The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published a study about the literacy, numeracy, and problem solving aptitude of its' 23 respective member states. After analyzing the data, the findings indicated the US rates near the bottom in each category. The US scored 16^th in literacy, 21^st in numeracy, and 14^th in problem solving abilities. Perhaps more importantly, these findings were about the nations' adult population, which entails that the US workforce has…

The focus of this blog in the past two weeks coveredthe pillars and levels of holistic teaching and education, the focus of this weeks' blog will be on the principles involved in holistic teaching and education. The purpose of holistic teaching and education is to develop the whole student, both the internal and external qualities and competencies of the student. By focusing on developing the whole student, both the teaching and educational processes become more rewarding and edifying, for both…

The blog I posted last week was about the various pillars involved in teaching in a holistic manner. This weeks' blog will delve into the different levels of wholeness concerning holistic education. Although this may sound nebulous, the difference aspects involved in developing a holistic approach to education are relatively straightforward. Given that holistic education involves teaching students to think outside of the classroom, and extend their knowledge into many different aspects, the…

Students are facing an increasingly complex socioeconomic milieu in which they need skills not taught within the traditional classroom setting. The ability to function in this emerging and complicated world necessitates students receive a holistic education that extends learning outside of the classroom. This requires instructors to teach in a holistic manner whereby students learn the material required and extrapolate such knowledge into myriad settings. Teaching therefore needs to shift…

One of the most important aspects of teaching might be extending the students learning beyond the prescribe course material. Teaching life lessons, or so-called "soft skills", such as time management, perseverance, intellectual curiosity, can help the student thrive in academic, social, and professional settings. The teaching process does not stop at the classroom, rather the skills we teach and the knowledge we transfer should help the student succeed in many different milieus. One possible…

Classroom management is a challenge for every online instructor because a typical class has students from different age groups and cultures. A Christian school or university provides a unique environment where one might think that despite these age and cultural differences harmony would be a given. But even in such a "Christian" setting the classes consist of people from a wide range of religious and nonreligious backgrounds, holding to a variety of very different worldviews. There are likely…

One of the most important tasks we have an instructors is to ensure that our students develop critical thinking skills. Although this is not implicit in the syllabus of every course, it is nonetheless important that we help our students develop such thinking skills by augmenting the material and asking questions within the discussion forums that help pique our students' intellectual curiosity. Critical thinking is not only important in the academic realm, as we all know, it is also crucial for…

A crucial aspect in the learning process is developing effective communication between the instructor and the student. Effective communication can help develop a healthy rapport between the student and instructor as well as lessen the difficulty in delivering instruction. This can be difficult in the online environment as many of the typical communication indicators are lost. In the online environment, the student is typically "invisible" to the instructor concerning many social indicators. One…

I think one of the perennial challenges we as online faculty face is ensuring that we bring a high level of scholarship to our classrooms daily. Given the many different demands placed upon us, taking the time to ensure our work, the interactions we have with students, and our presence in the classroom reflects a scholarly paradigm is challenging. I realize that our intentions are to provide a scholarly experience for our students. We have all spent a significant amount of time in institutions…