The Actual Overview

Previous Chapter

Introduction

Imagine I want to get a new teacher, instructor, presenter, etc. from 0-100 as fast as possible, without giving them any additional materials to copy and paste. Maybe I want to let someone who’s interested in education, but hasn’t start a career in it, also see what they’re going into.

They’re in a situation where they start from, well, basically nothing.

That’s my problem here to solve and this book is my solution. I take what seems complex and make it more accessible. For this purpose, this book is an INTRODUCTORY text and will not cover every possible edge case.

Think of this book as the BLÅHAJ to your IKEA. It’s the companion covering your essentials and what gets you into the door. From here, if you need to learn more about, or expand on, a topic, you’ll have a better idea which topic to further learn about insteading of floundering about. You’ll also gain more domain knowledge in education as well.

A teacher exists in many different forms. There’s the formal teacher many students are familiar with, but there are also teachers in unexpected places. Perhaps you’ve shown someone how to ride a bicycle, operate a piece of software, or help interpret a book passage. All those, and countless other examples, are taught by you as you assume the role of a teacher.

Because a teacher exists in many different forms, they can come from many backgrounds. A data engineer may create a guide discussing ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load). A designer may touch upon Gestalt Principles and accessibility. An architect may explain why they use a 2x6 wall over a 2x4 wall on bathroom walls where the shower line is installed (hint: it’s easy for plumbing and weather-proofing).

Everyone can teach. If you can communicate a topic you know to another person, and they can understand it, you’re capable of teaching someone.

What The Book Isn’t

To get it out of the way: this book isn’t an advocate for any particular technology, tool, or platform. Though methods, frameworks, and ideas are mentioned, their intention is to be as tool-agnostic as possible.

Technology rapidly evolves; what could be popular today may no longer be as popular from 5 years now. There are some rare exceptions, such as the ongoing persistence and relevance of SQL in the data field, but they’re exceptions and not the norm.

Who Should Read This Book

I designed this book primarily for educators as well as designers and engineers working within or wanting to better understand education systems. It reflects the perspective of someone who taught across multiple educational contexts, including public and private schools serving affluent and poorer communities.

While many methods may apply beyond education, the focus remains firmly on their use within educational systems. When examples from other fields, or even lengthy descriptions about non-education fields appear, their intent is showing how outside perspectives, practices, and ideas can improve education.

Overall, the goal is to be at least somewhat useful to anyone involved or curious about education and delivering education, regardless of format or setting. As with any work focused on a specific domain, some concepts may translate more directly than others based on the specific situation and content.

Prerequisites

I’m assuming some familiarity with the United States education system, whether it was as a student going through it or a parent with children learning in it. Beyond that, you do not require a special background to implement advice and strategies discussed here.

If you have no familiarity at all with education systems, my suggestion to you is to read through this book, take note of the high-level ideas, and look into additional resources when appropriate. You are free, and encouraged, to look up information as you get stuck or confused to fill gaps in your understanding.

I may bring in technical terminology you have never seen before. I explain in the text if it is reasonable (and short enough) to do so, but will otherwise link out or redirect you to more comprehensive resources. Outside of this book, there are many free and open-source resources, such as code repositories, websites, YouTube videos, and so on.

What You’ll Learn

You may learn a lot of things, but I’d say the following are the most likely:

A high-level overview of the various parts involved in creating, operating, and maintaining an education system
Management techniques to handle subordinates, employees, students, and clients within education settings and outside of them
Data Analysis (catered towards education-specific cases) and the type of math you may need to interpret educational research
Deciding what materials to use for creating a curriculum
How to communicate with people and relations between them (from a educator’s perspective)
A framework to design learning for virtually any type of content
What other tasks are involved in maintaining education systems
How you might keep yourself healthy and manage the chaos of an education system as an employee
A high-level overview of finances and how they affect education
The implementation of technology, automation, and artificial intelligence as it relates to learning, education, and designing education systems
How some aspects and information from other fields relates to and applies to education
Surviving the first year as a teacher with action plans to assist in setting up and covering bases.

Conventions and Assumptions

This book is intended for educational and informational purposes. I will periodically explore legal, medical, and financial topics, but under no circumstances should you assume I am giving you legal, medical, and/or financial advice.

Chapters are split apart by “general domain” and where I feel the information best fits. For example, Gestalt Principles would fit into a design chapter while more details about HIPAA fits into a legality chapter.

Some statements and information may not be independently verifiable because they rely on internal evidence like grades, timelines, surveys, and more. Please understand that this is information I cannot openly share legally. I must purposely omit personal identifying information to comply with law. Many “results” are based on direct observation and estimations rather than controlled observations. It’s hard to do data collection while teaching simultaneously. - Additionally, student data may introduce two types of bias from non-probability sampling: voluntary response and convenience.

A lot of advice will assume you’re dealing with reasonable students capable of completing assigned work. While disabilities are considered, only up to minor to moderate disabilities and accommodations will be covered. Any frameworks and systems written here are primarily designed for technical subjects (math, engineering, science, etc.), but can apply to other fields with some minor adjustments.

References to products or tools are not endorsements. They’re included because they were useful in writing this book, better explain a point I would write about anyway, and/or were useful for when I taught.

Sources used are listed and divided into each chapter’s respective bibliography. Sources are directly cited if I’m quoting challengeable text, numbers, figures, etc. or linking directly to text to explain a point. There may be indirect citations if I can cite, in-text, a link directly to the source(s) for reference or further reading. (e.g. “Here’s a blank hyperlink showcasing X idea.” and “Here’s an idea (Further Reading)”)

Why Make This Free?

If you’ve ever been in education and had to pay out-of-pocket, with your own money, for education supplies, you’ll understand why.

If you haven’t, think about it this way. I don’t want to deny you access to information purely due to financial blockers. As long as you have a means to connect to the Internet and read web pages, you can read this.

As for an ulterior motive? It’s a good talking point at least. I don’t have to flaunt about the book like a marketing campaign, but whenever education comes up I’ll know more than the average bear.