Educational workshop at work

Title

Language

English

Year

1949

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Page 22 NATIONAL WEEKLY October 8, 1949 FOR THEftUDENTS: I Educational Workshop at Work If an airplane pilot having trouble with' his ship were to bring it down on a field near a large aeronauttics laboratory where a corps of des;gners and specialists were advising and directin,R" other pilots with simifar difficultit>s, he would stand an excellent chance of finding out wbiait was wron~ wi•bh his plane and getting it fixed. A very similar set-up is the eduC'.ational workshop in America to which teachers and admiJliistrators can bring their technical problems and work out a solution under expert }!'Uidance wh'ile enjoying the advantages of superior libraq· facilities and the counsel ot fellow educators wioth like problem. Workshops origjnated in the Un1 ited States shortlv before the outbreak of World War II, and their purpose was ·the solution of the :perennial problems that puzzle educators. Undoubtedlv. however, they are the best of all devices so far developed for overcoming such difficultiei:: of the postwar period as th'P. adaptation of old programs to new needs. swollell' enrolments, ho11sin~ and classroom shortages. They were humming all over the country th:s past summer. It was the Pro~ressive ·Education Association that in 1936 first applied the t.erm "workshop" to a special kinrl of summer educational study. At the present time considerably more than 100 such workshopg are in operation. They exist on the elementary. secondary and colle11:e levels. s~me are purely local and are p!·anned by city school sys.terns, as in Philadelphia. Some a1ie sponsored by such national orj?anrizations as the American Council on Education and the Toocher Education Commission or by reSl:ionial ·associations like the N or'th Central Association of By BUENAVENTURE SCHWINN, 0.S.B. \Vere conducted in. statutes, duties of administrative officers and departmental orC o 1 l e g e s and Secondary Schools. Some are organized by universities. They are designed for practically . every phase of ,education. I:n1 August the University of Chicago held a workshop in the humanities; Syracuse Universi1 ty scheduled one in student per-· sonnel work; ithe College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minnesota, prepared for work~hop in the social sciences. Some workshop last six weeks, some for only ten days. In spite of their great diversity, workshops have cer· tain qualities in common that distinguish t h em sharply from 1 bhe older educational instituites, conferences and summer sessions. l'n adva need vocational education they are the counterpart of the i:ieminar that is typical of graduate study. Their essential purpose is to meet the individual needs of the participants. The troubled educator brings his practical problems to the group and is informally assisted in his search for a solution by the coordinators or advisers and by the other work:>hoppers. The details of the program are not set except in broad outline but, as 1he problems presenteu are <Hscussed and splutions found, the program takes shape. Experience during the past ten years shows that ·worksho;ppers have received the greatest help from the expert advisers the workshop makes available for consultation: but much of the success of the plan1 is due also to the poolin.{!" of experience wifh fellow educators snd the suggestions they offer. More workshoppers find it helpful to keep a diary or log of activities. These logs are a record of new plan!'.! to meet ganiza.tion; the organtzation changes in evaluation and and development of the facu'modifications of policy to im- ·ty; the curriculum and proprove educational procedure. grams of concentration; insThey are usually developed truction ; personnel and guidinto reports to be made to a.nee problems; and the col-· colleagues who have not par- lege catalog. Workshoppers ticipated in the workshop, were not p.ermitted to enrol and these reports are the be- for more than one seminar. ginniing of the follow-up that Educational workshops are is essential to the foll effec- new, and their form is not set. tiveness and complete success Like other wo!'lkshops they of the workshop. are organized according to The follow-up is carried the job they have to do, and on in monthly or bi-weekly no two are alilre. 'They will faculty meetings. The North keep on changin~ as new proCen:tral Workshop in Higher blems arise. The time may Education sends one· of its co- come when carefuJly selected ordinators to confer with and students will be called in to advise both faculty and stu- advise workshoppers as to dents ini its enrnlled colleges what they want and how and to participate in the dis- ihey want it, when:- rt"'cent cussions of a faculty meeting graduates will be asked wha.t during th·:! school year. It re- they most regret having ceives ·reports of progress missed. and when people who made in follow-up activities employ college graduates will of its members. be consulted as fo the defiThis past summer a College ciencies of coHege education Worksh'op on Orgarnization and as to how those deficienans Adminisfration was held cies may be remedied. at the Catholic University of Besides the pressine; probAmerica under the direct:o:1 lems cre.ated by the advent of of Dr. Roy J. Deferrari, Sec- thousands of veterans to the rntary General of the Univer- campuses since the end of the sity. .A:ll the imporfant war. manv other difficulties• phases of college administra- of a more pernianenit" 11ature tion \\"ere ably presented by were being studied in the colthe staff and s.tudied by the lege workshops this past sumworkshoppers in a stimulat- mer. The new plans develing if not exhaustive way, c;ped in a number of the uniand che rich resources of th~ Y·ersities durin~ the war university were placed unre- years, and recently reported, servedly at the serYice )f the givp rise to countless quesnin:ety-four participants, who tions - the proper place and represented about sixtv col- character of general educaleges. The greater maj<1rity tion. the most promising curof the colleges repres'!r1ted ricular developments the best were women's colleges. kind of organizatir,11 1 for an An unusually large staff of (;ffoctiver - student-personnel twenty-six lecturers and con- program, what standardized suit.ants, one-half of them tests to use and how to m:termembers of the university rret them. how extra-curri-· faculty and one-half from cular activities can be better other institutions, formally integrated with formal edudiscussed college administra- cation, and many other probtion and gave unstintingly of lems which are now occupytheir time in1 seminars and ing the attention of workprivatc interviews. Seminars ~hoppers.

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