There Are No Traffic Jams on the Extra Mile

So what type of people do you admire the most?
Those people who seem to have success without really working for it or those who work their tail off to even have a modicum of success? For me, the latter group is a no brainer as I will always side with the Rocky Balboa’s and the Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger’s of the world. My respect is most earned by the road you travel to arrive at your destination (goal) and not so much by those who “inherit” their position by one means or another.

Another trait that I admire in individuals is when they focus on their dreams and they let nothing deter their efforts to achieve their goals. We have all heard the story of how Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school basketball team as a freshman and I recently heard the story of how Russell Westbrook, the All-Star point guard of the Oklahoma City Thunder, was lightly recruited out of high school and more than one college recruiter suggested that he should run track instead of playing basketball. They obviously worked through any self-doubts and went back to chasing their dreams. I also believe, besides a lot of natural talent, they simply out-worked everyone along the way. The extra mile is quite often a lonely road, but they were willing to do everything within their power to achieve success.

I’ll ask you the same questions that I ask myself when I question my own personal effort and productivity:

• Are you willing to go the extra mile when meeting the needs of your customers, students, etc.?
• How competitive are you? Can you be competitive each and every day to provide to your customers? Everyone is pretty good, but what do you need to do to be “great” at what I do?
• Do you have the creativity and freedom to be different in your job? What makes you unique and special and can you think of strategic ways to maximize your abilities? Have you done anything recently that pushes the boundaries of your job description?
• Do you have the hunger and burning desire to win and succeed while developing relationships with your stakeholders (customers/students)?

Are you willing to go the extra mile?

Can Amazing Things Happen When Farmers Meet Rap? Watch "I'm Farming and I Grow It"

I believe the three Peterson brothers from Kansas, Greg, Nathan, and Kendal, are the newest viral sensations on YouTube. They recently took LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It,” rewrote the lyrics and created a fun and entertaining music video to showcase their farming lifestyle. I mean the video has it all...cows, tractors, combines, hay bales and steaks!

They have over 2.8 million hits on YouTube and 8,000 likes on Facebook in only one week. Their Facebook page also documents their trip to New York City this week as they discuss their parody on Fox & Friends. They have even received kudos from Kansas Senator Pat Roberts as reported in the Salina Journal.

As Nathan says in the clip, "We really want agriculture to be promoted. Without agriculture, none of us would have food or clothes."

Please watch "I'm Farming and I Grow It" below or by clicking HERE:

MAVCC's Orientation to Graphic Communications is Available for Purchase!!

We are happy to announce that MAVCC's Orientation to Graphic Communications, Second Edition is available for purchase!!

Orientation to Graphic Communications introduces students to job opportunities in the printing industry and the basic concepts and skills necessary to be employed in an entry-level graphic communications occupation.

Orientation to Graphic Communications is available as a Teacher Edition and as a Student Edition. The Teacher Edition includes a Teacher CD and one Student Edition. The Student Edition consists of a Student CD and a spiral-bound Student Guide.

The Teacher CD contains customizable Word files for the learning activities sheets, written tests, and unit reviews, as well as PowerPoint presentations for each unit. Test banks are also available for each written test and unit review. These RTF files can be used in testing software, such as ExamView.

The Student Edition consists of a spiral-bound Student Guide that contains the unit objectives, information sheets and student supplements, and a Student CD that contains interactive assignment sheets and job sheets. Please note that you will receive a discount, if you order six or more Student Editions.

These competency-based materials are structured so that instructors and students have a clear understanding of what will be covered and how students will be evaluated as they move through each unit of instruction. The contents of Orientation to Graphic Communications are tied to measurable and observable learning outcomes that align with the latest PrintED competencies.

To download a sample unit from this book, the Instructional/Task Analysis, PrintED Crosswalk, and Basic Skills Matrix, visit http://www.mavcc.com/resources.htm.

For more information about this publication or to place an order, visit the MAVCC online catalog, or contact their customer service department at 1.800.654.3988, or e-mail Cheryl Dorris at cdorr@okcareertech.org.

What is Ipsative Assessment and Why Would I Use It?

I read a recent post on the Questionmark Blog by John Kleeman, the founder of Questionmark, that I wanted to share with you. I have long been a fan of ipsative assessment since it allows you to compare a test-takers results against their own previous results. This is a great method for assessment when you are dealing with individual students, students in special education, those involved in career and technical education, and employees. The basic question you are trying to answer is, "Are their skills better today than they were yesterday?"

Please take a few minutes to read the following post by Mr. Kleeman and think about your needs when assessing your students or employees:

As I’m writing this, I’ve just got back from the gym, where I beat my personal best distance on an exercise bike. What’s this got to do with computerized assessment, you might ask? Hear me out.

You’re probably familiar with norm-referenced testing and criterion-referenced testing :

• A norm-referenced test compares a test-taker against his or her peers. For example, you might compare my results with those of my Questionmark colleagues. (If you did, then seeing how energetic many are in the gym, I suspect my performance would not compare well!)
• A criterion-referenced test measures a test-taker against external criteria. For example, it might be that people of a certain age should be expected to reach a certain distance in a certain time on an exercise bike.

A third type is sometimes called ipsative assessment.

• An ipsative assessment in an education/learning context compares a test-taker’s results against his or her previous results. This is how I measure myself at the gym – I am pleased that I am doing better than I have before. I’m not worried if this meets some external criteria or if I’m better or worse than other people.

It’s very common to use criterion-referenced tests as computerized assessments because they help us measure competence. If you want to be sure that your employees know the rules, if you want to validate a pilot to fly a plane, or if you want to check that someone has understood training, a criterion-referenced test is usually the way to go.

 

But an advantage of ipsative assessment is that it measures progress and development – a test-taker can see if he or she is improving and whether or not he/she is taking advantage of feedback from previous assessments. Using ipsative assessment can help all test-takers improve: A weaker performer will be encouraged by seeing performance improvements over earlier attempts, and a stronger performer can be challenged to do better. This can deal with the risks of the weaker performer becoming demotivated from a poor test result and the strong performer complacent from a good one. Ipsative assessment can be used for objective measures (e.g. did I get a better score?) and also for more subjective measures (e.g. am I more confident about something?)...

 

...To learn more on ipsative assessment in education and learning, one resource is this study by Dr Gwyneth Huges of the Institute of Education. (As a heads-up, the term ipsative measure is also used in a different, technical way in psychological testing as a within-person measure.)

 

Expertise is built up by deliberate practice, and being tested can help identify where that practice is needed. I think it’s helpful for all of us to remember that progress and improvement is a useful thing to measure as well as achievement and competency.

Click HERE to read the post in its' entirety.

A New Record in Cheating on College Entrance Exams?

A 35-foot long cheat sheet with 25,000 answers?

That's right and I'm appalled yet very impressed at the thought of that much test preparation. Just think of the time, effort, and creativity involved in creating such a cheat sheet and I wonder how you could possibly access it once it is wrapped around your body? Couldn't you just pass the test anyway after doing that much test prep?

The Austrian Times reported that "a high school student has been expelled after being caught with a 35ft long crib sheet wrapped around his body during his university entrance exam in Kazakhstan. ...Education authority spokesman Bolatzhan Uskenbayev said: "If he'd put half as much effort into studying as he did into cheating he would have sailed through the exam with a distinction. It's a pity too see all that work come to nothing but he cheated, and that's not allowed."

I've seen small cheat sheets, answers written on erasers or on calculators, people copying off of someone else's test, or notes being passed, but this takes cheating to a whole new level.

How many of you think this budding evil genius will soon be demonstrating his talents on YouTube by creating the next cheating video that goes viral? Is there a category for this in the Guinness World Records? If not, will they create one? Will someone try and establish a new record? If so and you don't get caught, could you actually report the new record?

On a more serious note, it is sad that any individual would put that much pressure upon himself to perform well or possibly be that lazy that he didn't properly prepare and resorted to cheating.