English professors often assume that students can read the novels andpoetry assigned for their courses.
Assumptions like this always are based on the implicit bias that either the students share a somewhat similar social background with the professors or that the school system works well enough to establish the same reading skill in most people.
studies on col-lege reading lag behind similar research on critical thinking
Okay, both are critical skills for academia, but how do you put them in relation?
How to Study. 16mm, Instructional film. Coronet Instructional Films, 1946. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRK70kyaWOI.
For nearly half of the lower-wage employment analyzed, we identify at least one higher-paying occupation requiring similar skills in the same metro area. We also find that transitions to similar higher-paying occupations would represent an average annual increase in wages of nearly $15,000, or 49 percent.
Recognition can change the world. Signals need to be valid and trustworthy, but we're so close to making a huge difference in the world through recognition of things that are already there, just hidden in plain sight.
For Jake, the high school graduate applying for jobs, the application process shifts away from being agame of how to pick the perfect keywords for his resume. Instead, he is matched by the actual skillsacquired in his recent community college coursework and EdX certificate. Both Jake and the hiringmanager he will soon meet have a more equitable and accurate path through the noise of today’sonline hiring process.
Simple, elegant explanation: it moves from clumsy proxies that screen out qualified people like Jake, to powerful and sophisticated matching that connect opportunities to people like Jake who have the verified skills to deserve those opportunities.
Creating Internal Value.
LERs will give employers internal heat maps of talent
Measuring What Matters
THIS! Been declaring for ten years how this is all about measuring the stuff that people actually care about.
Respondents most often agree or strongly agree that non-degree or alternative credentials have helped their organizationfill existing skills gaps (74%) and that they are helping to improvethe quality of their workforce (73%)
While data is kind of all over the place, this seems like a reliable response. Regardless of how well they understand non-degree credentials and how much meaning is mixed in other areas of the survey, it's straightforward that a super majority see MCs filling skills gaps and improving the quality of their workforce.
Brown, Peter C., Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Belknap Press, 2014. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674729018
The data indicate that teachers in this study place tremendous value on research skills, with most reporting assigning a research paper to their students in the 2011-2012 academic year and spending class time teaching various research skills to their students. These lessons are aimed at addressing deficits they see in today’s students. Most notable among these is the inability to judge the quality of information, a skill the vast majority of teachers deem “essential” for their students’ future success.
AP and National Writing Project teachers emphasize the importance of students' learning research skills, and discuss how they do so. They are most concerned with students learning to judge the quality of information found, but also in coaching students through the process, and dealing with online use restrictions at many schools. Aimed at Middle/ High School students. 8/10
It is essential to help students develop research abilities in the classroom and through faceted assignments. What are faceted assignments? After providing guidance in class, the professor assigns each aspect of a research assignment – development of a research problem statement, location of relevant resources, evaluation of resources, and so on – as its own mini-assignment, which is graded promptly, with sufficient comments to enable students to revise and resubmit. By the time the final research assignment is complete, it carries the benefit of a significant amount professorial mentoring.
Research skills involve complex, higher order tasks, and they take long-term efforts to learn well. Adult students are better able to do research than younger students do. They need to learn how to understand the different sources available, formulate good questions, learn more advanced database searching skills, and hone their critical thinking skills. Instead of assigning a research paper, instructors should assign each step of the paper so that they can help students properly master the whole process. 8/10
Many of the professors who assign research papers would disagree that they are encouraging students to think conventionally, and point out that the essay has its own limitations. If research papers -- or dissertations, for that matter -- were to become a thing of the past, what would we lose in our pursuit of knowledge? Is there a better way to assess knowledge?
This is the introduction to short pieces written by two professors, an editor, a librarian, and a Harvard student, 4 of whom support research papers, and the fifth grudgingly accepts its inevitability. It contains links to the contrary opinions against continuing to assign research papers. 7/10
As an English teacher and school librarian, I am passionate about teaching students how to access information, how to evaluate their information and how to correctly source their information when researching. Here are five of my top tips for helping students write a research paper or complete a research project.
This has good suggestions about 5 steps in writing a research paper: choosing a research question, brainstorming, finding sources, note taking, and citations. The tips are aimed at children, but are still good. She skipped the step of actually writing the paper, though. 8/10.