Alexander Glandien

During the process of designing two undergraduate courses (The Culture of Entrepreneurship and Law, the Internet, and Society), I have been thinking about the following question: What is the premise of my research at Yale? At the macro-level, the premise is that given the changing relationship between labor and capital, students today need to prepare themselves more strategically than prior generations of students. They need to be prepared for a world where career paths are dynamic rather than linear. At the individual student-level, the premise is that self-directed learning is central to this more strategic approach that students should utilize to prepare themselves as 21st century knowledge workers. In the process of taking agency over their learning it is important for them to understand what is entailed in innovation, design, and entrepreneurship. This familiarity with innovation, design, and entrepreneurship, at both a theoretical and experiential level is intended to put students in the position to control their own labor, create their own jobs and jobs for others, to control their intellectual capital and their intellectual property. The notion is to provide students a modern perspective on how to take control of all facets of how, what, where, when and why they learn. My research has focused on how a cohort is preparing themselves for an uncertain world of work after graduating.   

“In business, as in sports, the vast majority of victories are determined before the beginning of the game,” proclaimed Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, in his 2010 Auburn University Commencement Address. He continued, “We rarely control the timing of opportunities, but we can control our preparation.” A current Yale student made a similar point when he said, “I work hard and fill my days with interesting experiences. I’m not working toward any career specifically. I think that career opportunities, at least as a graduate of Yale, come as a side-effect from staying curious and working on interesting problems.” For this Eli staying hungry for opportunities to learn skills and acquire knowledge is based on staying curious and seeking diverse experiences in and out of class. This approach, which is vital to preparing strategically as a 21^st century knowledge worker, is amplified when professors engage in problem-based instruction.   

In problem-based learning, professors act as mentors as opposed to sages who exclusively impart knowledge from the front of a classroom. In this learning environment, much of the instruction is done by professors walking around and interacting with individual students or groups of students who have been teamed-up. For example, when a class is taught at the Center for Engineering, Innovation and Design, there is a classroom component and a design studio component that involves students in building a prototype as a solution to a problem that was researched and resolved by a team of students. This pedagogical method allows students to take ownership of the application and execution of their solutions. Moreover, under this method students define their own paths of inquiry, which results in greater investment in project outcomes. This is similar to how the wide toolbox cohort engages in side-learning to fill in gaps in their formal education. All of this is preparation for a rapidly changing world that will challenge you to constantly and consistently learn new skills and acquire new knowledge.