Borg’s Blog

Epstein’s dream of becoming a veterinarian are shattered by a left-brained guidance counselor.

We are the dream weavers. People come to us to build a better life. A few have a full blown dreams with every detail worked out while others have the seed of a dream and need help to create a plan to realize their potential. More come in search of a dream because of the dissatisfaction they feel in their lives. Our avocation is helping each and every one work toward their dream no matter where they are. Sometimes they fail. Sometimes the succeed. Sometimes the dreams change. But our job remains the same, we are the dream weavers.

It is wrong to ever discourage a student. We can point out the difficulties along the path of realization but we should never tell a student their dream is impossible because they just might prove us wrong.

I was once a kid without a dream. Then I met a Claude Beavers who had more faith in me than I did. All I wanted to do was go back to high school and get my diploma. Yes, I was a dropout. Claude challenged me to skip attending high school and enroll in college. I never found out what he was smoking but I got hooked when he made a bet with me. So I took it and enrolled at Lansing Community College knowing full well I couldn’t cut it. However, I would soon have some of Dr. Beavers’ hard earned money in my pocket. I lost the bet to my own amazement. College was fascinating. The professors were beyond interesting. I was inspired at had all A’s at the end of the first term.

Claude was the only person who believed in me and because of that I began an intellectual journey that would go far beyond a doctoral degree. I’ve been a professor, software engineer, engineering manager, and now I’m a professor again. The most important lesson I’ve learned in my life is the power of encouragement.

Claude Beavers was a dreamweaver and we ought to be too.

I think Sam and Dave have something to say…

CSC460 is designed for students to use self-initiative to master JavaScript. Mount Marty College students are typically first-generation college students from small communities in the rural western United States. They come from small town schools with small student populations. Their rural backgrounds are shared by their K-12 teachers. A larger than normal percentage of them are home-schooled. They are good people who know more about cattle ranches than business offices so they typically have more ground to cover their peers. I need to get them fired up about mastering the subject.

Motivation can be problematic for these students in high-tech courses. So I am beginning the new semester with a brief talk by Tony Robbins. Robbins has been a highly successful motivational speaker for decades.

Motivation may be even more important this fall as I am considering inviting them to work on a service learning project with high visibility.

“Adult learners need to know why they need to learn something before undertaking to learn it.”

The investigator in this episode of The Twilight Zone needs to know something and we are compelled to follow the story. We all want to fill in the missing pieces of the mystery. We are compelled to solve the puzzle even though it doesn’t personally affect us. Why do we need to know?

Adult learners are more motivated to learn than traditional students because they tend to better understand their personal need to know. They need to know in order to better perform a job task. Some of them need to know in order to get a promotion. We all need to know so we can make a better life for ourselves or our families. Our need to know is tied to the survival instinct and that is a very powerful motivator.

Many non-traditional students come to campus with anxiety about having to compete with traditional students. They feel disadvantaged because they haven’t been in school for some time. They fear their study skills have waned and they might be right but they are not doomed. I find these non-traditional students skewing curves more often than fail. Why? Because they need to know.

Can this compelling need to know amongst non-traditional students be infused into the normal population? Perhaps it can to some dedree? Introducing each new topic with a brief explanation of how it is relevant to workers in the field can’t hurt. Try it!

It would be too mean to leave you hanging so here is the rest of the story.

Keep your students out of the twilight zone by telling them why they need to know what you are trying to teach them and how knowing will benefit them.