When you think of Canada, you probably think of its picture postcard
beauty – wide-open spaces, dramatic mountains, pristine forests and
majestic lakes. What might not come to mind, however, is that Canada is a
modern, progressive, open and tolerant multi-cultural society with 2
official languages – English and French.
Living in Canada is
similar in many respects to living in other Western countries, however
there are some aspects of daily life that are unique to our nation. This
section of the website will give you a high level overview of our
country as well as some helpful tips to know before you arrive to study
in Canada.
Beyond a great education, school offers opportunities for learning
lifelong skills like resilience, resourcefulness and independence, for
both parents and students.
Young man moving into dormitory on college campus
“There’s a lot be learned on the journey through post-secondary, but
the bigger lessons on independence don’t come from a textbook,” explains
Laura Plant, senior director of youth and student banking at RBC. “As
both students and their parents navigate this new chapter in life, a few
survival tips can help everyone earn a passing grade.”
Understand what it means to be independent.
*
Parents: Don’t do it for them. Provide advice on what it means to
budget, but encourage your student to manage their own finances. Don’t
grocery shop for them, and if you must buy cleaning supplies, make sure
they do the cleaning.
* Students: Don’t plan to ask mom and dad to bail you out. Plan
ahead and stick to your budget. Make activities like cooking and
cleaning fun chores to do with friends and roommates.
Take baby steps.
*
Parents: It’s okay to help unpack their new room and even get them set
up with supplies for the first few weeks. But don’t call every day to
make sure they’re eating well and doing their homework. Set up a regular
touchpoint so everyone knows what to expect.
* Students: Walk,
don’t run away from home. Your parents want to hear how things are
going, so stay in touch. The more details you give, the more freedom
you’ll get.
Rules are meant to be broken.
* Parents:
This is new for both of you, so take the time to get it right and adjust
as you go. You’re allowed to call too often the first few weeks, but
recognize when enough is enough. Sending care packages is a nice way to
show you’re thinking of them.
* Students: You’ll get high marks on
independence even if you need a little more help than you expected.
It’s alright to admit you forgot to budget for cleaning supplies or
transportation. Learn as you go, and take the time to be open with your
parents to make it right.
NORTHVILLE — Students in sixth and seventh grade English
classes have recently been engaged in project-based learning using Skype
to further the research for their projects.
English
teacher Jayme Bevington said the Northville sixth grade English classes
are currently creating a case for or against the reintroduction of the
wolf as a species in the Adirondack Park.
She said the students have been studying wolf behaviors and
characteristics, the impact of wolves on human populations, the habitats
of the Adirondacks and Yellowstone National Park, and the impact of the
wolves on the environment.
Utica Mobile Zoo recently visited the students to discuss and
introduce some of the endangered animals native to the Adirondacks and
other parts of the country.
“Students got to see a rescued falcon, a chinchilla and a tortoise,” Bevington said.
Later in the month students will Skype with Yellowstone National Park
to learn about how the wolf reintroduction program is going and ask
questions to aid in their research.
“The goal of the project is to have sixth
graders argue a case for or against bringing back wolves into the
Adirondack State Park,” Bevington said. “Their
information will be presented to local business owners, Department of
Environmental Conservation officials and other stake holders and their
research is meant to persuade government officials to bring back the
wolves or prevent them from taking a habitat in the Adirondacks.”
Bevington said the seventh grade English classes are engaged in a
project — co-created by Bevington and co-teacher Katie Bogart — based
around, “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio. The novel is about a middle school student who is born with a facial deformity.
The students are creating an awareness campaign to be implemented in
the community which focuses on a genetic disorder of their choosing.
Their goal is to help make people’s lives with that disorder better and
bring about empathy.
Bevington said after reading “Wonder”
the students recently Skyped with Jono Lancaster, who was born with
Treacher Collins Syndrome, a cranial facial deformity. Lancaster was
given up for adoption when he was born due to his deformity and has
since become an advocate for people with Treacher Collins and other
facial differences. His UK based foundation, Love Me Love My Face helps
families and children around the world with medical expenses and spreads
a message of choosing kindness over hate.
The students are also studying past successful awareness campaigns to
help formulate ideas and will have a T-shirt sale to raise money for
the Love Me Love My Face Foundation.
“I am hoping that the students learn to empathize with people who are different from themselves,” Bevington said. “I
want to help them recognize to no matter [who] you are or what you
face, kindness is a universal language that we all need to speak.”
Garret Morgan (center) is training as an ironworker near
Seattle and already has a job that pays him $50,000 a year.
Sy Bean/The Hechinger Report
Like most other American high school students, Garret Morgan had
it drummed into him constantly: Go to college. Get a bachelor's degree.
"All
through my life it was, 'if you don't go to college you're going to end
up on the streets,' " Morgan said. "Everybody's so gung-ho about going
to college."
So he tried it for a while. Then he quit and
started training as an ironworker, which is what he is doing on a
weekday morning in a nondescript high-ceilinged building with a concrete
floor in an industrial park near the Seattle-Tacoma International
Airport.
Are you heading to a program to prepare for a job?
Are you going for an associates degree in your field? Maybe you're
foregoing a degree entirely.
We want to hear about your choice (or your students' choices).
Morgan and several other men and women are dressed in work boots,
hard hats and Carhartt's, clipped to safety harnesses with heavy
wrenches hanging from their belts. They're being timed as they wrestle
600-pound I-beams into place.
Seattle is a forest of
construction cranes, and employers are clamoring for skilled
ironworkers. Morgan, who is 20, is already working on a job site when he
isn't at the Pacific Northwest Ironworkers shop. He gets benefits,
including a pension, from employers at the job sites where he is
training. And he is earning $28.36 an hour, or more than $50,000 a year,
which is almost certain to steadily increase.
As for his friends from high school, "they're still in college,"
he said with a wry grin. "Someday maybe they'll make as much as me." Raising alarms
While
a shortage of workers is pushing wages higher in the skilled trades,
the financial return from a bachelor's degree is softening, even as the
price — and the average debt into which it plunges students — keeps
going up.
But high school graduates have been so effectively encouraged to
get a bachelor's that high-paid jobs requiring shorter and less
expensive training are going unfilled. This affects those students and
also poses a real threat to the economy.
"Parents want success
for their kids," said Mike Clifton, who teaches machining at the Lake
Washington Institute of Technology, about 20 miles from Seattle. "They
get stuck on [four-year bachelor's degrees], and they're not seeing the
shortage there is in tradespeople until they hire a plumber and have to
write a check."
Ironworkers practice tying rebar at the Iron Workers Local Union #86 Administrative Offices in Tukwila, Wash.
Sy Bean/The Hechinger Report
In a new report,
the Washington State Auditor found that good jobs in the skilled trades
are going begging because students are being almost universally steered
to bachelor's degrees.
Among other things, the Washington
auditor recommended that career guidance — including choices that
require less than four years in college — start as early as the seventh
grade.
"There is an emphasis on the four-year university track"
in high schools, said Chris Cortines, who co-authored the report. Yet,
nationwide, three out of 10 high school grads who go to four-year public
universities haven't earned degrees within six years, according to the National Student Clearinghouse. At four-year private colleges, that number is more than 1 in 5.
"Being more aware of other types of options may be exactly what
they need," Cortines said. In spite of a perception "that college is the
sole path for everybody," he said, "when you look at the types of wages
that apprenticeships and other career areas pay and the fact that you
do not pay four years of tuition and you're paid while you learn, these
other paths really need some additional consideration."
And it's not just in Washington state.
Seventy-percent of construction companies nationwide are having trouble finding qualified workers, according to the Associated General Contractors of America; in Washington, the proportion is 80 percent.
There
are already more trade jobs like carpentry, electrical, plumbing,
sheet-metal work and pipe-fitting than Washingtonians to fill them, the state auditor reports. Many pay more than the state's average annual wage of $54,000.
Construction,
along with health care and personal care, will account for one-third of
all new jobs through 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
There will also be a need for new plumbers and new electricians. And,
as politicians debate a massive overhaul of the nation's roads, bridges
and airports, the U.S. Department of Education reports
that there will be 68 percent more job openings in
infrastructure-related fields in the next five years than there are
people training to fill them.
"The economy is definitely
pushing this issue to the forefront," said Amy Morrison Goings,
president of the Lake Washington Institute of Technology, which educates
students in these fields. "There isn't a day that goes by that a
business doesn't contact the college and ask the faculty who's ready to
go to work."
In all, some 30 million jobs in the United States that pay an average of $55,000 per year don't require bachelor's degrees, according to the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce.
Yet
the march to bachelor's degrees continues. And while people who get
them are more likely to be employed and make more money than those who
don't, that premium appears to be softening; their median earnings were lower in 2015, when adjusted for inflation, than in 2010.
"There's
that perception of the bachelor's degree being the American dream, the
best bang for your buck," said Kate Blosveren Kreamer, deputy executive
director of Advance CTE, an association of state officials who work in
career and technical education. "The challenge is that in many cases
it's become the fallback. People are going to college without a plan,
without a career in mind, because the mindset in high school is just,
'Go to college.' "
Matthew Dickinson, 21, asks a classmate for help as they
rebuild an automatic transmission in an auto repair technician program
classes at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology.
Sy Bean/The Hechinger Report
It's not that finding a job in the trades, or even manufacturing,
means needing no education after high school. Most regulators and
employers require certificates, certifications or associate degrees. But
those cost less and take less time than earning a bachelor's degree.
Tuition and fees for in-state students to attend a community or
technical college in Washington State, for example, come to less than
half the cost of a four-year public university, the state auditor points out, and less than a tenth of the price of attending a private four-year college.
People
with career and technical educations are also more likely to be
employed than their counterparts with academic credentials, the U.S. Department of Education reports, and significantly more likely to be working in their fields of study.
Young
people don't seem to be getting that message. The proportion of high
school students who earned three or more credits in occupational
education — typically an indication that they're interested in careers
in the skilled trades — has fallen from 1 in 4 in 1990 to 1 in 5 now, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Washington is not the only state devoting attention to this. California is spending $200 million
to improve the delivery of career and technical education. Iowa
community colleges and businesses are collaborating to increase the
number of "work-related learning opportunities," including
apprenticeships, job shadowing and internships. Tennessee has made its
technical colleges free.
So severe are looming shortages of workers in the skilled trades in Michigan that Gov. Rick Snyder in February announced a $100 million proposal he likens to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II.
At
the federal level, there is bipartisan support for making Pell grants
available for short-term job-training courses and not just university
tuition. The Trump administration supports the idea.
For
all the promises to improve vocational education, however, a principal
federal source of money for it, called Tech-Prep, hasn't been funded
since 2011. A quarter of states last year reduced their own funding for
postsecondary career and technical education, according to the National
Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education. The branding issue
Money
isn't the only issue, advocates for career and technical education say.
An even bigger challenge is convincing parents that it leads to good
jobs.
Darren Redford, 20, looks to his instructor after
completing a connector mockup drill at the Iron Workers Local Union #86
Administrative Offices in Tukwila, Wash.
Sy Bean/The Hechinger Report
"They remember 'voc-ed' from when they were in high school, which
is not necessarily what they aspire to for their own kids," Kreamer
said.
The parents "are definitely harder to convince because
there is that stigma of the six-pack-totin' ironworker," said Greg
Christiansen, who runs the ironworkers training program. Added Kairie
Pierce, apprenticeship and college director for the Washington State
Labor Council of the AFL-CIO: "It sort of has this connotation of being a
dirty job. 'It's hard work — I want something better for my son or
daughter.' "
Of the $200 million that California is spending on vocational education, $6 million is going into a campaign
to improve the way people regard it. The Lake Washington Institute of
Technology changed its name from Lake Washington Technical College, said
Goings, its president, to avoid being stereotyped as a vocational
school.
These perceptions fuel the worry that, if students are
urged as early as the seventh grade to consider the trades, then
low-income, first-generation and ethnic and racial minority high school
students will be channeled into blue-collar jobs while wealthier and
white classmates are pushed by their parents to get bachelor's degrees.
"When
CTE was vocational education, part of the reason we had a real
disinvestment from the system was because we were tracking low-income
and minority kids into these pathways," Kreamer said. "There is this
tension between, do you want to focus on the people who would get the
most benefit from these programs, and — is that tracking?"
Amy Morrison Goings, president of the Lake Washington
Institute of Technology, says, "There isn't a day that goes by that a
business doesn't contact the college and ask the faculty who's ready to
go to work."
Sy Bean/The Hechinger Report
In a quest for prestige and rankings, and to bolster real-estate
values, high schools also like to emphasize the number of their
graduates who go on to four-year colleges and universities.
Jessica
Bruce followed that path, enrolling in community college after high
school for one main reason: because she was recruited to play fast-pitch
softball. "I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my
life," she said.
Now, she's an apprentice ironworker, making
$32.42 an hour, or more than $60,000 a year, while continuing her
training. At 5-foot-2, "I can run with the big boys," she said,
laughing.
As for whether anyone looks down on her for not having a bachelor's degree, Bruce doesn't particularly care.
"The misconception," she said, "is that we don't make as much money."
And then she laughed again.
Taylor Fawcett, 23, moves a column during a connector
mockup drill at the Iron Workers Local Union #86 Administrative Offices
in Tukwila, Wash.
A lawsuit accusing Facebook of
violating an Illinois biometric privacy law by compiling a faceprint
database could discourage companies from developing new
technology, the Silicon Valley lobbying group Internet Association
argues in a new court filing.
“Facial recognition technology can
allow consumers to unlock their smartphones with a
glance, streamline airport security screenings, and assist doctors in
identifying rare genetic diseases,” the Internet Association writes in
court papers filed Wednesday with the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals.
The organization adds that a recent ruling by
U.S. District Court Judge James Donato, who allowed Facebook users to
proceed with a privacy class-action against the company,
could threaten new uses of biometric information -- including “uses that
protect people, such as security cameras that can recognize strangers
outside the home, fingerprint readers that prevent
access to sensitive information, and facial recognition systems that can
help locate missing children online.”
The
Internet Association is weighing in on a battle dating to 2015, when
several Illinois residents alleged that Facebook's photo-tagging feature
violates the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act. The company's
photo-tagging function recognizes users' faces and suggests their
names when they appear in photos uploaded by their friends. To
accomplish this, the social networking service draws on its vast trove
of users' photos.
The Illinois law requires companies to
obtain written releases from people before collecting certain biometric
data, including scans of face geometry. That measure, passed in 2008,
also requires companies that gather biometric data to
notify people about the practice, and to publish a schedule for
destroying the information. The law provides for fines of up to $5,000.
Facebook
unsuccessfully urged Donato to dismiss the
case, arguing that users couldn't show they were injured by the alleged
practices, and that its photo-tagging feature isn't covered by the
Illinois law, because Facebook doesn't have servers in
Illinois. The company also unsuccessfully contended that the matter
should not proceed as a class-action, arguing that users could not show
they were injured by the alleged practices.
Donato
rejected Facebook's arguments on all counts, ruling that the users could
proceed with the litigation. Facebook appealed Donato's decision to the
9th Circuit, which put the case on hold.
Facebook filed written
arguments with the 9th Circuit last week, but did so under seal --
meaning they are not yet publicly available. On Wednesday, the Internet
Association -- which counts
Facebook, Google, Amazon, eBay and other tech companies as members --
submitted a friend-of-the-court brief siding with Facebook.
The
Internet Association says Donato shouldn't have allowed
the case to proceed. “Biometric technologies serve many useful purposes
in our society—from providing new authentication features that enhance
security (like the ability to unlock
one’s phone with a fingerprint), to facilitating the organization and
sharing of photographs (like the ability to quickly retrieve photographs
stored in a private account), to promoting health
and wellness (like allowing for digital patient check-ins at the
emergency room),” the group writes. “These are applications that
millions of people already enjoy, and that offer great
potential in the future. It is in no one’s interest that the lawful
development and use of biometric technologies be artificially chilled.”
The
organization specifically argues
that the users should not be able to move forward without showing how
they were injured by the alleged privacy violations. “Technology
companies, like the Association’s members, are
frequently subject to opportunistic lawsuits claiming vast statutory
damages without real-world harm,” the organization writes. “Plaintiffs
here readily admit that they have suffered no
physical, financial, or other tangible or intangible injury. And they
make no claim that their alleged biometric data was used for any purpose
other than to suggest tags to people they had chosen to
connect with.”
The group also argues that Donato's ruling
effectively allows Illinois law to govern activity that occurs in other
states. The Constitution provides that Congress can
regulate interstate commerce; courts interpret that clause to mean that
individual states usually can't govern commercial activity outside their
borders.
Microsoft has released a report on the class of 2030. Drawing on interviews with thousands of students and teachers across the UK, US, Canada, and Singapore
as well as expert opinions from technologists, researchers and
policymakers, it makes an educated guess at what skills graduates in the
near future will need in a job market driven by technological change.
My 3½-year-old niece taps at my
“outdated” iMac screen, wondering why “the big iPad isn’t working” but
this narrative of the digital native, comfortable with new consumer
technology is a shallow interpretation of the future of education; the
classroom of the future will be shaped more profoundly by a world where
automation has replaced several jobs and ever-advancing AI is integrated
with others.
“The class of 2030 will be learning very different things,” says Kevin Marshall,
head of education, Microsoft Ireland. “The legal profession, for
example, is beginning to use machine learning, and data algorithms can
potentially allow all that precedent to be captured so the role of the
junior lawyer will change.
“If you look at the way businesses
are restructuring at the moment, in terms of how financial forecasts
are carried out, for example: a lot of that is on historical data and
machine-learning models can now take this data and produce your
forecast. The issue is not filling a pipeline, the issue is: how do you
interpret that?”
With artificial intelligence and
automation doing much of the menial tasks, what will be required of our
current junior and senior infants is the ability to interpret complex
data patterns as well as other higher-level cognitive skills such as
problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity.
Problem-solving vs code
The other side of the coin is
equipping teachers with the skills and technological know-how to teach
the graduates of 2030. An example of this is the Microsoft-UCD
initiative to put trainee teachers pursuing a professional masters in
education (PME) through a diploma in computational thinking with the aim
of teaching them underlying core skills of logic, analytical thinking
and problem-solving techniques rather than churning out a group of
teachers who can code.
“The teachers thought the coding
was okay but what they really loved was the computational thinking
aspects: how computers work, the impact of technology on society, they
thought that would be great stuff to teach the kids,” explains Marshall.
Similarly, Microsoft’s DreamSpace
initiative encourages computational thinking using technology
schoolchildren are both familiar with and enjoy using: “The afternoon
workshop we recently ran with DCU was about looking at complex
problem-solving using Minecraft in one case, Lego in another and also Arduino kits.”
These skills in conjunction with
the requirement to work in groups will shape the classroom just as
workspaces have changed, says Marshall, who points to the open-plan
environment of Microsoft’s Dublin HQ and “the open spaces and much more
fluid make-up of the classroom” in countries with progressive attitudes
towards education like Finland.
Technology is also a fundamental
ingredient for making lessons go more smoothly. Adbul Chohan, edtech
advocate and co-founder of AppleDistinguished School, Olive Tree Primary School in Bolton, UK, found this out almost a decade ago in his first job.
Mobile devices
“In this school we had laptops on
trolleys, computer rooms, technicians that were trying to keep things
working. But we had an opportunity to replace some kit that was very old
and instead of just buying the same thing in a more modern version I
decided to do something that was radically different at the time. I
calculated that for the same cost I could put a small, mobile computer
ie an iPod Touch in the hands of every student and that’s where we
started off,” explains Chohan.
He says there were teething
problems at the time as it was uncharted territory with Chohan pressed
to find examples of other schools switching to mobile devices. But
something wonderful happened. Instead of wasting valuable teaching time
fetching laptops from the computer trolley, having students return to
their desk, power them on, wait for them to boot up, and sort out
inevitable problems with uncharged units, forgotten passwords and the
odd bluescreen, it was a breeze.
“With an iPod Touch it was suddenly magical: it comes on immediately and within seconds a student can Google
what they need to find, put the device away and carry on with whatever
work they need to do. It’s a form of what we now describe as the digital
pencil case,” he says.
Mobile devices are now standard in
many schools but technology is still driving change in others aspects
of teaching: “In education, using technology to drive operational
efficiency is an area that I feel has been neglected,” explains Chohan.
Verbal feedback
“We use technology for learning,
finding information, replacing physical textbooks and so on, but a lot
more is possible. I’ve been looking into the amount of money schools are
spending on photocopying and how it can be drastically reduced. In my
last school we reduced it by 70 per cent. And it’s not just the amount
of money that we’re spending on photocopying, it is the amount of time
teachers are wasting on photocopying too.”
Another extremely time-consuming
activity for teachers is marking copybooks and providing written
feedback. Chohan’s school is trialling the idea of giving verbal
feedback: students are still doing homework and they are still using pen
and paper, so writing skills are not being sidelined. The difference is
they capture an image of their homework using a mobile or tablet device
and submit that to their teacher.
“The teacher is able to annotate
that document using voice; giving verbal feedback so the child can
listen to it as many times as they want, their parents can listen, or
they can go back three weeks later and listen to it of needs be.
“The teacher is able to annotate
that document using voice; giving verbal feedback so the child can
listen to it as many times as they want, their parents can listen, or
they can go back three weeks later and listen to it of needs be.
“What we’ve seen from the teacher
perspective is the amount of time they spend giving feedback is
significantly reduced but the quality of feedback has increased because
it’s human-to-human with the emotional range of the human voice.”
There is also the area of
personalised learning software where data analytics are used to crunch
numbers, observe patterns and come up with teaching plans to suit each
student.
But data analytics is not a silver
bullet for delivering the perfect lesson plan and it must not overlook
the importance of designing with humans in mind, says Owen White, director of the Dublin-based Learnovate research and innovation centre, which focuses on edtech.
Professional dispossessed
“This is something Learnovate has
done quite a bit of research into. The dream of personalised education
is something we can all immediately identify with, and it seems to make a
lot of intuitive sense, but when you look at many of the solutions that
are out there they don’t actually appeal to teachers as much as the
theory would suggest.
“It goes back to getting the right
balance between the technology and the human. A lot of personalised
learning systems are designed in a way that they remove a certain degree
of agency from the teacher. These algorithms are clever and efficient
but when teachers feel this is dispossessing them of their professional
judgment, they tend not to trust it.”
"These algorithms are clever and efficient but when teachers feel this
is dispossessing them of their professional judgment, they tend not to
trust it"
The key, says White, is designing
technology that does not alienate key stakeholders but rather works with
them, something Chohan agrees with: “It’s not about the wow factor of
technology. I mean, of course we use augmented reality and other new
tools but actually what we should want is a baseline good experience.”
White, who has been in the edtech
sector for over 25 years, says there has been this rhetoric of “we’re at
the tipping point because now we have laptops”, then interactive
whiteboards, then tablets, then VR or whatever technology is now going
to supposedly change everything.
“And then it doesn’t happen
because there is too much resistance within the system and the reason I
say that is because if you don’t figure out the right relationship
between technology and humans – unless you understand the world of the
classroom and the world of the school – you can have great technological
solutions but if they are not solving real, on-the-ground problems then
individual will not be interested,” explains White.
Stakeholder management
This isn’t to make the assumption
that teachers are generally resistant to technological change or even
that pragmatism in the classroom is a good thing. White says that
companies designing edtech need to know their stakeholders well and, in
turn, educators need to suck it up and learn to use new technologies for
the good of their pupils.
“I was observing a class in a
London school where some of the laptops weren’t charged, some just
weren’t working, and the teacher wasted a lot of time troubleshooting
before the children could get their work done. I asked the teacher why
he didn’t just give up and his answer was: ‘well, it would make it
easier for me but these kids are going into a world where technology is
commonplace. I have a social responsibility to do this even if it causes
me some hassle.’”
It is clear the classroom of the
near future will augment the pupil’s learning experience and hopefully
prepare them for the jobs of 2030 and beyond but what about the
learn-to-code craze? Shouldn’t we be churning out future programmers to
become tech entrepreneurs or populate Google and Facebook?
"Children should not learn to code just for the sake of it; it is the
underlying computational thinking skills alongside “soft” ie
social-emotional skills that will stand to them"
Marshall, Chohan and White are all
pretty clear on this front: children should not learn to code just for
the sake of it; it is the underlying computational thinking skills –
alongside “soft” ie social-emotional skills that will stand to them.
Cognitive development
“My view on coding is pretty
simple: all the teachers in my school have a basic understanding of
coding. There are some coding courses that are freely available on the
iPad that we get all our teachers to do, which is kind of fantastic.
They’ve got this base understanding but the bit that we’re really
focusing on is computational thinking: logic, sequencing, patterns,
these are the things that we really want our children to be able to
understand. For me that is where the cognitive development is,” explains
Chohan.
“We teach maths to all the
children but we don’t expect them all to be accountants. We teach coding
and it doesn’t mean that they’re all going to be app developers,” he
adds.
“I do think that everyone should
get the opportunity to code in primary school,” says Microsoft’s
Marshall. “Everyone should be exposed to computational thinking to a
reasonable degree, and then some will say ‘this is for me’ and some
won’t. The bigger point is the notion of how we will tackle big complex
problems in the future; everyone will need these skills because I think
that’s the way the world of work is going to go.”
Editor’s note: This story led off this week’s Future of
Learning newsletter, which is delivered free to subscribers’ inboxes
every Wednesday with trends and top stories about education innovation. Subscribe today!
In Peter Nilsson’s classes, students use computers to help them
analyze text. Nilsson is an English teacher by training, but he has
embraced the “digital humanities,” teaching students how to code to
answer questions about books, speeches, news coverage, rap lyrics and
more.
One of his students analyzed the text of all presidential inaugural
and farewell addresses to identify common and unique themes among them.
Another compared the tone and frequency of New York Times coverage of
Harvey Weinstein before and after the emergence of the #MeToo movement,
by analyzing every word in every article filed under the Times Topic
“Harvey Weinstein.” A third explored which rappers most use internal
rhyme, by importing lyrics, converting words to phonemes and analyzing
from there.
Nilsson teaches at Deerfield Academy,
a private school in western Massachusetts. The type of text analysis he
guides his students through is far more common in colleges and
graduate-school programs, but the coding that makes it possible is an
increasingly popular skill to teach children.
Fifteen states now require all high schools to offer computer science
courses. Twenty-three states have created K-12 computer science
standards. And 40 states plus the District of Columbia allow students to
count computer science courses toward high school math or science
graduation requirements. That’s up from 12 states in 2013, when Code.org
launched, aiming to expand access to computer science in U.S. schools
and increase participation among girls and underrepresented minorities
in particular. Since then, Code.org has been tracking state policy
changes and a number of other metrics about computer science education.
Not every student is going to graduate from high school and go on to
become a computer scientist, but that’s not the point, Yongpradit said.
“You take a biology class in high school not because everyone is
going to become a doctor, but because when you go to the doctor, you can
understand what they’re talking about,” Yongpradit said.
Nilsson cites a similar motivation for asking kids to code in their
English classes. It’s an element of digital literacy, he said.
“When I think about entering a digital future, it’s simply
understanding how machines work on a conceptual level and understanding
what they can do,” Nilsson said.
Once students take his class, they realize the types of questions
they can ask when confronted with massive amounts of data. Maybe they
don’t know exactly what code to write to get an answer, but if they know
what’s possible, they’re better equipped to figure that out.
Yongpradit has come across a number of lessons in U.S. schools that
combine elements of computer science with other subject areas. There are
music classes that let students use computer programming to compose
songs. There are science classes that let students code their own
simulations to explore natural phenomena like chemical reactions, the
water cycle or predator/prey systems. An algebra course that uses
programming to teach functions and variables has actually been found to improve student understanding of those concepts over traditional math instruction.
“Because they’re able to apply these ideas within a video
game-creation context, it just sticks all the better,” Yongpradit said.
Nilsson’s course is rare in that the entire curriculum combines
coding and English language arts. Much more common are traditional
courses that bring elements of coding into a lesson or two throughout
the semester. But maybe that won’t be the case for long.
Initiatives continue to spring up around the country, introducing students to computer science more generally.
The CSforALL movement, for
example, aims to bring computer science education to all U.S. students.
At its second annual summit conference last week, nearly 300
organizations announced commitments to contribute to this effort, which
should lead to new learning opportunities for 47 million students along
with 246,000 teachers. Among these commitments is a partnership between
the Detroit Public Schools Community District and the Quicken Loans
Community Fund to create a blueprint for computer science education, the
release of an evidence-based K-12 computer science pathway for schools from the National Math and Science Initiative, and commitments from 13 universities across 10 states to create or expand teacher prep courses in computer science. This story about computer science in high school was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for theHechinger newsletter.
Merpati Putih martial arts were originated from a Javanese Royal
family of Mataram. Mataram was one of well-known Javanese Kingdoms.
After the martial arts of Mataram being in the hands of the seventh
generation, which is the hands of the guru Sarengat Siswo Hadi Poernomo,
he handed it over to his sons: Mas Poerwanto Hadipoernomo (the older)
and Mas Budhi Santoso Hadipoernomo (the younger). The two sons expanded
this knowledge so that we recognize it as what Merpati Putih is today.
As a sport institution, Merpati Putih was established by the second of
April, 1963 in Yogyakarta – Indonesia.
Few years after the establishment of Merpati Putih, this tradition
was still taught to exclusive members. Merpati Putih was taught to
Indonesian Special Armed Force in Yogyakarta. In 1968, this martial art
was officially handed over by the guru in the hands of the two prominent
artists of Merpati Putih: Mas Poerwanto Hadipoernomo (the older) and
Mas Budhi Santoso Hadipoernomo (the younger). They thus sustain the
position of their father as guru of Merpati Putih.
Since 1968, they become new guru of Merpati Putih. Since then, this
knowledge has been allowed to be introduced to the broader society of
Indonesia. It was begun in Yogyakarta and later expanded to whole Java
and currently beyond Java. Even it has embarked on some foreign
countries, namely Philippine, Japan, America, United Kingdom, The
Netherlands, recently in France and in other countries where the
Indonesian embassies are situated. In 1976, PPS-BETAKO MERPATI PUTIH was
given an honor to coach the Pasukan Pengawal Presiden or presidential
special guards and Koppassandha (currently called: KOPASSUS) or
Indonesian Special Armed Force in Jakarta.
In 1977, the representative of Merpati Putih established a committee
organized Merpati Putih in Jakarta. This committee later turned to be
the official organization of Merpati Putih with its head-office in
Jakarta. However, the institution of Martial Arts of Merpati Putih is
remained in Yogyakarta. Recently, PPS-BETAKO MERPATI PUTIH is given an
honor to coach Indonesian Air-force Academy with 460 students in
Yogyakarta.
Resources: Merpati Putih Netherlands
Photo: Merpati Putih Netherlands
KOPASSUS Indoensia
Perkembangan Merpati Putih dari sejak berdiri tanggal 2 April 1963 sampai saat ini dapat dicatat sebagai berikut:
Tahun 1968 mendapat kehormatan melatih anggota seksi I Korem 072 dan Anggota Bataliyon 403/ Diponegoro di Yogyakarta
Tahun 1973 bekerja sama dengan AKABRI udara dan beberapa tenaga ahli
dari fakultas kedokteran Universitas Gajah Mada dipimpin oleh Prof .Dr
.Achmad Muhammad, mengadakan penelitian dari segi-segi yang menyangkut
metode latihan Betako Merpati Putih. Hasil penelitian ini mendorong
pengembangan yang lebih luas wawasan Merpati Putih.
Tahun 1976 mendapat kehormatan melatih para Anggota Pasukan Pengawal Presiden ( PASWAPRES ).
Tahun 1977 Terbentuk Cabang Jakarta dan sekaligus mendapat peluang melatih para anggota Koppasandha di Cijantung.
5 oktober 1978 peragaan hasil latihan oleh Anggota Koppasandha tersebut pada perayaan HUT ABRI.
Tahun 1983 kerja sama dengan pusat jasmani Militer Komando Pengembangan Pendidikan dan latihan TNI AD
Tahun 1984 kerja sama dengan Rumah Sakit Pusat Pertamina Jakarta
mengadakan penelitian tentang Manfaat latihan Merpati Putih.
Tahun 1987 kerja sama dengan yayasan jantung sehat dan Rumah Sakit Harapan Kita Jakarta, dipimpin oleh Dr.Dede Kuswara.
Tahun 1987 Tour bersama IPSI ke Eropa dalam misi Budaya Bangsa
Tahun 1989 Partisipasi dalam pembukaan SEA GAMES di Jakarta
Tahun 1990 bekerja sama dengan Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Indonesia
Tahun 1991 pelatihan Tuna Netra
Tahun 1992 Membawa dan memperkenalkan Tuna Netra hasil latihan ke Eropa .
Tahun 1992 Partisipasi latihan untuk Tim PSSI Yunior (Kejuaraan Yunior Asia 1992 ) dan Tim PSSI PRA PIALA DUNIA 1992
Tahun 1994 Tour persahabatan ke Belanda
Tahun 1994 bersama KADIN peragaan di Brunei Darussalam
Tahun 1994 Melatih Tuna Netra Kerajaan Oman
Tahun 1995 kerja sama dengan yayasan Kartika Destarata (Yayasan
Tunanetra Persit Kartika Chandra Kirana TNI AD ) melatih Tuna Netra
se-Indonesia
Tahun 2009 bekerja sama dengan PEMPROV DKI Jakarta dalam upaya penyelamatan Sungai Ciliwung dari kerusakan
Kejuaraan Nasional ke V PPS Betako Merpati Putih
Tahun 2010 Pemantapan dan Penyeragaman Pelatih Se Jabotabek dan sekitarnya.
Tahun 2010 Program Pelatihan Ekskul SD, SMP, SMA
Tahun 2010 sedang diupayakan kerjasama dengan Palang Merah
Internasional untuk tergabung dalam tim pencari korban bencana alam.
Getaran akan digunakan untuk deteksi lokasi korban bencana alam (banjir,
kebakaran, tanah longsor, dsb)
7 – 9 Juli 2011 melakukan pagelaran teater silat berbasis gerakan
dan keilmuan Merpati Putih (tata gerak, power, dan getaran tutup mata)
di Gedung Kesenian Jakarta dengan tema “PENDEKAR KELANA”.
Selanjutnya dari Tahun ke Tahun PPS Betako Merpati Putih berkembang
ke seluruh pelosok Tanah Air bahkan Manca Negara. Sampai saat ini telah
terbentuk 10 PENGDA dan 85 Cabang di seluruh Indonesia dan 6 Cabang di
luar negeri.( jepang,Belanda,Perancis ,USA ,Caledonia, Malaysia )
Merpati Putih adalah salah satu perguruan silat yang mendapatkan
akses pada militer khusus dengan dilatihnya para special force Indonesia
seperti Kopassus (TNI-AD), Marinir, Kopaska (TNI-AL), Paskhas (TNI-AU),
Brimob (Kepolisian). Pelatihan ini menunjukkan tidak adanya unsur
klenik atau magis di dalamnya. Merpati Putih juga aktif berpartisipasi
di dalam event-event nasional dan internasional seperti World Martial
Arts Festival dan International Martial Arts.
Guru Besar, Pewaris, Dewan Guru dan Senior senantiasa mengembangkan
secara aplikatif beragam aspek dari getaran. Beberapa hasil aplikatif
dari getaran (vibravision) yang berhasil dikembangkan oleh Merpati
Putih:
Program Normalisasi Diabetes
Program Pelatihan Tuna Netra (atau siapa saja yang kehilangan daya
lihat karena kecelakaan atau disebabkan oleh penyakit seperti Glukoma,
Retinitis Pigmentosa dan lain-lain)
Program Pelatihan Tuna Netra yang buta total akibat kerusakan pada mata yang akut
Program Kecantikan Kulit
Program ‘Lepas Kacamata’ bagi mata yang minus, plus, atau silinder
Program Penghancuran Batu Ginjal (masih tahap riset)
Regenerasi sel-sel tubuh (program kebugaran untuk manula dan yang menderita penyakit)
Deteksi radiasi nuklir (bekerja sama dengan BATAN). Hasilnya,
getaran Merpati Putih lebih cepat mendeteksi keberadaan radiasi
dibanding alat dari BATAN
Deteksi narkoba di Mapolda Metro Jaya (Jakarta, bekerja sama dengan
Brimob DKI Jakarta). Hasilnya, getaran Merpati Putih dapat menunjukkan
lokasi penyimpanan narkoba meski disembunyikan pada mobil, kantong,
jaket, lemari, sepatu, dan yang lainnya.
The American education system offers a rich field of choices for
international students. There is such an array of schools, programs and
locations that the choices may overwhelm students, even those from the
U.S. As you begin your school search, it’s important to familiarize
yourself with the American education system. Understanding the system
will help you narrow your choices and develop your education plan.
The Educational Structure
Primary and Secondary School
Prior to higher education, American students attend primary and
secondary school for a combined total of 12 years. These years are
referred to as the first through twelfth grades.
Around age six, U.S. children begin primary school, which is most
commonly called “elementary school.” They attend five or six years and
then go onto secondary school.
Secondary school consists of two programs: the first is “middle
school” or “junior high school” and the second program is “high school.”
A diploma or certificate is awarded upon graduation from high school.
After graduating high school (12th grade), U.S. students may go on to
college or university. College or university study is known as “higher
education.”
Grading System
Just like American students, you will have to submit your academic
transcripts as part of your application for admission to university or
college. Academic transcripts are official copies of your academic work.
In the U.S. this includes your “grades” and “grade point average”
(GPA), which are measurements of your academic achievement. Courses are
commonly graded using percentages, which are converted into letter
grades.
The grading system and GPA in the U.S. can be confusing, especially
for international students. The interpretation of grades has a lot of
variation. For example, two students who attended different schools both
submit their transcripts to the same university. They both have 3.5
GPAs, but one student attended an average high school, while the other
attended a prestigious school that was academically challenging. The
university might interpret their GPAs differently because the two
schools have dramatically different standards.
Therefore, there are some crucial things to keep in mind:
You should find out the U.S. equivalent of the last level of education you completed in your home country.
Pay close attention to the admission requirements of each
university and college, as well as individual degree programs, which may
have different requirements than the university.
Regularly meet with an educational advisor or guidance counselor to make sure you are meeting the requirements.
Your educational advisor or guidance counselor will be able to advise
you on whether or not you must spend an extra year or two preparing for
U.S. university admission. If an international student entered a U.S.
university or college prior to being eligible to attend university in
their own country, some countries’ governments and employers may not
recognize the students’ U.S. education.
Academic Year
The school calendar usually begins in August or September and
continues through May or June. The majority of new students begin in
autumn, so it is a good idea for international students to also begin
their U.S. university studies at this time. There is a lot of excitement
at the beginning of the school year and students form many great
friendships during this time, as they are all adjusting to a new phase
of academic life. Additionally, many courses are designed for students
to take them in sequence, starting in autumn and continuing through the
year.
The academic year at many schools is composed of two terms called
“semesters.” (Some schools use a three-term calendar known as the
“trimester” system.) Still, others further divide the year into the
quarter system of four terms, including an optional summer session.
Basically, if you exclude the summer session, the academic year is
either comprised of two semesters or three quarter terms.
The U.S. Higher Education System: Levels of Study
First Level: Undergraduate
"The American system is much more open. In Hong Kong you just
learn what the teacher writes on the board. In America, you discuss the
issues and focus more on ideas."
A student who is attending a college or university and has not earned
a bachelor’s degree, is studying at the undergraduate level. It
typically takes about four years to earn a bachelor’s degree. You can
either begin your studies in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree at a
community college or a four-year university or college.
Your first two years of study you will generally be required to take a
wide variety of classes in different subjects, commonly known as
prerequisite courses: literature, science, the social sciences, the
arts, history, and so forth. This is so you achieve a general knowledge,
a foundation, of a variety of subjects prior to focusing on a specific
field of study.
Many students choose to study at a community college in order to
complete the first two years of prerequisite courses. They will earn an
Associate of Arts (AA) transfer degree and then transfer to a four-year
university or college.
A “major” is the specific field of study in which your degree is
focused. For example, if someone’s major is journalism, they will earn a
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. You will be required to take a certain
number of courses in this field in order to meet the degree requirements
of your major. You must choose your major at the beginning of your
third year of school.
A very unique characteristic of the American higher education system
is that you can change your major multiple times if you choose. It is
extremely common for American students to switch majors at some point in
their undergraduate studies. Often, students discover a different field
that they excel in or enjoy. The American education system is very
flexible. Keep in mind though that switching majors may result in more
courses, which means more time and money.
Second Level: Graduate in Pursuit of a Master’s Degree
Presently, a college or university graduate with a bachelor’s degree
may want to seriously think about graduate study in order to enter
certain professions or advance their career. This degree is usually
mandatory for higher-level positions in library science, engineering,
behavioral health and education.
Furthermore, international students from some countries are only
permitted to study abroad at a graduate level. You should inquire about
the credentials needed to get a job in your country before you apply to a
postgraduate university in the USA.
A graduate program is usually a division of a university or college.
To gain admission, you will need to take the GRE (graduate record
examination). Certain master’s programs require specific tests, such as
the LSAT for law school, the GRE or GMAT for business school, and the
MCAT for medical school.
Graduate programs in pursuit of a master’s degree typically take one
to two years to complete. For example, the MBA (master of business
administration) is an extremely popular degree program that takes about
two years. Other master’s programs, such as journalism, only take one
year.
The majority of a master’s program is spent in classroom study and a
graduate student must prepare a long research paper called a “master’s
thesis” or complete a “master’s project.”
Third Level: Graduate in Pursuit of a Doctorate Degree
Many graduate schools consider the attainment of a master’s degree
the first step towards earning a PhD (doctorate). But at other schools,
students may prepare directly for a doctorate without also earning a
master’s degree. It may take three years or more to earn a PhD degree.
For international students, it may take as long as five or six years.
For the first two years of the program most doctoral candidates
enroll in classes and seminars. At least another year is spent
conducting firsthand research and writing a thesis or dissertation. This
paper must contain views, designs, or research that have not been
previously published.
A doctoral dissertation is a discussion and summary of the current
scholarship on a given topic. Most U.S. universities awarding doctorates
also require their candidates to have a reading knowledge of two
foreign languages, to spend a required length of time “in residence,” to
pass a qualifying examination that officially admits candidates to the
PhD program, and to pass an oral examination on the same topic as the
dissertation.
Characteristics of the U.S. Higher Education System
Classroom Environment
Classes range from large lectures with several hundred students to
smaller classes and seminars (discussion classes) with only a few
students. The American university classroom atmosphere is very dynamic.
You will be expected to share your opinion, argue your point,
participate in class discussions and give presentations. International
students find this one of the most surprising aspects of the American
education system.
Each week professors usually assign textbook and other readings. You
will be expected to keep up-to-date with the required readings and
homework so you can participate in class discussions and understand the
lectures. Certain degree programs also require students to spend time in
the laboratory.
Professors issue grades for each student enrolled in the course. Grades are usually based upon:
Each professor will have a unique set of class participation
requirements, but students are expected to participate in class
discussions, especially in seminar classes. This is often a very
important factor in determining a student’s grade.
A midterm examination is usually given during class time.
One or more research or term papers, or laboratory reports must be submitted for evaluation.
Possible short exams or quizzes are given.
Sometimes professors will give an unannounced “pop quiz.” This doesn’t
count heavily toward the grade, but is intended to inspire students to
keep up with their assignments and attendance.
A final examination will be held after the final class meeting.
Credits
Each course is worth a certain number of credits or credit hours.
This number is roughly the same as the number of hours a student spends
in class for that course each week. A course is typically worth three to
five credits.
A full-time program at most schools is 12 or 15 credit hours (four or
five courses per term) and a certain number of credits must be
fulfilled in order to graduate. International students are expected to
enroll in a full-time program during each term. Transfers
If a student enrolls at a new university before finishing a degree,
generally most credits earned at the first school can be used to
complete a degree at the new university. This means a student can
transfer to another university and still graduate within a reasonable
time.
ayo jangan sampai anda ketinggalan keuntungan yang menarik. kalian jangan sampai hanya diam saja seharian. ayo, saya mendukung anda
ini hanya sebagai percobaan dalam beberapa hari ini, dibuat hanya untuk menyergarkan
jangan tertipu dengan judul yag ditampilkan oleh seorang penulis, ingat kekerasan ada dimana mana, anda haru bisa mengatasi segala sesuatu di kehidupan ini dengan cara Anda sendiri
