Learning at Any Age

Matthew Blakeslee writing for Discover says, "If old dogs haven’t been able to learn new tricks, maybe that’s because no one has known how to teach them properly. Until quite recently orthodox neuroscience held that only the brains of young children are resilient, malleable, and morphable—in a word, plastic."

"This neuroplasticity, as it is called, seems to fade steadily as the brain congeals into its fixed adult configuration. Infants can sustain massive brain damage, up to the loss of an entire cerebral hemisphere, and still develop into nearly normal adults; any adult who loses half the brain, by contrast, is a goner. Adults can’t learn to speak new languages without an accent, can’t take up piano in their fifties then go on to play Carnegie Hall, and often suffer strokes that lead to permanent paralysis or cognitive deficiencies. The mature brain, scientists concluded, can only decline."

"It turns out this theory is not just wrong, it is spectacularly wrong. Two new books, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain (Ballantine Books, $24.95) by science journalist Sharon Begley and The Brain That Changes Itself (Viking, $24.95) by psychiatrist Norman Doidge, offer masterfully guided tours through the burgeoning field of neuroplasticity research. Each has its own style and emphasis; both are excellent."

Super Speed, Greater Learning

Don Clark writing in the Wall Street Journal reports that Intel Corporation has reached "a new milestone on the way to developing computers that use inexpensive optical components to
achieve massive increases in communication speeds. The company said it has fabricated the first modulator made from silicon that can encode data onto a beam of light at a rate of 40 billion bits per second, or gigabits. Modulators are key components in using lasers to send data down fiber-optic cable."

"Such speeds -- roughly 40 times faster than the most sophisticated corporate data networks -- now require expensive materials, a factor that helps push the cost of existing 40-gigabit modulators into the thousands of dollars. "

As technology breakthroughs continue to come at a furious pace, the need for trainers, teachers, and instructors to explain it all will only broaden.

An Impressive Program

The Meeting and Event Planning Certificate program at California State University at Dominguez Hills looks very impressive. A smapling of course topics includes:

# Introduction and Fundamentals of Meeting Planning
# Special Event Management
# Negotiations and Contracts
# Site Selection and Inspections
# Marketing and Promotion/ Financial Management
# Food and Beverage Management/Room Set Ups for Adult Learning
# Audio Visual and Technology Today