Learn By Doing

A Lifelong Learner Shares Thoughts About Education

  • Chapter I

    I walk down the street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I fall in.
    I am lost… I am hopeless.
    It isn’t my fault.
    It takes forever to find a way out.

    Chapter II

    I walk down the same street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I pretend I don’t see it.
    I fall in again.
    I can’t believe I am in this same place.
    But it isn’t my fault.
    It still takes a long time to get out.

    Chapter III

    I walk down the same street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I see it there.
    I still fall in… it’s a habit… but,
    my eyes are open.
    I know where I am.
    It is my fault.
    I get out immediately.

    Chapter IV

    I walk down the same street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I walk around it.

    Chapter V

    I walk down another street.

    – Portia Nelson

  • This is an old story, but it still rings true and worthy of being looked at again.

    When things in your life seem , almost too much to handle,When 24 Hours in a day is not enough, Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

    A professor stood before his philosophy class. And had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students, if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

    The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

    The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was
    full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’ The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

    ‘Now,’ said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – family, children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions – Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

    The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

    The sand is everything else –The small stuff. ‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ He continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

    The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, You will never have room for the things that are important to you.
    So… Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play With your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

    ‘Take care of the golf balls first — The things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’ One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. ‘I’m glad you asked’. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’

  • How am I going to show Android Apps that my class develops, the same way I am going to show YouTube videos from the back of the room, The Samsung All-Share Cast Hub

    The photo on the right is the traditional picture of me, taking a picture of me, taking a picture …2013-01-03 19.57.45

    The broadcast on the TV is my Samsung Galaxy SIII with Jelly Bean on Verizon which now supports the All-Share Cast Dongle (or Hub) shown in this Video. 

    So for $90 you can pick up one of these and using WiFi run your phone on the big screen.  Now if only I could work the P-I-P feature on the TV I might have something.

  • ALISON— A Trove of 400 Free Online Job Training Courses

    in Education, Online Courses, Technology

    How many of us have taken an online course to learn a new language? My guess is, a lot. How many have used the web to find a recipe? Even more. But as handy as those skills are, will they help anybody land a job?

    While unemployment figures hover at just above 8 percent, analysts say that the numbers are much higher for low-skilled workers. Skill-sets are out of sync with the demands of today’s job market and fewer companies than ever offer on-the-job-training for rudimentary workplace skills, like how to use a computer or work in an office environment.

    ALISON—an Irish company with an uncatchy longer moniker: Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online—provides free online courses in job-friendly skills. Some are basic but essential—Fundamentals of Google Docsor Touch Type Training. Others are more specialized (Programming in Adobe Flash) and many could be useful for anybody, job seeking or not (Protect Yourself From Identity Theft).

    ALISON focuses on the practical, culling free courses from a range of publishers that will upgrade anyone’s employment skills. The site has a million registered users across the globe and is adding 50,000 learners every month. Un- or under-employed people can get help planning their career path with a course that takes from 1-2 hours. The course includes an assessment and a discussion forum.

    While many sites offer academic instruction, relatively few offer free workplace skill instruction and ALISON selects courses for their quality and interactivity. The site is so robust and straight-forward that government workplace centers in 18 states use it as a tool to help clients beef up their resume skills.

    Of the 400 available courses, the most popular is also one of the most comprehensive. ABC IT  is a 15-20 hour comprehensive introduction to IT literacy. It integrates basic concepts of computing, Microsoft Office applications and touch type training, as well as big-picture discussion of how computing can be an everyday feature of life and work.

    The site itself serves as an example of computing as a tool for social change. “We believe that all certifiable or standards-based learning for every subject can be made available for free online,” ALISON founders write on the site. “We also believe that Article 26 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states ‘Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free . . .’ will, through ALISON, become a reality.”

    As always, when you’re done visiting ALISON’s catalogue, don’t forget to spend time with our big collection of 500 Free Online Courses from great universities. There’s no shortage of career-enhancing courses here, including a long list of classes dedicated to IT and computer science.

    Via the New York Times.

    Kate Rix is an Oakland based freelance writer. See more of her work atkaterixwriter.com

  • From good.is, current research

    students

    Dual high school/college programs that shorten the time it takes to earn a high school diploma and let students earn up to two years of college credit for free are growing in popularity. But the programs have more benefits than just saving cash-strapped families money. A new study from California’s Community College Resource Center says students from low-income communities who participate in dual programs reap significant academic benefits.

    The three-year study looked at eight joint programs between 21 high schools and 10 colleges. Sixty percent of the students enrolled were from minority backgrounds and 40 percent came from homes where English isn’t the first language. They found that students who participate were more likely than their peers in the same school districts to graduate from high school and to go to a four-year college instead of a two-year community college. The researchers also found that once the students were enrolled on college, they needed to take fewer remedial classes and they were more likely to stay in school.

    The researchers didn’t specify why the programs have this effect, but it makes sense that these smaller, more challenging programs—which often have test score or grade eligibility requirements—naturally attract students that, despite coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, are highly motivated. It also makes sense that the explicit structure and personal attention that these programs provide keeps students on track and builds their confidence that they can tackle college-level work.

    Given the positive effect the programs have on students, the researchers recommend several policies to make the initiatives consistent and easier to run. States need to ensure that all programs are academically strong, make clearer standards for how students can be eligible to participate, make the credit earned easy to transfer to any school, and ensure that the funding model for the programs keeps the participating institution from losing "any of its per-pupil funding for dually-enrolled students."