As an educator and/or parent, I am sure you have watched (with both excitement and trepidation) the accelerating growth of online learning, from its humbler beginnings to the challenges of pandemic education to the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) to learning in just about every aspect of our lives.

How are your kids handling all this non-traditional learning? I’ve seen some kids latch onto learning online as if it is a magical door into an ever-expanding world (the TARDIS times a million, if that is even possible!).

The following is an excerpt from 10 Steps to Develop Great Learners by Professor John Hattie and Educator Kyle Hattie.

Think about how many people there are in the world. Too many to count, too many to know, so many!

Sara Hnatiw majored in both Early Education Child Development and Children with Special Needs. She graduated from the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC)—South Campus with her Children with Special Needs certificate in Spring 2018 and Early Education Child Development Associate’s Degree in Spring 2020. She has intentions to transfer to Carlow University or LaRoche College in Fall 2021 to begin her Bachelor’s Degree. Once she earns her Bachelor’s Degree, she would like to become a disability services director or a student success coach.

My name is Eric Leif Peters (which is an anagram of "fertile recipes" and "fierce reptiles", so my friends know me as the “Culinary Herpetologist”). I attended CCAC at the Dawn of Time, when dinosaurs walked the Earth (Fall 1977-May 1979). I may have earned an Associate Degree, but I honestly don't remember. I DO know that my credits (at least for the courses I passed) all successfully transferred to the University of Pittsburgh (from which I earned my B.S. in Biology in the Fall 1982 semester). I then went on to earn a M.S.

Tom Hanks, Eileen Collins, Steve Jobs, Halle Berry, George Lucas…all famous names of people who have attended a community college.

Yet, even though these and many others have attended a community college, they are usually overlooked as a first-choice when considering higher education.