ISTE (technical issues)

As one understands the ISTE of learning in a broad generalized sense, it is a stated mantra of how the school wants to go about teaching its declared population.  In another sense it communicates to the intended public just what the school is about in terms of its teaching delivery.  With the outlined objectives of a school’s ISTE, teachers can begin to create a comprehensive curriculum that is more apt to follow a stated value system as dictated by the ISTE.  Furthermore, teachers are now buying into the collective mission statement but still leaving room for independent growth.

The ISTE of learning as it pertains to the teaching environment at Everest Institute states that each student is expected to actively participate in the hope and aspirations of developing themselves as better candidates for positions as entry level medical professionals.  The school’s director of education passionately believes the best way to reach this goal is the diligent participation of each individual student.  Similar to the ISTEs listed for the Massachusetts department of education there is a component of the values that take into account the very real necessity for interacting with an ever growing diverse population.  Everest’s own system is highly dependent on the successful interaction of its students with the many different communities its career services department works with.

It is vitally prudent for our students to know their implicit importance to the communities they both serve and come from.  What is also built into the ISTE of learning at Everest is that the student is the sustainable growth mechanism for the school’s curriculum.  In other words, the curriculum emphasizes that the student is needed in his or her own community because there is a desperate requirement to involve them with the lasting charge of making their environment better once they have received the training to do so.  It is a kind of “supply side economics” with a home-grown twist.  Getting individuals to care about their own troubled environment is not an easy task.  However, the requisite need to do so is bolstered by the value added benefit of teaching students that community stewardship is its own best reward.

Additionally, students are taught what to look for when trying to bring these new skills to a doctor’s office.  In essence there is a heightened sense of urgency to these scenarios.  The entry level medical professional is the first line of communication between the chasm of highly trained physicians and a newly registered family of immigrants.  Our students are taught to use this brief period of confusion to their advantage.  By implementing the ISTE of learning that makes diversity training so vital, Everest students employ a calm demeanor to ease this transition.  This is the strength of a school like Everest.

The inherent flaw of a proprietary schools ISTE is the lack of importance to the idea of being a life long learner.  Everest is a seven month certificate program designed to get students into the workforce quickly.  Even throughout the program there is no stated objective to continue on to a two year Associate or higher degree.  This is not to over simplify the implicit need to continue to better oneself but the school really does the students a disservice by not detailing a clearer progressive tract for higher education.