DIY Professional Development for Adult Learners

Here at The Yellin Center we don’t just work with learners in the K-12 demographic. We do a lot with adult learners who are currently in college, professional school (especially medical students as part of our work with New York University School of Medicine) and even working professionals. We help develop learning plans that will help them to succeed in their higher academic and professional lives. We assist by linking them to resources and developing the strong learning strategies they need to excel in their chosen field. However, outside of the brick and mortar structure of traditional education, it can be hard for mature learners to figure out how to master the important professional skills they need to get ahead in the workforce. 

DIY Professional development is the new buzzword in adult education, and aims to allow learners to take control of their learning on their own time. EdCamps, whose target audience is often teachers, are springing up to teach valuable skills. There are also a wealth of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Course), such as those by edX or Coursera, available from many universities and professional organizations that span disciplines. If you are looking to build technical skills you can take part in a coding boot camp or self-teach through online learning platforms, such as Code Academy or Khan. If you are looking to brush up your language skills you can take a free course with Duolingo. Peer-to-Peer learning environments, such as Skillshare, are also gaining traction, which allow trained professionals to share their skill set with eager learners. The 21st century online learning format is empowering learners to determine what they need to master, and tailor how and when to learn it so that it integrates with their busy lives. 

One of my favorite resources out there is Lynda.com, a website that uses a flipped classroom model and video modeling to teach and train professional learners. According to their website, Lynda.com helps members “stay ahead of software updates, pick up brand-new skills, switch careers, land promotions, and explore new hobbies.” Lynda.com houses a vast, ever growing course catalog that spans topics from tech skills to creative design to business acumen. Since it is a cloud-based library, courses can be accessed 24/7 from any device, providing learners with the flexibility to learn on their own schedule. Each course is taught by recognized industry experts who work in the fields they are teaching about, so you know the content is up to date and relevant. I particularly find being able to take training notes a very valuable asset. Several White Papers have been published that explore the research and merits and benefits of learning with Lynda.com.

Learning isn’t restricted to the classroom anymore. With an internet connection and mobile devices you can access skills training for nearly any skill set from any location.  

Khan Academy Now Offers SAT Prep and College Guidance

Most folks are familiar with Khan Academy as the innovative and free online learning tool that teaches mathematical concepts to students of all ages. However, Khan has been rapidly expanding their team of content experts and growing the wealth of courses they offer. Now students can use the same Khan format that taught them ninth grade algebra to learn concepts in the sciences, history, computer programming and art history.

Starting in 2013, Khan Academy partnered with Bank of America to begin teaching the minutiae of personal finance. As a result, the website Better Money Habits was born, and Khan expanded their library to include courses on microeconomics, entrepreneurship and capital markets. However, strong educational partnerships aren’t new for Khan Academy. Khan has also paired with NASA, MIT, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMa to help bring the educational resources each institution houses to a larger audience for free. Students can log on to peruse famous works of art, or better understand space exploration. Khan has grown into something so much more than a remedial math application. They even have LeBron James asking mathematical questions that the team at Khan answers in their LeBron Asks segments. 

Now, Khan has ventured into the arena of test prep. Khan has once again forged a beneficial partnership - this time with the  College Board - to help make today’s students college ready. The result of this collaboration is that Khan is now offering, for the first time, a free, comprehensive SAT prep course. The Khan+CollegeBoard program offers practice questions, video lessons, diagnostic quizzes, real time feedback and four official, full length practice tests. The Khan SAT prep program follows the same principles that underpin every other course offered by Khan in that it is personalized, adaptive and free. However, Khan’s test prep ventures don’t stop with the SAT. Khan Academy currently also offers free, digital resources to help students prep for the GMAT, MCAT, NCLEX-RN (nursing exam) and CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam).

Khan isn’t just focusing on standardized test prep in order to help make America’s students college ready. Khan Academy has also curated a wealth of resources to help students navigate the intricacies of college admissions. Khan Academy offers content to help students plan during their high school years for college, explore college options, navigate the application process and determine the best way to pay for college. Khan is rapidly expanding, and we are excited to see them keep disrupting the education sector by offering free, educationally sound, high quality learning resources that are accessible to anyone with internet access.

Dreambox - A Fun Option for Summer Math Learning

The words “summer vacation” don’t conjure up images of math remediation in most kids’ minds. But for those who struggled during the school year, ceasing math instruction completely during the summer is risky. Many kids need continued exposure to math to maintain what they know and maybe even gain some ground. At the Yellin Center, we’re firm believers that kids need lots of unstructured time to be, well, kids during the summer, however. So how to strike a balance? Dreambox may be the answer for some families.

Dreambox is a web-based math software package that provides math instruction in the form of games. But there’s serious research behind the fun. The skills taught are carefully sequenced and the program is able to continually assess users, allowing students to progress at their own rate. Based on answers the student enters, the program identifies and remediates areas of demonstrated need.

One important thing to note about Dreambox is that parents cannot dictate what specific skills the program will teach. In other words, there is no way to force the program to align with student’s classroom curriculum. Instead, Dreambox will identify gaps in learning that may have gone undetected in previous instruction and remediate those areas. This capability is what makes Dreambox such an ideal tool for summer. Math is a very cumulative subject, so often a child struggling with a particular concept today is actually demonstrating a weak understanding of skills learned last year. The software will fill holes in a student’s understanding and provide him with a solid platform from which to begin next year’s math learning.

Because the program is fun, parents won’t need to beg and plead to persuade kids to spend twenty minutes playing a few times a week. And families on the go can even download the Dreambox app to keep learning via tablets and smartphones. Dreambox may even be appropriate for the future mathematician in the house; it can give her a taste of more advanced material if she whizzes through all the more basic lessons.

Although kids won’t need adult support to use Dreambox, the Parent Dashboard allows parents to stay in the loop by monitoring their kids’ progress. Dreambox will target weak areas, of course, but information about what skills still need work may be useful to teachers at the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year.

Visit the Dreambox homepagefor more information. The program is available for whole-school use, but the “Getting Started” tab provides pricing and information about purchasing subscription for a single child or just a few kids. A free 14-day trial is also available for those who want to take the program for a spin.

No software program we’ve seen can take the place of a skilled, intuitive instructor. But for families strapped for cash or kids who need just a boost or a platform for maintaining their skills, Dreambox could be an excellent solution.

Great Sources for Frontloading Videos – Part 2

Our regular readers will remember last Monday's post on this topic in which we introduced MinutePhysics and MinuteEarth as sources for frontloading videos for middle and high school students. As we explained in the previous post, frontloading is an effective instructional technique in which students are given a brief overview of a topic before learning it more thoroughly. Frontloading gives students an idea of what to expect, helps them to focus on the salient information more readily, and aids in memory.

Here are two more sources for great videos, all available free! Handwritten Tutorials will be useful to students of high-level biology and anatomy, while CrashCourse offers a broader range of courses on science, literature, and history.

Handwritten Tutorials  – high school, college, and nursing/medical school

Martin Wardle, the brainy artist behind Handwritten Tutorials, follows three guidelines as he conceives and draws up his lectures: they should be under ten minutes long, free, and enjoyable to watch. Martin has uploaded more than 75 videos in which he quickly draws all of the most important aspects of topics like anatomy, biochemistry, neuroscience, and more, narrating all the while. The explanations are easy to understand and the helpful sketches make things crystal clear. Want to take a closer look, make your own notes, or spend a bit more time studying? Students can even download the completed drawing as a PDF from the Handwritten Tutorials homepage.

CrashCourse – high school and college

Teenagers who are fans of author John Green’s quirky humor will love this channel just as much as they love his popular novels, which we have recently reviewed in our Recommended Reads series. Brothers John and Hank Green take on the task of explaining U.S. and world history, chemistry and biology, literature, ecology, and psychology on this channel, which has dedicated playlists for each topic. The videos tend to be longer, between ten to twelve minutes, because they cover more ground than the Minute videos described above. The Greens’ fast-paced delivery, visuals (comprised of diagrams, photos, maps, and animations), and joke-a-second, cerebral humor will pique adolescents’ interest in the topic before they get into the nitty-gritty of learning it in detail. There are over 100 videos to choose from.

We hope that you’re as impressed by these videos as we are! We think any of them would make a wonderful starting point for more in-depth learning.

Math Games

For your gaming pleasure, here’s our latest list of recommended math games! All of the games below are web-based, so no downloading is necessary, though you will need an internet connection. Have fun!

Cool Math Games  - grades 2 - 7

Students can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and work with negative numbers and decimals, with this huge selection of games. One we particularly enjoyed, Crazy Taxi, let us drive a cab into cars that had specific multiples on them while avoiding cars that didn’t fit the pattern.

Caution: Parents, be aware that this site is host to plenty of games that have little to no educational value, too. Keep an eye on screens to be sure kids choose games that have merit, or make a list of games your child is allowed to play before turning them loose.

Funbrain  – grades 1 - 8

The math arcade is the best part of this large site. Students will start on the first square of this digital “gameboard” and progress forward as they pass challenges. (The game will save kids’ place if playing is interrupted.) This format gives students less control over which games they play, but provides great incentive to keep trying. The challenges are refreshingly inventive.

Caution: Same as above. Monitor screens to be sure kids don’t stray into playing other games that are simply for fun.

Decimal Squares  – any student struggling with decimals

This site links to eight very high quality games all about decimals. Decimal Squares gives kids a fun way to work on traditionally tricky concepts like place value and estimation through fun games like blackjack and darts. There are also some two-player games here, which provide motivation and discourage mindless clicking.

Subtangent  -3rd grade and up

There are quite a few fun, unusual math games to choose from on this site. We found Broken Calculator to be especially enjoyable. The player is shown a calculator with missing keys and challenged to make certain numbers using only the few number and sign keys left. We also liked Matching Game which challenges students play a version of memory by turning over digital cards to look for matches like equivalent fractions, multiplication facts and their answers, shapes and their names, etc.

Remember, you can always visit our Resources page for links to our favorite games and resources for math, reading, writing, studying, and more!

Study Shows Online Education Has Promise

Online education, particularly when it’s free, is exploding in popularity around the planet. A recent article in the New York Times explores the success of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Traditionalists may be surprised that one of the primary findings reported in the article is that MOOCs can be more efficient and effective than traditional classes led by a teacher. Surprised? Duolingo, a popular Web-based language instruction site, commissioned a study to determine how effectively their product teaches languages such as Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, and English to non-native speakers. The results showed that the average learner with no knowledge of Spanish would need to devote 135 hours to cover a semester’s worth of entry-level Spanish curriculum, whereas the same content could be learned on Duolingo in only 34 hours! The study was small and its results can’t realistically be generalized beyond its preliminary findings. Still, the indication seems to be that, done right, MOOCs can be effective indeed. And the best part? MOOCs are free.

One problem with MOOCs, however, is that students are unlikely to finish courses in which they enroll. Perhaps it’s easier to drop a free service than one that charges tuition, or maybe students are less motivated by a computerized instructor than they would be by face-to-face interactions with classmates and a professor. Whatever the reason, the New York Times piece reports that fewer than ten percent of MOOC students complete their coursework. Still, the article reasons, if 5,000 people out of the 100,000 who initially signed up walk away with a new knowledge base, it’s hard to say that the MOOC was unsuccessful. We agree.

Photo: CC by Daniel Feldt