What’s New at MI Research and Consulting, Inc.?

 

January, 2003

 

C. Branton Shearer, Ph.D.

 

 

         There is a lot happening at MI Research and Consulting these cold and snowy winter days.  The project continues to evolve in interesting and worthwhile directions. I regularly hear from people that the MIDAS profile has made a difference in their lives.

 

MHS Inc. decided against joining the effort to bring MI and the MIDAS™ to the world so this has freed me up to pursue many interesting and exciting projects around the US and internationally.

 

I am pleased to welcome Rich Kawolics to the MI team. Rich is helping to develop relationships with web-based groups and multi-national organizations who wish to provide a high quality MI assessment to their students and employees. Rich has his feet in the educational and corporate worlds as both teacher and consultant. He believes that the MIDAS profile has a lot to offer educators as well as businesses wishing to maximize success and satisfaction for everyone.

 

I want to thank Clifford Morris for another fine year’s worth of MI Newsletters. We hope that you have enjoyed and benefited from these quarterly missives. Let us know what you’d like to see in future issues! Clifford also continues to keep the MIDAS website up to date. We hope you are now enjoying ‘ad free’ web viewing. Future improvements for the website are in the works so keep visiting and watch us grow. 

 

There is a lot of MI and MIDAS news and developments that I’d like to briefly share with you. If you have anything that you’d like to add to this list please email it to me.

I appreciate your interest in MI and hope that The MIDAS will continue to grow in ways that will bring the power and promise of MI to enhance human potential to all who choose to use it.

 

Cheers for 2003!

Branton Shearer

sbranton@kent.edu

 

 

MIDAS™ News Update

 

International Translations and Adaptations

 

MIDAS in New Mexico and Canada

         The MIDAS is now being used school-wide in Grants High School in Grants, New Mexico. This project began by having all the teachers first complete their MIDAS profiles so they can become good guides for their students. The principal’s goal is to help to better engage students in school and reduce the drop out rate and increase motivation / achievement for all students.

 

         The MIDAS Profile and Stepping Stones Teacher's Workbook are being used at Atlantic Baptist University with pre-service teachers to enhance their self-understanding and sensitivity to individual learners' strengths and weaknesses.

 

MIDAS Chinese Translation

It looks like the Psychological Publishing Company in Taipei, Taiwan will soon create  validated Chinese translations in both traditional and simplified characters. I look forward to working with them on this effort.

 

MIDAS in the UK

Speaking of Europe….I will be traveling to England, France and perhaps Ireland in May to conduct MIDAS workshops and give MI presentations. There is a lot of interest in innovative educational practices and policies there and an apparent resurgence in MI interest since Howard Gardner presented there in 2002. Could an MIDAS.UK adaptation be in the offing? For more information stay tuned to this website for additional information or send an email to: Mike Fleetham thinkingclassroom.mail@ntlworld.com

 

MIDAS Singaporean Adaptation

Speaking of MIDAS adaptations….the Singaporean MIDAS.SG adaptation was recently completed with the assistance of my friends at One Education and Chinese High School. This was an interesting process adapting MIDAS questions to account for what I call the “Asian modesty factor” (for want of a better designation). This adaptation is now undergoing validation in Singapore and elsewhere in Asia.

        Interest in MI in Singapore is almost as high as are their educational standards! I’m delighted to work with a creative group of teachers at Chinese High School who value their students’ creative and Leadership abilities as much as their IQ scores.

 

MIDAS Persian Translation

A researcher in Iran has recently completed her master’s program where she translated and administered the Teen-MIDAS to university students.

 

MIDAS.DK Training in Denmark

Several groups of teachers at ‘Production Schools” in Denmark have recently completed training in using and understanding their students' MIDAS.DK profiles. The people at MI- Danmark have created a beautiful MIDAS.DK CD-ROM that students use to take the assessment in Danish. http://www.mi-danmark.dk/  I hope to have an English version of this program created in the near future. Any programmers out there who know how to do this?

 

 

 

MIDAS Research Projects

MI DRIVE™ Interest Assessment and the BBC

I have recently completed creating a brief MI interest inventory as a complement to the MIDAS Profile. This instrument is now undergoing pilot testing and validation studies. An abbreviated version of this assessment is slated to be incorporated on the BBC science website as part of their spring program on genius and Leonardo da Vinci. The DRIVE Profile™ is intended to be integrated with the full MIDAS and promote career development.

 

MI Leadership Scale

The recently completed draft of the MIDAS Leadership Scale and Handbook will be pilot tested on a group of Kent State University freshmen this spring. The goal is to provide a means to describe, discuss and enhance individual student Leadership abilities. MI provides the guidance to develop Leadership capabilities not just for the elite, but for all students who can take on Leadership positions in their chosen fields. Howard Gardner’s writing in Creating Minds provides inspiration that a “strengths-based focus” can bring out the best in us all. A draft of the MIDAS Leadership Handbook will be available in the near future.

 

Multi-National, Multi-cultural Research Project

This study organized by James Jones and myself is progressing well. We are now wrapping up Phase One of data collection and will soon analyze the results for nearly 2000 profiles from over 10 different countries and cultures. Jim will present these results at the MI Symposium at the AERA conference in Chicago, April 21 – 25. <www.aera.net> We thank everyone who has contributed to this great effort and hope that it has been a worthwhile process for you as well. We think that we might have the energy to take on Phase Two of data collection, so…if you’d like to participate please contact Jim jjones@bsu.edu or myself for details.

 

MIDAS-KIDS: My Young Child

The revised My Young Child version of MIDAS-KIDS (completed by the parents of  4 – 8 year old children) continues to undergo validation. Pilot sites are needed.

 

MI and Emotional Intelligence

Have you ever wondered what the relationship is between MI and emotional intelligence?

Research results are now being summarized that describe a study where the MIDAS was administered along with the EQI assessment to three different groups of adults, university and high school students.

 

Multiple Intelligences and Interests

Many people confuse MI with interests. This is natural given that most MI assessments are brief checklists more closely resemble interest inventories than standardized tests. The MIDAS focuses on skills and abilities rather than merely interests. The Teen-MIDAS was recently given to nearly 300 8th grade students along with the IDEAS interest inventory as part of their career exploration guidance program. These results will soon be available.

 

MI Education and Training

 

Web-based Online MI Learning

My WebCT Multiple Intelligences online workshops at Kent State University continue to grow in both number of participants and quality. I am slowly figuring out how to use more and better MI-inspired teaching ideas in the online environment. It has been a great challenge (as well as a great black hole of time!) . Hey, no one ever said that high quality MI teaching was going to be quick or easy, but I have definitely found it to be much more rewarding and worthwhile to both myself and the learners. It is an investment in time and energy and imagination that keeps paying dividends even when the stock market is in the tank. It does get easier once the basic MI framework is in place, so take heart all you newbie MI teachers out there.

> M.I. WebCT Preview page    M.I. Web Workshop   

> Kent State Univ.    KSU College of Continuing Studies   http://ccsweb.ccs.kent.edu/

 

Australian Workshops

Planning is now underway for MIDAS workshops in Australia in August of 2003. Let’s see…it is freezing winter now and I’m planning to leave the warmth of Ohio summer in August for more winter in Australia….what’s wrong with this plan? The response from Australian educators to MI has been strong for a long time and I’ll be interested in hearing their response to the MIDAS.

 

Future Plans

 

Online MIDAS Assessment Center

In my copious free time J I’m planning the framework for enhancing this MIDAS website so that people can complete The MIDAS online and then have access to their profiles and appropriate interpretative materials. This project may take a year or two to come to fruition so visit again to see how we are coming along with our major “remodeling” efforts.