Title: Teaching Students to Learn How to Learn: Lifelong Learning in High-Technology, Higher-Education
1 Teaching Students to Learn How to Learn
Lifelong Learning in High-Technology,
Higher-Education
Speaker Presentation Indo-US Workshop on
Effective Teaching at the College/University
Level (IUWETCUL 11) February 10-12, 2011, IIIT
Delhi (Dwarka, Sector III), India
Prof. Sumit Ghosh sumit.ghosh_at_ieee.org Computer
Science Department University of Texas
2Tradition of Higher Education in the US
- In the past, genuine teachers were few,
idealistic, wouldnt teach anyone they deemed
unworthy and unethical, sort of elitist model - Then, US led a new model formal, open-to-all,
public education system - Starting in the early 1900s, universities started
to emerge, eventually leading to the extensive
higher-education infrastructure that we see
today. - For past 70 years, students would routinely
enroll in higher education programs, obtain
diplomas upon graduation, then find useful
employment - Occasionally, a specific area (Aerospace industry
in 1970s) would fall out of favor, government
step in with funds to provide training in a new
emerging, high-tech area. - At the highest level of higher-educational
evolution, Bell Labs Research, IBM Research,
Xerox PARC, GE Schenectady CRD expose select
individuals to leading science and technology
they would create next generation ideas. Ex.
transistor, computer, laser, C, Unix, LAN,
parallel processors, etc. - Clearly, with the nature of high-tech higher
education so complex, self-learning must have
been rendered obsolete. So why are we discussing
this issue?
3Why is Learning How to Learn, Important?
- Explore three needs/reasons/perspectives/trends
- First, an urgent need
- Sovereign debt crises worldwide, education on the
chopping block in US, UK, Italy, Spain, France,
Baltic states, Germany, Egypt - What are the nations leaders thinking? At best,
they are confused whether higher education will
bring back the economy at worst, they never
understood the role of higher education. - Private universities trimming budgets state
universities facing unprecedented and massive
budget cuts. University of California, University
of Arizona systems already instituted furloughs. - Near-zero hiring of junior faculty senior
professors will be encouraged to retire - With skeleton faculty, students wont be able to
complete programs easily - Worse, difficult to find competent professors to
teach the subtle scientific, mathematical,
computational, and engineering skills that are
inherent in high-technology. A crisis is coming. - High-tech education indispensable to obtaining
high-paying jobs - Those who have mastered self-learning/self-teachin
g will have a clear edge - Look at Industry, the supposed bedrock of our
industrial age - Giant industrial companies such as GE, Verizon,
and others have been secretly bailed out by the
US Federal Reserve to the tune of billions of
dollars. They are failing and the evidence is
undeniable. Something is seriously wrong.
4Why is Learning How to Learn, Important? (Contd)
- Explore three needs/reasons/perspectives
- Second, a growing trend
- In the past, an individual worked for a single
company, lifelong - Today (circa 2005), an average CSE engineer
changes jobs 17 times - Employer no longer finds degree from elite
institution worth beyond a few years - Diploma from elite institution no longer
guaranteed ticket to lifelong good career - Degree can help land a good first, second job
definitely not tenth job. How one uses ones
knowledge to solve never-before-seen problems
becomes key - Traditional knowledge imparted in traditional way
is no longer relevant - A talented and motivated person with a degree
from a less known school can surpass a person
with degree from an elite institution - Typical elite schools charge 200,000 for 4-year
program less well-known school costs 40,000 - Today, US students carry unprecedented debt (5
trillion), which cannot be discharged in
bankruptcy court interest on unpaid debt keeps
accumulating - Per NY Times (Jan 2011), top law schools (U
Chicago, Columbia) have altered student grades to
make them appear superior students in the current
era of very high unemployment. Why? Is it that
they are unsure of the education they are
imparting in their programs? - By 2045, average life expectancy will be 125.
People will be healthy, mental faculties intact,
work until their 90s. Clearly, people will pursue
multiple careers in their lifetimes.
5Why is Learning How to Learn, Important? (Contd)
- Explore three needs/reasons/perspectives
- Third, a longer-term need
- Helps one grow independently, migrate to new jobs
and careers, and remain fulfilled lifelong,
without becoming excessively dependent on the
security of retirement (Lawyer becomes surgeon at
age 70?) - Foster tremendous burst of creativity, which will
cause society, nation, and civilization to leap
forward - Per history, virtually, all great minds were
self-taught, examples including Ramanujan,
Leonardo da Vinci, Lincoln, and others. - Inference learning how to learn will become the
most important paradigm, not only for surviving
but thriving.
6What Went Wrong?
- US embarked on mass-scale education, for the
greater good - Noble intent but flawed implementation. Worked
good for 70 years and we have mistakenly started
to think that this paradigm had been in practice
forever - True education is one-on-one. Why? Every
individual is endowed by Nature with unique
capabilities and limitations - A genuine teacher, driven by spontaneous
compassion, reaches out to each students
education blind spots and illuminates them.
Confucius story! - A mass-scale education, where faculty teaches
30-200 students, is flawed. - This is a business model, driven by immediate
profitability - Education is not about bottom line but underlies
the future of our very existence. Without
education, we will wage wars and destroy
ourselves. - My belief we may have unwittingly created
mindless drones to run factories, VLSI
fabrication-lines, and software mill-factories
however, they are incapable of thinking, forget
innovation - We havent done justice to the individual person.
Thus, this approach is not sustainable over the
long run. - What is happening to US, UK, Japan, and Europe
today, namely massive layoffs, will come to
India, soon - Flawed implementation have given rise to an
entitlement mentality spend money, get diploma,
deserve high-paying job - Lost is the truth that the true purpose of
education is to serve humanity in ones unique
ways
7Proposed Approaches
- Students find it hard to self-learn because we
spoon feed them - Knowledge is doubling every 2.5 years so, push
knowledge down the students throats - Immediate instructor evaluation reflects a sense
of impatience, short-term view, and immediate
regurgitation. - No consideration that knowledge takes time to
gestate and will express itself years into the
future. - No understanding of long-term nature of Nature.
Civilization is intended to run for millions of
years - Ironically, we are condemning our students to
obsolescence and stagnancy, fast - Story of US Liberty ships and ship building
skills what happens to the individual? At
issue is whether the nation as a whole is
important or the laid-off individuals anguish
and frustration is of any concern. While this is
a matter of perspective, the US Constitution
clearly considers the individuals right to
pursue happiness supreme and holds the individual
above all groups, organizations, and
governments. - Knowledge of fundamental principles is changing,
technology is changing even faster. - Old Chinese saying Only a fool knows for sure
what he is doing a wise man keeps on guessing - Richard Feynman (Nobel Laureate in Physics)
writes, We are constantly guessing Nature - In my research experience, everything is evolving
helically you just have to have eyes to see it - Need a worldwide debate characteristics of
teachers, teaching/learning mechanisms to help
students cultivate self-learning while pursuing
regular course material and books and other
resources - Examples of Alfred Nobels dynamite invention and
unfair termination of Julie Dodd.
8Conclusions
- To Prof. Sharan and all my teachers at IIT
Kanpur, please accept my gratitude for opening my
eyes and for teaching me how to learn. - I am convinced that the nation, which correctly
implements learning how to learn, will become
the next Great Economic Region.
Questions/Suggestions/Comments sumit.ghosh_at_ieee.or
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