Right Brains Left Brains, Multiple Intelligences
As I plowed through a master in educating adults, I gathered all these applications to our cognitive sphere called our mind, brain, or just plain noggin. We know we have two separate spheres that communicate with each other but one usually dominates the other. Creative people are not math geeks, and analytical people are not artists. We can feed and nurture the other side of our predominant side of the brain with exercises. Why does it seem analytical brains want to exercise creative side but I do not see many creative people exercising the inner geek in themselves? Innovation occurs when the right brain communicates with the left brain. Or is it the other way around?  Daniel Pink influenced my approach to left brain work. If the skill is a repetitive skill it will be shipped overseas to be done. I thought about that as I saw my job become more repetitive and less creative. I purposefully developed keen lines of strategies for business situations that kept my job from being exported. Once the strategy is in place and executed, the job of recording , be it a financial or tax return, can go overseas.  What about this job of teaching? Can this job be so generic, or commoditized that the job of teaching goes overseas? Well, I can teach online from anywhere in the world. Stands to reason that someone anywhere in the world can take over teaching online courses here in the USA.  How do you stay in Daniel Pinks definition of jobs of the future?  Innovate, create more courses and programs that are well suited for online learning. Not all students and not all courses are suited for online learning. But I we borrow our right brain for curriculum development that delivers engaging courses that provide credentials of value to students in left brain functions like accounting, we can stay ahead of the game. Eventually, if not sooner, online courses will be taught by Masters and PhD's from India and China. After all, we educated them and refused them a home  and a free life in the USA with a legal immigration document.

The next most important brainology thing I learned about our noggin, was this multiple intelligence perspective. Howard Garner developed much of it and many scholars have contributed to it's development.  Folks have various interests and talents in different areas. We reward the Logic and Word smart intelligences in almost all thing academic. We rave on those Music and Body smart when we go to concerts and ball games. Politicians make good on People smart and what would we do with out the aesthetic smart people with Picture and Nature to please our visual curiosity? Fact is we need people with smarts in all of these categories. Recognition and awards are needed for students with all of the various multiple intelligences. We reward those that pay great wages and craft good careers. What is your area of multiple intelligence that you do for love and not for pay?  For me it is nature intelligence. Growing plants and gardening is something I do for love and not for pay. I'd rather be gardening on a good day. Bicycling is body smart, and I would rather be on the bike than anything in the world.