I'm currently participating in a Learning Company series of instruction on the Art of Teaching. At times pedantic, there have been many gems within the twelve week course that can be taken to heart for instruction, or group meetings.

Yesterday's session discussed how to ensure that students have the core skills needed to master the curriculum one is presenting. I was stunned by the assessment shown in the course of the video and saddened at the same time. Core skills such as reading aloud, comprehension of the written word and note taking were featured and it was stressed that college level students *do not have these skills.*

I have been blessed with natural curiosity and desire for learning. I have found systems that work well for me personally and that was only through life long example and learning instilled by teachers at a young age. I wondered to myself about the propensity for learning these skills in one's late teens and early twenties. I think of my older brother who at age 45 went to college for the first time after his high school graduation. School in his younger years was neither easy nor fun for him. He has the intellect, but the skills to discipline his studies did not come easy then. I strongly encouraged him to make use of his school's teaching resource center and tutoring services. And yet, I wonder at the basic skills outlined in the Learning Company video, and how well those skills were transmitted and mastered in his technical college.

The early training of these skills are overlooked as literature and arts fade from elementary and middle schools. The group of faculty who viewed the presentation together agreed that students made to stand and deliver in front of a camera on the first day of class might not perform excellently. And yet the signs of embarrassment and hesitance were obvious. I've witnessed young people feel put upon to stand and read. I saw the Learning Company instructor direct the student in pulling apart the text at hand. It was more invasive and brutally embarrassing than anything I experienced in school.

It's no wonder that when I read an article in today's Chronicle of Higher Education that I was reminded of the series presentation yesterday. The article and comments discuss alternative skills-based learning for adults. The group 180 Skills helps companies design training programs to educate employees in the skills needed to stay relevant and valued in the workplace. While altogether focused on manufacturing, this same model can be used in any workplace, it would seem. It does required the identification and build out of the needed  curriculum, but it can be self-driven. The Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative has extended this targeted learning to academe. It seems to be an enriched version of the Open Courseware concept which began at MIT but is now enriched by consortia partnerships. Open Courseware provides higher education learning materials. As I understand the Carnegie Mellon endeavor, there are instructors available as well to help guide and enrich the learning. Other similar groups are emerging at this time. Without direction or purpose, it seems that this curriculum may have little value. With application to the workplace or development program, much can be gained if the desire to learn is present, and if we can recapture and expand upon those core skills, the acquisition of which are being delayed or lost entirely.

In this time of economic maelstrom and vacuum for sustainable employment, perhaps it's time we as a society turn to other models of instruction that can expand on our foundations as they are and help to strengthen our workforce and higher education for the future.