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Subject:Re: What is our real area of expertise? From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 11 Dec 2000 22:32:20 +0000
Thomas Quine wrote:
>I learned from studying instructional design under some very >wise people that a skilled instructional designer with a sound >system can teach anyone anything - I mean anything - from a >starting point of zero.
Don't try this one at home, folks.
I'm speaking as someone who taught four years as a teaching assistant
and seven years as a contract university and college English instructor.
Since my position was never permanent, I had to be a quick study if I
wanted to stay employed. I used to say that, given six weeks'
preparation, I could teach anything on the syllabus, and I made good on
that boast several times.
However, the reason that I could deliver didn't have very much to do
with instructional design. It had far more to do with the fact that I am
widely read, a generalist, and a quick study. In retrospect, more than a
little chutzpah and hard slogging was involved, too.
I'm afraid that I put the unqualified claim that a skilled teacher can
teach anything right next to the claim that a manager can manage
anything or a marketer can market anything. I've seen too many examples
of experts with this attitude embarrassing themselves not to urge
caution (my favorite involves a marketer of Linux software who lost a
potential partner because he told the manufacturers that a demo was "too
hard to install" - because he didn't know how to unarchive a tar file.
Another person carefully warned all the Linux users in her address book
that she had the Melissa virus, not realizing that Linux was immune to
it; her action didn't do much to add to the credibility of her company).
Yes, some skills in any area are transferable - but only if you're
prepared to work extremely hard doing some remedial work.
--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
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