Great sale on GreatCourses!!

There's a good sale going on over at GreatCourses. It's one of my favorite resources for learning alone.

I think I'll check out Thinking Like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making first.

Why should you care about an education revolution?

So there’s all this talk going on about revolutions in education, explosions in online courses, edupunks, OpenCourseWare, edupreneurship and…yeah…Honestly though, aside from some very good books and forward-thinking leaders, is there any actual reason to pay attention? People could just be inciting fear to make a few bucks, couldn’t they?

Well, here are my reasons why everyone (students/workers, young/old) should care, and why I personally, am devoting even more attention to something I've been doing my entire life.

• You might not be able to afford to go to school-No, really. Our average student loan load is cracking $25K, and I'm not just talking Americans. We're seeing riots in England and the rest of Europe over tuition fees and the economy. Not every degree is worth the job it gets you to (I'm not just talking financially), and even if it is, you may not be able to get your hands on the money or the move or the time. 
• Fun-New approaches to learning are more fun. Online classes, dummies books, continuing education, private tutoring...whatever it is, you get more control over what you learn and when and how. It transforms the entire learning process.
• Education isn't a one-stop-shop-This includes high school on down. You just can't learn everything you need for life in school and the gap between the two is getting wider. I studied hospitals in undergrad. Business in grad school. I help hospitals with their business processes. I work in an industry that's constantly changing and I'm expected to innovate and solve the new problems that come up. Very little I learned in school nine years ago is still applicable. I'm guessing I'll be able to say the same about the MBA in a few years too. 
• It allows customization of your life-Maybe you're like me and like being able to make your own schedule. Maybe you have kids or are taking care of an aging parent or someone that can't live on their own and flexibility is key. Regardless, if you want to learn, you need wiggle room.
• Schools might not provide what you want, or even need-I studied international business in graduate school. I think language education should be a core part of any globally focused program. My university didn't offer those options as part of the degree and wasn't willing to work them in as electives, so I learned on my own. Sometimes you have to work on your own to create your target education.
• It can be a good way to deal with stress-My first job out of undergrad was so bad I was losing hair. I just wasn't cut out for advertising. I started taking cake decorating classes to give myself something positive to look forward to in the week. I didn't study entirely on my own, but a lot of the course was self-guided and I definitely didn't get any marketable paperwork in return. The happy spots in my week alone were worth it...not the mention the fact that I can now pipe roses on demand.  
• Jobs, they are a changin'-Think jobs being sent overseas just means that there are fewer jobs here? Nope. It also means the jobs that remain here will expect deeper thought and broader skill sets from their employees. 
• Schools might not know what's up-Some schools do a great job of staying in contact with what's going on on the "outside". Business and medical schools are especially good at this. Some other fields? You'll be lucky if anyone's set foot out of academia in the last 20 years. 
• It can be cheaper/more effective-You're likely not covering a dean's salary, classroom light bills, the perks of somebody's tenure package (I'll definitely be writing more on this later). 
• You'll learn about yourself-The farther away you get away from traditional, ed-in-a-box, the more opportunity (and necessity) there is to mold goals and learning processes to who you are. You'll begin to see yourself in the subject matter and vice versa.

There are more...a lot more. Changes in education come in so many different forms that the benefits really are going to boil down more personalization, added value and better alignment with personal goals. My hope is that one day, we'll get back from our education what we invest, and then some.

MIT Open Courseware

After running across it on Seth Godin's blog, I started reading DIY U. It should really be required reading for high school students...if not the whole book, at least a couple chapters. There are a lot of misconceptions about higher education being passed around.

 

The main reason I I ordered it is that I've spent the last nine years or so pretty deeply immersed in the world of self-directed education. I started with a class on interior decorating on www.universalclass.com. I'd finished my bachelors degree and was working full time. I'd always been interested in interior design and figured it was a good time to learn about it. The class was a great introduction to the history of textiles and furniture, color theory and room design. It also kicked off my appreciation and respect for non-traditional education.

 My MBA was partially online, I finished a distance certification in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin and I've been teaching myself Mandarin. The book mentions MIT's OpenCourseWare, which I've known about since it was released in 2001, but honestly had forgotten about. I started the Mandarin program about a year ago, and it's great...and not just because it's free. It's got a really solid mix of language instruction, cultural and historical notes. I need some structure to clean up some holes and this should go nicely along with the weekly discussion group through Meetup. 

Of all the things I do...

I've been kicking around ideas for this blog for a while now...thinking back on everything I've done since finishing undergrad...thinking back even farther than that, back to when I was young, with stacks of encyclopedias sitting next to my bed. 

I realized if there's anything I've been doing my whole life, it's teaching myself. I've been getting deep into the "edupunk" movement, headed up by Jim Groom, fueled by books like DIY U and manned by anyone frustrated with traditional education and those of us that just do it naturally. 

I'm really...feeling this. I've often wished I were born into a time pre-formal education where people just learned and experimented on their own.

I've been kicking around ideas of how I can contribute to this change and develop my own use of the process, because I genuinely believe in it.

Language acquisition and Myers-Briggs (Introversion vs. Extroversion)

I've been following a series of discussions on methods of language acquisition between Steve Kaufmann and Benny, The Irish Polyglot here and here. To summarize very briefly, Steve's system, as manifested through his site, leans toward more time spent in study (not necessarily traditional academic, but individual study) before exposure to actual application of the language in conversation. Benny touts a method of almost instant and complete immersion, on which his system "Fluent in 3 Months" is based.

After taking a look at both their methods, I believe that the core of their differences lies between the traits of introversion and extroversion as defined by the Myers-Briggs system (detailed below). Of course, there are differences in the goals of those who study language...are you learning to watch movies in Portuguese? Travel to Japan for a weekend? Read novels in Polish? The answers to these questions will largely dictate the focus of your study. However, beyond that, any learner is most effective when comfortable, and an understanding of the introvert-extravert continuum, I believe, is essential in determining a learner's comfort level, and thereby, what they will find to be truly optimal learning environments.

All that assumes though, that plans seldom gang agley. What interests me more, is that in this debate I see two people, who, like myself, have found their own paths in the journey of language learning. I'm not making any claims to know where Benny and Steve fall in the world of introversion and extraversion, but I say with relative confidence that introverts would be more drawn to Steve's methods and extraverts to Benny's...and it seems logical. Benny's methods of almost instant interaction with people feeds the extravert's energy sources as does Steve's method of more solitary focus, the introvert. But what do I want?

 If my goal is to communicate with people, I believe I would be best served by Benny’s method. After all, communication in its most basic form doesn’t require perfection…it doesn’t even really require being “good”.

 What if my goal is cultural understanding? I believe that goal is best served by Steve’s method. Culture is deeply linked to language and they are both influences on and reflections of each other.

And cultural experience? I would say Benny’s method works best. You don’t necessarily need to know all the nuances of a language to enjoy festivals and foods.

Individual bonding? Steve’s method. It takes long periods of time and a deep understanding of word choice and other elements of language to really understand an individual’s verbal expressions of self.

The effects of the two different methods? Well, my Chinese isn’t yet good enough to make a call on Steve’s Mandarin, but I do feel qualified to comment on Benny’s Spanish. I think he would have no problem communicating in Spanish and he flows quite beautifully, but one thing jumped out at me. I was reading and listening to Spanish, but it sounded as if it came from the mind of an English speaker…heavy focus on self expression…the familiar ring of the Anglophone’s belief in control of the individual on his environment. English is spoken in quite a few countries, but those traits don’t seem to waiver much. Spanish, in general, makes heavy use of reflexive verbs. Spanish speaking countries tend to see the world less as something to be controlled and more as something that happens to the human. Admittedly, the Spanish Benny speaks would be more heavily influenced by Spain, while mine would be more influenced by the Caribbean and South America (areas that have experienced more political and economic difficulty), but I believe that only accounts for a small part of his speaking style.

 One goal I have when starting any language is to change my mind before anything else. To shape it through heavy listening and cultural exposure so my ideas are less expressed as an English-speaker, and more as a native. I did this innately with Spanish, but became functionally aware of it after being chided multiple times by my Mandarin speaking partner that I “would be understood, but a Chinese person wouldn’t say it that way”. I guess, as usual, it comes down to a question of where you want to go.

Extraversion (E)
I like getting my energy from active involvement in events and having a lot of different activities. I’m excited when I’m around people and I like to energize other people. I like moving into action and making things happen. I generally feel at home in the world. I often understand a problem better when I can talk out loud about it and hear what others have to say.

The following statements generally apply to me:

·     I am seen as “outgoing” or as a “people person.”

·     I feel comfortable in groups and like working in them.

·     I have a wide range of friends and know lots of people.

·     I sometimes jump too quickly into an activity and don’t allow enough time to think it over.

·     Before I start a project, I sometimes forget to stop and get clear on what I want to do and why.

Introversion (I)
I like getting my energy from dealing with the ideas, pictures, memories, and reactions that are inside my head, in my inner world. I often prefer doing things alone or with one or two people I feel comfortable with. I take time to reflect so that I have a clear idea of what I’ll be doing when I decide to act. Ideas are almost solid things for me. Sometimes I like the idea of something better than the real thing.

The following statements generally apply to me:

 ·     I am seen as “reflective” or “reserved.”

 ·     I feel comfortable being alone and like things I can do on my own.

 ·     I prefer to know just a few people well.

 ·     I sometimes spend too much time reflecting and don’t move into action quickly enough.

 ·  I sometimes forget to check with the outside world to see if my ideas really fit the experience

Chinese History and Culture (中文和Español)

我这个周某要抄写我新的书的第一讲。。。

 

中国是一个地方大，人口多，出场丰富，历史长久的国家。中国问题非常值得研究，研究起来也非常有意思。开始研究中国问题第一件我们想要知道的是就是中国人是从哪里来的。关于这个问题的说法很多最的可卡的说法是跟住1929年在中国北部发现的北京人，和后来有在中国中部跟南部发现的很多Paleolithic Age跟Neolithic Age 有下来的东西。这些东西可以证明很早以前在这些地方就有人勒。很多学者认为这些人就是现代中国人的祖先。

 

Después de leer este libro sobre el travesía de aprender lenguas por todo una vida, decidí comprar el libro "Veinte Lecturas sobre la Cultura China". Es el libro mas difícil que tengo yo, pero después del ejercicio previo, creo que vale la pena. Este semana, cambie un poquito el plan, y en lugar de escribir mis ideas en Chino, copie parte de mi lección. Al principio, pensé que seria más fácil…pero no…no de ninguna manera. Escribir chino no es algo fácil...ni siquiera por computadora. Es posible usar una palabra, que se pronuncia exactamente como otra, y si no entiendes bien el carácter, es fácil decidir algo completamente diferente que tu quieras. Si se usa programa en que puedes entrar los tonos, es mas fácil (lo quiero una), pero todavía hay muchas oportunidades para confusión.

 

A pesar de todo eso, era muy útil copiar. A mi nivel, todavía no puedo formar oraciones usando lógico Chino…todavía hablo como yo hablo en Ingles. Creo que se requiere año tras año de estudia (ya no lo hago en Español), pero es importante exponerse lo antes posible. Que aprendí? Ciertos caracteres como 年,书, 代 ya son menos extranjeros. Entiendo mejor el uso de frases como 有下来y起来, y por supuesto, he aprendido un poquito sobre la historia China. Me gusta mucho este libroJ

这个周某（Este fin de semana）

Well, it's time for me to start using my Mandarin a bit more, so I'm going to be making basic entries, in Chinese characters, to practice. I'm also including commentary in Spanish as a workout in that area. Wish me luck!

 

 

我跟朋友们每一个周某会和学中文。我们昨天练习语汇和语法。我觉得帮我很多忙说中文。我不知道为什么太喜欢中文和中国和中国文化。童年往事我想学语可是觉得我不可以。学西班牙语以后，开始学中文。去过中国和香港。在美国我想接着念。

 

Chino es una lengua muy especial. He estado estudiándola por…casi tres años. Aprendí (y aprendo) Español por escuchar la radio, mirar televisión y hablar con hispanoparlantes. Cuando empecé estudiar Chino, creí que seria posible hacer lo mismo. Si, por lo mejor, los métodos que son útiles in aprender una lengua romántica también son útiles en aprender Chino. Pero recientemente, he empezado estudiar escribir y leer, y como Chino tiene sistema pictográfica, he tendio que cambiar mis métodos. Es por eso, voy a escribir un poquito cada semana (o quizás mas frequentamente) para aprender escribir sin cambiar mis esfuerzos en hablar el asombrosa lengua Chino.