Brief Moments

     Having just completed my online teaching certification over the winter I was reminded how much more I have to learn regardless of degrees and experience.  I signed up for the training in part because the graduate classes I lead for Siena Heights University at Lake Michigan College are blended so half of that sharing is online.  Also having just entered a PhD program in Industrial and Organizational Psychology I need ongoing increasing competencies.   Then there is the explosion of online learning in general, discussed in David Brooks ' recent New York Times piece The Campus Tsunami .      I have mixed feelings about the completely online education but that stems from a personal need for face to face contact.  I have known for more than 20 years that what really drives me is the moment one can see in the eyes of a client, student or associate that they "get it."  The aura in their face which shows they not...

     The more I know the less I understand, which is why I've resolved to admit my ignorance.  If I were to approach our conversation with the knowledge I've gained from being a voracious reader, superb mentors and years of failure and success, my position of "knowing" inhibits me from giving you the attention you deserve.  I can't understand you, because I'm too busy formulating my next demonstration of expertise to really listen.      You'll know it too, because you can see in the eyes that the listener isn't home at the moment while searching the synapses for an electrical impulse of a connection between previously unconnected neurons.      The more studying I do in the wide variety of subjects that keep me reading when I should be sleeping or some other menial task, the more I clearly and completely understand that there is more existent knowledge than I can possibly hope to gain in a lifetime. Which is why w...