The Global Higher Education and Teacher Mentoring Network: Final Benefits That Transform Businesses

Ultimately, the goal of this network is to develop educators who will model and practice "transformative" teaching. One thing to notice is that this is a radical departure from the "command and control" mindset of the industrial economy. This is the very same mindset that permeates many of today's business learning cultures and is a reason why so many businesses are struggling with the exponential changes that are happening and will continue to happen as long as they are linked with education systems that turn out more and more of the same type of employees and future business leaders. It also explains why many businesses, although they realize the need to promote innovation within their sector of interest, have no idea of where to start.

The purposes of this transformative teaching are:

1. Educate learners to be creators of new knowledge and skillsets. The benefit to business is having new employees and business leaders who enter the scene having an innovative thinking mindsets as a natural way of approaching decision making.
2. Educate learners to adopt innovative problem solving in seeking real solutions to complex real world problems. Instrumental to this is to promote an attitude for prolific and divergent thinking. This is a problem that the education systems, under the assembly line model of education, continue to struggle with. Sir Kenneth Robinson expressed the dilemma quite eloquently.

    3. Educate learners to collaborate effectively in an online environment. Learners need to know how to access a variety of knowledge repositories on the web, evaluate their usefulness to the tasked problem and then apply the skillsets that each require. Learners need to be a little eclectic in using technology that meets the purpose and they need to now how to capitalize on the talents of their co-collaborators. The benefit to business deals with improved employee performance and efficiency.
[Did you notice the change in justification in item #3? Even small skillsets dealing with the presentation of information are important!]

Critical thinking is a skillset that needs to be emphasized even more, now that learners will have such greater access to information.

"One of the most important skillsets in this online, E-Learning environment is the ability to authenticate and corroborate the truth value of information that is presented. Since it is our purpose within a business organization to make critical decisions dealing with the operation and success of the business, neglecting to pay attention to the development of this skillset is akin to organizational suicide!"

Next...The Global Corporate Trainers, Instructional Designer and Learning Principles Network