut (2000) describes as incidental learning that takes place almost as a side effect of work: “it is difficult to make a clear distinction between formal and informal learning as there is often a crossover between the two” (McGivney, 1999, p.1). Another complexity in the discussion is where is non-formal learning located in relation to the diametric opposites?

I support Alan Rogers’ (2004) view that a “new paradigm” for learning exists, in which “most programmes will be partly formal and partly informal” going from formal to informal and from informal to formal in both directions along a continuum (see Figure 1) . “Both forms of education are important elements in the total learning experience” (looking again at non-formal and informal education – towards a new paradigm, 2004).

Figure 1 the Learning Continuum

Similarly, Hodkinson and Hodkinson argue that focusing on the extent to which learning is planned and intentional may be a way of by-passing the distinction between formal, non-formal and informal altogether.” (Colley, Hodkinson & Malcolm, 2002).

So, to return to the topic, my To-Learn List has one entry: to learn.

I would categorize myself as a “learnivore” – I continually acquire new knowledge and information through my Web-, book-, podcast-, and presentation reading, blogging (reading and writing), academic study and research, and work-based learning-related tasks. These activities are drivers for the information I try to take on board in my attempts to enhance my skills, abilities, and expertise.

_____________

References:

Colley, Hodkinson, Malcolm (2002) non-formal learning: mapping the conceptual terrain. a consultation report [Internet] Available from: http://www.infed.org/archives/e-texts/colley_informal_learning.htm [Accessed 28th January 2008]
Coombs, P. (1968) The World Educational Crisis, New York, Oxford University Press.

Eraut, M. (2000) Non-formal learning, implicit learning and tacit knowledge, in F. Coffield (Ed) The Necessity of Informal Learning: Policy Press. Bristol

Goldsmith, M. Kaye, B. Shelton, K (eds.) (2000) LEARNING JOURNEYS Top Management Experts Share Hard-Earned Lessons on Becoming Great Mentors and Leaders. Davies-Black Publishing

Grebow, D. (2002) At the Water Cooler of Learning [Internet] Available from: http://agelesslearner.com/articles/watercooler_dgrebow_tc600.html [Accessed 30th January 2008]

McGivney, V. (1999) Informal learning in the community: a trigger for change and development NIACE. Leicester.

Rogers, A. (2004) Looking again at non-formal and informal education – towards a new paradigm [Internet] Available from: http://www.infed.org/biblio/non_formal_paradigm.htm [Accessed 30th January 2008]

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To-Learn Lists: September 2008 Learning Circuits Blog Big Question

Michael Hanley — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:52:00 +0000

This month’s Learning Circuits Blog Big Question emerged from a short essay written by James Collins in LEARNING JOURNEYS Top Management Experts Share Hard-Earned Lessons on Becoming Great Mentors and Leaders. The author wrote:

A true learning person also has a “to-learn” list, and the items on that list carry at least as much weight in how one organizes his or her time as the to-do list.

More specifically, The Big Question is about:

If you have a to-learn list and are willing to share, and willing to share how you work with that list, that would likely be helpful information.
As Knowledge Workers, work and learning are the same, so how does a to-learn list really differ from a to-do list? How are they different than undirected learning through work, blogging, conferences, etc.?
Are to-learn lists really important to have? Are they as important as what Jim Collins tells us?
Should they be captured? If so how?
How does a to-learn list impact something like a Learning Management System in a Workplace or Educational setting?
What skills, practices, behaviors do modern knowledge workers need around to-learn lists?

So it’s really a bunch of Big Questions this month. I’m not going to answer any of them.

First of all, some context – I undertook some research on the text that the idea of the To-Learn List originated from. Learning Journeys contains 37 two- to three-page essays by

some of the best and most well known of human resources and organizational leaders and pioneers. From Stephen Cover to Dave Ulrich, from Marshall Goldsmith to Robert Eichenger, these individuals have done much to shape current thought in the areas of organizational development and leadership.

Amazon.com reviewer

Figure 1 the Learning Continuum

Sp, to return to the topic, my To-Learn List has one entry: to learn.

I would categorize myself as a “learnivore” – I continually acquire new knowledge and information through my Web-, book-, podcast-, and presentation reading, blogging (reading and writing), academic study and research, and work-based learning-related tasks. These activities are drivers for the information I to take on board in my attempts to enhance my skills, abilities, and expertise.

_____________

References:

Eraut, M. (2000) Non-formal learning, implicit learning and tacit knowledge, in F. Coffield (Ed) The Necessity of Informal Learning: Policy Press. Bristol

Goldsmith, M. Kaye, B. Shelton, K (eds.) (2000) LEARNING JOURNEYS Top Management Experts Share Hard-Earned Lessons on Becoming Great Mentors and Leaders. Davies-Black Publishing

Grebow, D. (2002) At the Water Cooler of Learning [Internet] Available from: http://agelesslearner.com/articles/watercooler_dgrebow_tc600.html [Accessed 30th January 2008]

McGivney, V. (1999) Informal learning in the community: a trigger for change and development NIACE. Leicester.

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Approaches to evaluating learning

Michael Hanley — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:26:00 +0000

In yesterday’s post I put forward some thoughts on terminal second-level examinations and the effect that faring poorly in these could have for young adults’ future lives.

I received a comment on the topic from a correspondent who asserted:

…does success in exams equal education? Exams are an outmoded assessment tool – success in them means nothing more than a certificate and maybe entry into higher education – where you sit more exams until you finally move into the real world…where you realise your so called education did you a grave disservice.
Can you think? Can you create? Can you problem solve? Does an exam system fit into 21st century learning?

Now read on…

Do we have practical solutions (as opposed to high aspirations) about the best way to serve students in the 21st century?

Hard to say.

I would suggest that the best way to prepare people for the workplace is to evaluate learners as if they were in the workplace. So let’s look briefly at the role of certification in this context.

Certification is the ability to prove through testing if an individual has achieved a mastery of skills, knowledge and attitude. Certification can also prove the ability of an individual to apply those skills and knowledge in specified areas and job functions.

(Certification: Corporate America’s Secret Weapon. Hilbink, P. 2004 p.2).

In 1959, Donald L. Kirkpatrick first published his four-level training evaluation model (see Table 1) in a series of articles for the US Training and Development Journal. “The reason for evaluating is to determine the effectiveness of a training program” (Evaluating Training Programs, 2006, p3). The reason for the four-level model then “was to clarify the elusive term evaluation” (2006, xv). In articulating evaluation through each of the four levels – reaction, learning, behaviour and results – the model aspires to

inspire us to look beyond our traditional classroom content delivery model and opens windows to the many way we can improve the performance of our organisations.

(2006, p.xi)

Table 1 Kirkpatrick’s Four-level Model

In the context of Kirkpatrick’s Four Level Model, second-level certification is typically interpreted at Levels Two. We can say that the most effective approach to understanding how well learners have acquired new knowledge, skills, and expertise is to ask them to demonstrate what they have learned: they sit a test. In the context of second-level education, certification assesses the learner at Level 2: Transfer of Learning. It is important to measure learning transfer because no change in behaviour can be expected unless one or more of these learning objectives have been accomplished. Measuring learning means determining one or more of the following metrics:

What knowledge was learned?
What skills were developed or improved?
What attitudes were changed?

The benefits to conducting Level Two tests are that the learner must demonstrate that the learning transfer has occurred, and that the assessment provides verifiable and conclusive evidence that an improvement has occurred in knowledge, skills, or attitudes.

Assessment tests are a powerful tool for organisations, institutions and society-at-large, as they combine a hierarchical observation and a normalising judgement. Testing makes individuals visible (who has attained the qualification? who has not attained certification?) and enables them to be categorised (how well did they do?). Exams also normalize people by assessing them according to the same metric, and subsequently measures them in relation to one common standard.

Having established the value of Level Two assessments to understand how well knowledge has been transferred, what next? Does the education system as it currently exists meet the needs of students as they prepare for life in the Information Age, or is there a lag between national educational policies & strategies, and how students’ skill need to be shaped?

Substantial resources (time, well-paid teacher, continuous training for educators etc) are required to undertake these types of evaluations, and the ministries and agencies with responsibility for managing these tasks don’t seem to have the influencing powers to ensure these assets are in place.

A cynic might say that it’s because such an initiative requires long-term planning. The results of such an approach mightn’t be seen for five to ten years, and a politician who advocated such a spend on education might not be in a position, a decade or so later, to reap the rewards of such an innovation in national education policy.

_____________________

References:

Hilbink, P. (2004) Certification: Corporate America’s Secret Weapon [Internet] Available from: <http://www.digital-latitudes.com/docs/Cert_White_Paper.pdf> [Accessed 7 July, 2008]

Kirkpatrick, D. & Kirkpatrick, J. (2006) Evaluating Training Programs. 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

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Approaches to evaluating learning

Michael Hanley — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:26:00 +0000

In yesterday’s post I put forward some thoughts on terminal second-level examinations and the effect that faring poorly in these could have for young adults’ future lives.

I received a comment on the topic from a correspondent who asserted:

…does success in exams equal education? Exams are an outmoded assessment tool – success in them means nothing more than a certificate and maybe entry into higher education – where you sit more exams until you finally move into the real world…where you realise your so called education did you a grave disservice.
Can you think? Can you create? Can you problem solve? Does an exam system fit into 21st century learning?

Now read on…

Do we have practical solutions (as opposed to high aspirations) about the best way to serve students in the 21st century?

Hard to say.

I would suggest that the best way to prepare people for the workplace is to evaluate learners as if they were in the workplace. So let’s look briefly at the role of certification in this context.

Certification is the ability to prove through testing if an individual has achieved a mastery of skills, knowledge and attitude. Certification can also prove the ability of an individual to apply those skills and knowledge in specified areas and job functions.

(Certification: Corporate America’s Secret Weapon. Hilbink, P. 2004 p.2).

inspire us to look beyond our traditional classroom content delivery model and opens windows to the many way we can improve the performance of our organisations.

(2006, p.xi)

Table 1 Kirkpatrick’s Four-level Model

What knowledge was learned?
What skills were developed or improved?
What attitudes were changed?

_____________________

References:

Hilbink, P. (2004) Certification: Corporate America’s Secret Weapon [Internet] Available from: <http://www.digital-latitudes.com/docs/Cert_White_Paper.pdf> [Accessed 7 July, 2008]

Kirkpatrick, D. & Kirkpatrick, J. (2006) Evaluating Training Programs. 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

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It’s not the end of the world, you know

Michael Hanley — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:35:00 +0000

Today’s blog post is not so much about e-learning or learning and development but rather more about education in general. Whether it’s the Leaving Certificate (the final course in the Irish secondary school system), SATs in the US, O- and A-Levels in the UK, or le bac in France, I’m sure you are familiar with the day of reckoning just-finished secondary-level students are facing about now as their results are published in advance of matriculation for third-level and university places, as well as those former students who intend to go straight into employment, or take a gap year to figure out what they want to do with their lives.

Now read on…

In Ireland, the examination results were published yesterday, and today they’re released in the UK; tuning in to Irish and British radio and TV broadcasts over the last twenty-four hours you would be forgiven for thinking that we’re on the edge of a natural catastrophe (well, apart from the monsoon-like rain we’ve been experiencing for the last week, but that’s another story).

You may be familiar with the format:

Images / sounds of students opening their results envelopes and shouting for joy / groaning with disappointment
Vox-pop of said students as they discuss their plans now that they’ve achieved / failed to achieve the marks they needed
Outro from reporter which goes along the lines of “… you might not have got what you wanted, but it’s not the end of the world, you know” before an short excerpt of some successful local business person or politician describing how they left school at 15 with no qualifications and worked their way up from tea-boy to head of a transnational organisation (before giving out the number of the helpline worried parents can call for advice).

While I completely understand the need to sympathize with devastated young adults who see their hopes, dreams, and career options evaporating before their eyes, I believe that to glibly state that “it’s not the end of everything” simultaneously devalues the emotional and psychological impact of performing poorly in such an important life event, and provides false hope that somehow it will be all right.

Sadly, the reality is that in the 21st Century knowledge economy, a less-than-average result in these examinations seriously affects most young peoples’ ability to move forward with their lives – particularly in these increasingly straitened times. As the world transitions to an Information Age where the primary asset an individual possesses is their expertise, a misstep on this lowest rung of the ladder has the potential to damage an otherwise bright, intelligent individual’s potential to both contribute to, and make their way in their society.

For every business leader who “did it the hard way” or “learned from the university of life,” there are ten frustrated employees working in the wrong career, and maybe ten times that number pumping gas, or just about making enough to hang in there, not really living, just existing. Unless you’re in a position where you have the financial resources, the family or social contacts, or just the pure luck to break into your chosen path, you have to pretty much generate your own career based upon your abilities and talents – hopefully enhanced by what you learned in school.

I never cease to be amazed by (for example) politicians who state that through hard work and perseverance they finally got elected and rose to the position they’re in now… while omitting that their father held the seat before them and they’re based in a traditional constituency where the electorate has voted for the ‘name they know’ for generations, or the business-person who was a millionaire by thirty, through their ceaseless efforts and dedication …and the fact that they come from a wealthy family with the resources to set them up.

I heard one such person on the radio yesterday who asserted that “all you need to be successful in your chosen career is to be focused on your goal and to be passionate about what you want to do.” Try this experiment – say for example you want to be a project manager – send your résumé to as many organisations as you like, outlining your passion, enthusiasm and lack of formal qualifications in the field. Then, wait for the employment offers to roll in.

But don’t hold your breath.

Passion is great, but in many cases it’s the last resort of the incompetent (look at all those candidates on The Apprentice who, when about to be fired protest that they’re “passionate about what they do”). Enthusiasm is an admirable quality, but certainly no substitute for expertise, ability, and experience: organisations understand this, though professional competence is boring and makes for poor reality TV.

Which one of these would YOU hire?

One of the primary reasons I take such joy in my career (and it’s not even a logical reason) is that it puts me in a position to see people reach their potential. Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics) believed that education was fundamental to the human condition – the fulfilled person was an educated person.

Perhaps this week, more than at any other time of the year his assertion that

the roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet

is at it’s most evocative and apposite.

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References:

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics

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Images’ source:

Radio Telefís Éireann image library

BBC. The Apprentice. [Internet] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/ Accessed 14 August 2008

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It’s not the end of the world, you know

Michael Hanley — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:35:00 +0000

Now read on…

You may be familiar with the format:

Images / sounds of students opening their results envelopes and shouting for joy / groaning with disappointment
Vox-pop of said students as they discuss their plans now that they’ve achieved / failed to achieve the marks they needed
Outro from reporter which goes along the lines of “… you might not have got what you wanted, but it’s not the end of the world, you know” before an short excerpt of some successful local business person or politician describing how they left school at 15 with no qualifications and worked their way up from tea-boy to head of a transnational organisation (before giving out the number of the helpline worried parents can call for advice).

But don’t hold your breath.

Which one of these would YOU hire?

Perhaps this week, more than at any other time of the year his assertion that

the roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet

is at it’s most evocative and apposite.

_____________

References:

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics

_____________

Images’ source:

Radio Telefís Éireann image library

BBC. The Apprentice. [Internet] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/ Accessed 14 August 2008

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