No time for learning

According to an April survey of senior business executives, professional development opportunities are generally under utilized, with time issues cited as one of the main reasons company personnel do not take advantage of training offerings. [Link to full article].

Based on my experience as a "trainer" of faculty at my institution, and with absolutely no data to back this up, I have to agree; unless training is offered in conjunction with a scheduled professional development day, attendance is less than spectacular, even though I use venues such as webcasting and web sites to help make it more convenient. The reason I hear for the lack of participation is also plates that are too full with other duties.

I understand that, and wish that our institution could find a remedy for the over-commitment that prevails on our campus; I guess that's what comes from caring about your students and your community. I do think we need to find a way to prioritize learning time for our learning professionals. They need time to ruminate on emerging issues related to teaching and learning and methodology and technology. They need time to collaborate with their colleagues here at our college and around the region, nation, and world. How else will they stay current? How else will they keep from falling behind, which cannot help but cause their students to learn less than is needed to compete in our economy. After all, I think we all have heard the adage that we cannot train our students with the skills they will need for their future jobs, because we don't know what those skills are; they do not yet exist. With no time for our teachers to learn, our students cannot learn.

I guess what I am saying is, I don't think we have time NOT to learn. Now, how do we sell that to our faculty and leadership?