Kaplan Message – It’s your time…to simply remotely listen?

Faculty and students – what is your perspective on the Kaplan message?

The message states educators have failed you and that a new model of learning is in order. The actor and visuals suggest the solution is largely about remote distance learning – on a train, at home and in your jammies. I get that.

From our perspective, this message leaves 2/3 of the required changes off the table.

What changes?

• How about more open learning? Why not let students and faculty learn and share across classes, programs or heaven forbid different schools?
• How about offering students a voice such they can learn new ways to share and collaborate in a semi-private setting across their virtual class?
• Why note give students the means to link industry and external stakeholders to a classroom? This would facilitate alumni mentoring, project exchanges and downstream recruiting for those that reveal their potential in an open, more transparent way.

Many talented teachers are experimenting with all forms of new tools, methods and teaching practices aimed at stimulating creativity, innovation and new forms of learning. Early adopters of WhyHire.me were brave enough to move forward with our learning materials and supporting technology – we are all learning in an open and transparent way. Dave Donaldson, Jim Kyte and Wendy Threader from Algonquin College. Leighann Neilson from Carleton University. David Johnson and Michael Vourakes from Centennial College. Lyle Wetsch from Memorial University. Francis Gunn and David Martin from the Ted Rogers School of Business. All of these people stared down the traditional barriers to changing how students can learn and explore new forms of collaboration and communication using social media. Kudos to you all!

I went back to the Kaplan web site looking for a means to offer feedback on the video. I was fully expecting to read comments and learn other perspectives about learning 2.0. A basic search for the term blog rendered no results. I found all kinds of great looking material and the means to chat online with a recruiter…but no means to share, learn or discuss.

Since there is no venue for such a dialogue, let’s continue it here.

What do you think is missing in education?

How should it change?

What are the barriers to transforming how we learn?

Over the Hump & Playing in Their New Sandbox

It’s the end of October and also the middle of midterms for college and university students across the country.  I guess you could say we are over the ‘hump’ of the first term.  Getting over the hump means that we have activity in the WhyHire.me portal.  Most students are 60-75% finished their learning modules.  We are starting to see new photos uploaded, pitches being written, blog posts going up and videos being loaded.  And for the most part, unless you are in one of our classes, you can’t see any of it.

You can’t see anything because you are not in a class that has adopted WhyHire.me as a program and learning environment for personal branding.  Those that have chosen to use the program have closed the doors to the public while they learn and explore the world of social networking for personal branding.  Yes, this generation is very aware of social networks because of Facebook, MySpace and YouTube but they are not familiar or comfortable with using social networks for developing a professional presence.  That’s why we have developed a place where they can learn and experiment with their classmates and professors.  We’re also playing with them in their new sandbox.  We have 14 classrooms involved in business programs at Algonquin College, Centennial College and Carleton University.

I spoke to a few classes recently and here are a few comments from students in the class:

“The presentation was great, I really enjoyed it even though it was pretty early on a Friday morning. I can say it was very inspiring for me, gave me new ideas on to what I can do with me as a brand.”

“After your talk today (which very much inspired me), I was thinking I would film an introduction video of myself for the profile. A sort of visual media piece to make me stand out and inform people of what I’m about.”

“I think the lessons and system are very educational. The creativity and thought put into this system is very much appreciated. It’s about time we started stepping away from just the traditional resumes and use technology to help promote ourselves. Congratulations to you and your team for being so innovative and allowing a new perspective into the education system.”

I’m looking forward to the second part of the term, as more students play, experiment and start to understand the power of the developing their own personal brand.

Digging Deep at Carleton University and Centennial College

Patti and I had the opportunity to present at Carleton University and Centennial College as guest speakers last week. It was a tremendous opportunity to gauge the response of the students and faculty members. There is no question, the underlying content and learning objectives are new and atypical for post-secondary students.

The WhyHire.me program calls on career coaching, branding and social media tools and methods. Many students are not exposed to some of the questions we ask until they get to the career center in their final year. By starting earlier, we are aiming to help students take a more proactive approach to managing how they want to be perceived by future employers and build their confidence.

In short, when we Dig Deep we encouraging them to:

• Understand their strengths and passions,
• Discover their underlying values and personality traits,
• Develop action plans to manage their weaknesses,
• Seek out opportunities to gain experiences to support their brand identity.

With that completed, students are in a far better position to develop their positioning pitch, which is the foundation of their brand.

Getting Caught Up

It’s been week since I have written a blog post.  Once again, breaking the blogging golden rule but I’m giving myself some latitude because we have been in the middle of officially launching WhyHire.me.  Although in theory, I should have been writing more.  But moving on…

Over the last month, we have launched the second version of our WhyHire.me portal, finished up a 70 page eBook which is embedded in the portal and produced 7 interactive presentations which will be used by teachers and students either in the classroom or as stand alone interactive learning modules.  It’s been a lot of work but rewarding on so many levels.  I really feel that what we have developed a product and program that will has tremendous value for those preparing for their professional lives.  I wish someone had pushed me and asked me the questions we are asking of our students when I was 20ish.  We are giving them a leg up on their careers and a perspective which all knowledge workers need in this economy.

WhyHire.me is being used in 12 classrooms this term.  We are getting the professors up to speed on the technology (social networks) but they will all be ready to fly with the content by the end of the week.  Everyone involved in the program has been very positive, and like ourselves, believe that this program has great value to our students.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will share feedback from our users here.  I will be team teaching at Carleton in the Sprott School of Business alongside Leighann Neilson, so I will have first hand input from the ‘trenches’.

I want to once again thank all our partners who have taken the next steps with us.

At Algonquin College, we would like to thank Wendy Threader, Jim Kyte, Dave Donaldson, Wayne McIntyre, Terry Frederick, Marc Johnstone and Noni Stukel.  Algonquin piloted our program last year and showed great leadership and a real understanding and interest in helping their students.  The Algonquin students in the School of Business are lucky to have people like this behind them.
At Centennial, our thanks go out to Liz Smith, David Johnson, Michael Vourakes and Linda Donville. These faculty members saw the potential associated with the curriculum and the associated outcomes. Their students get to learn how to use social media tools for research, collaboration and online communications – plus the added bonus of each student being able to fire up a comprehensive portfolio of experiences gained at Centennial College.

Back on Carleton’s Campus

It has been 20 years since I walked around the Carleton University campus.