I’ve written “Why I avoid lecturing when I lead and teach“, asked “Does lecturing turn schools into prisons?“, and discussed “How lecturing is the opposite of how we learn“.

As if those reasons weren’t enough, the most-credentialed students that traditional education produces disappoint employers in areas where jobs. This video of the director and producer of a documentary on project-based learning shows what they learned from people who hire at top Silicon Valley companies don’t value credentials of traditional education.

MLTS_interview

Compare these outcomes with the student voices from my last course, “This is one of the greatest classes I have ever taken. It was engaging, thought provoking, challenging, and fun.” Do they sound like they’re waiting for someone to tell them what to do?

On the contrary, several got jobs and internships doing the homework.

• Another thought of his project in one class of mine and made it happen in another, holding several sessions helping high school students before the class ended, winning a university grant in the process.
• Another student won business plan competition.
• Another has several projects in the music business leading her to form a non-profit.
• Another has a medical device company prototyping her invention.
• Another saw his company create a position for him because he was at the top position available without a college degree but they wanted to promote him.

Just a few off the top of my head.

My point isn’t to talk about my students, as much as they inspire me. It’s to point out the value of active, experiential, inquiry-driven project-based learning and treating students like active people now, not preparing them for some later time.

That’s why my online leadership course gives you experience to lead, not abstract knowledge, and why people who take my courses get the results they do.

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