Some high school math courses are very meaningful to specific career paths. Engineers need calculus, economists need analytical geometry and I am not sure who needs discrete geometry. But let’s consider the vast majority of career pathways. What math is most important to most careers? And are we ensuring that our students are achieving the […]
Tag: Skills
Skills
Cue the tumble weeds, cowboys and whiskey-slinging saloons, and imagine a land that is both wild and full of potential. It’s the wild west of learning outcomes and like gold they are a hot commodity in an increasingly data-driven postsecondary sector. But there is still a great deal of unexplored territory – particularly in assessment. […]
From essays to learning portfolios, there’s a growing number of ways to assess learning outcomes. In the third HEQCO webinar on learning outcomes assessment in higher education, Lori Goff (manager of program enhancement at McMaster University) asked the audience, “Which types of assessments do you primarily use in your course?” and listed a variety of […]
It’s been a long road, but I have come to realize that learning outcomes have the power to transform higher education. As a student, I unknowingly used them to make important decisions, as an instructor they guided my teaching and as a course developer they have changed the way I look at higher education. Like […]
“We know what employers value most,” says George Brown College’s current marketing campaign – appearing on a subway wall or TV screen near you. As Norma Desmond said to Cecil B. DeMille: I’m ready for my close-up. So too core skills, it would appear. You’re familiar with them – the so-called soft skills, essential skills, […]
HEQCO released a report this week providing an extensive review of outcomes-based funding models used in postsecondary education and their effectiveness. Outcomes-based funding is a practice where institutions receive their funding, partially or totally, on the basis of performance, specifically, the achievement of agreed-upon goals or outcomes (I use the terms “outcomes-based funding” and “performance-based […]
Guest blogger: Carolyn Crosby About five years ago I had a student in grade 10 who told me his brother was in a college carpentry program and the first thing his college teacher said was: “Forget all the math they taught you in high school – it doesn’t apply here.” I couldn’t refute his statement […]
A recent Globe and Mail article pointed out that Canadian universities appear to be slipping in world rankings. This is not a good thing. Higher education institutions — because of the students they teach, the research and discoveries they make, and the communities they support — are some of the most critical public institutions in […]
With summer’s end, more than a half million students are back at it in Ontario’s public colleges and universities, typically investing two to five years and thousands of dollars in everything from tuition fees to technology. For its part, the Ontario government contributes more than $5.5 billion to the public postsecondary enterprise. Given the magnitude […]