December 7, 2010
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Sir Ken Robinson & Prairie Business.
Yes, I met him. The TIES conference has not failed me yet, and this year I drove down specifically to hear and meet Sir Ken Robinson. His talk at 8am was awesome (I wish I could be that inspiring at 8am), and his Q&A session was even better. I got to ask the second question, and I think I figured out that it's not my cool projects that need revising (although there's room for that always), it's my approach. The path to the introduction of said projects needs to be tweaked. He gave an example of paragraphing that'll stick with me; basically, he had the students think of soap operas and the formatting behind the scripts there. THEN he brought in paragraphing going so far as to take out the paragraph breaks and having the students put them in... very interesting. Could even be useful for Peer Review. Anyhow... I wrote all over my conference booklet, as usual, so I'll post more notes in a wee bit. I'd like to catch up on some assessment first. Oh, and.... an article in
shows that we're kind of cool around these parts.
"COLLEGE HAS STRONG WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH COMMUNITIES
The North Dakota State College of Science is one of the educational components that helps the two communities thrive. The two-year college has historically been associated with Wahpeton and Breckenridge since 1903. Now, it offers three components – Career and Technology Education programs, transfer programs, and workforce training across the state of North Dakota. “We really see ourselves as a state agency graduating and placing students in the state,” says Dr. John Richman, President of the College. “We are listening to their workforce needs providing customized, short-term training that an employee might have.” More than 2,800 students attend the 125-acre campus with 38 buildings, including a $5.7 million renovation of Horton Hall, which is one of the largest instructional facilities on campus. There are 300 fulltime and 300 part-time employees. One of the largest challenges is with the heavy emphasis in career and technological education, the school requires 8-10 times more resources than the college’s transfer programs. This includes physical space, equipment, the cost of training, and remaining certified. What has helped in all aspects of the college is the strong working relationship with Breckenridge and Wahpeton. “We share resources whenever possible,” Richman explains. “We look for partnerships and collaboration.”
