The gap between learners is decreasing

During nearly 35 years of university-level teaching at Miami University and the University of Houston, I have had numerous opportunities to be involved in teaching nondegree-seeking professional geoscientists in an off-campus setting. I was generally dissatisfied with the outcome. The learners tended to be passive. Material was presented in large time blocks, and it was up to the learners to pick and choose those topics that they would pursue on their own. There was little if any time to evaluate their understanding of the principles and to make suggestions as to what to do next. Thus, I drew a boundary between teaching in a formal course and teaching in a training program. This boundary is rapidly becoming fuzzy.