Bring On The Learning Revolution by Sir Ken Robinson

I think TedTalks is an incredible movement. It's such an inspiring platform where people share and listen to ideas. Just ideas alone.

For this blog entry, I'd like to share "Bring on the learning revolution!" by Sir Ken Robinson.

He made strong statements in his talk, some which I particular like:

"I think we're obsessed with getting people to college.... I don't mean you shouldn't go to college, but not everybody needs to go; not everybody needs to go now; maybe they go later, not right away".

Then he talked about how parents are obsessed with getting their child into kindergarden. And guess what, it is so crazy to the extend that some kindergarden actually interview the poor child prior to enrollment! Sir Ken made a funny example of how the interview might go:

A 3-year old sitting in front of a panel; The head panel flipping through the child's resume. "What? this is it? You've been around for 36 months and this is it? You've achieved nothing! You spent the first 6 months breastfeeding I see!"

Hilarious I tell you...

I also like what he said here:

"We've build our education system on the model of fast food, where everything is standardized."

"We've sold ourselves into the fast food model of education and it's impoverishing our spirit as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies."

I think it's important for us to realize that education is about bringing the best out of a person; it should be abovut uncovering a person's true potential and helping them get to where they want to be, or should be. Education shouldn't be about putting learners on a conveyor belt to replicate and mould them into a certain, fixed form. Everyone is unique; everyone is different. We should embrace that fact and make learning, a true learning experience. This talk by Sir Ken Robinson sure is inspiring.

For more similar videos, please visit TedTalks Official Website.

iPad in Education

Check out the iPad 1 review by Wired Educator. Click on the image or this link: Wired Educator

It highlights the pro and cons of introducing iPad in your classroom.

Arranging a Training/Workshop Session #1

Each school has their own preferences on training arrangements. For example:

• Some teachers/students prefer to learn at a training centre. This is because if the training is conducted within school boundaries, there will be many distractions. Teachers/students want to learn new skills in peace.

• Some teachers/students prefer to learn in the morning; some prefer to learn during after-school hours; some prefer to learn during weekends.

• Some teachers/students prefer that the trainer guides them step-by-step; some prefer self-pace learning with our custom made PDF manuals.

• Some teachers/students prefer large group settings; some prefer small group settings; some prefer 1:1 training.

There are so many other types of arrangements, depending on the school/department's requirements. Whatever the requirement may be, our main priority is to customize a suitable training program for our customers.

Having said that, trainers do have our own views how a training should go about. Here's some insights from a trainers' point of view:

• The right frame of mind. It is important that teachers/students come in the training with the right heart and mind, which is to embrace new skills.

• The best training time is in the morning. This is when the mind is most alert.

• Training should not be more than six hours a day. To include a one hour lunch break and two short breaks during the six hour training will be most ideal.

• The recommended training hours is from 9am to 3pm (full day training); 9am to 12pm (half day training).

• If the training is arranged to be conducted at school premise, it should be conducted in an isolated room. Conference room and computer lab are great as it is generally more quiet and generates minimal distractions. We do not recommend to have training sessions in normal classrooms or teachers room. The last thing we want from participants is for them to worry and think about their work.

• The school's person-in-charge should inform and distribute the program outline to all participants at least one-week before the training. This is to ensure that all participants know what they will be learning in the training, and this will allow them to walk in the training with more mental preparation.

Well, that's all for the first installment of "Arranging a Training/Workshop Session". If you're in the midst of arranging for a training session or workshop, I do hope the above list helped you in some ways.

Please feel free to give us your thoughts and feedbacks via the comment box. We'd love to hear from you.

International Islamic University of Malaysia

© Very Imaginative People Enterprise. Please do not republish or distribute contents of this blog without written permission.

VIP has been very fortunate to conduct a training for the International Islamic University of Malaysia's Centre of Language & Pre-University Academy Development (CELPAD).

Why fortunate? The Dean and Lecturers are IIUM are such friendly people to be with. Plus, the campus is so beautiful!

All in all, we conducted three trainings for them-Snow 101 Mac OS X Support Essentials 10.6 training and Snow 201 Mac OS X Server Essentials 10.6 training (both by Shah) and Mac 'N More training by yours truly.

It's good to hear first hand account on how they feel excited about the Apple products as Educators; how they feel it will benefit their students and themselves in a long run :)