Integrity (being on-the-level) is encouraged among Technidigm-2000 Community members simply because a single act that blindly promotes a special interest without considering its ramifications at Technidigm-2000's level four reveals a lack of integrity that is not consistent with participation in the Technidigm-2000 Community. That is, even if you claim to be on-the-level, others can quickly assess whether or not you are. They are then free to either continue to work with you or to isolate you from further involvement.
Members of the Technidigm-2000 Community are readily identified by their consistent (even annoying) use of the 12 part framework for discussing projects, problems, issues, and anything of importance. As more people become aware of and use Technidigm-2000 terminology, our modern notions of common sense will increasingly include the advantages of technical common sense.
MEMBERSHIP CREATES CREDIBILITY: Membership in the Technidigm-2000 Community, although it is free and voluntary, provides each member with a level of credibility that can make an important difference in modern situations. Your membership makes you well known to other members, including potential employers, as soon as they become aware of your membership. Moreover, your Technidigm workbook or portfolio can convey general or topical credibility, minimizing the need to work on recreating that credibility in each new job or for each new client. Your portfolio is your ultimate resume.
Since there is strength in numbers and in organization, the Technidigm-2000 Community seeks to promote itself and grow in numbers. You do not have to know a special handshake to be recognized within the Community. Nevertheless, being a member for a number of years may prove to be important to you in the future. Thus, you are invited to join the Technidigm-2000 community and to have your name entered in our database of those who understand, use, and promote this common sense framework. Send Technidigm your name by email, state that you have read On-the-Level, and you will be listed as a member as of that date!
Each Technidigm-2000 consultant's portfolio may be hyper linked on the Internet from Technidigm to the consultant's homepage or (if particularly notable) to a home page provided and maintained by Technidigm. Such links can be refused, dropped, and reinstated for individuals as deemed appropriate by Technidigm, so be good. Links to pages that are not considered to be Technidigm-2000 based are dropped.
At the discretion of each Technidigm-2000 consultant, access to value-added files and solutions may require a fee. For example, a Technidigm-2000 based nuclear plant inspection guidance document could save a nuclear utility millions of dollars by avoiding down time. Thus, it might cost the utility several thousand dollars to acquire that guidance document. The fact that it is available through a Technidigm-2000 consultant indicates that someone has placed their professional reputation on the line and has made a focused effort to conform to the 12 Technidigm-2000 elements. Also, the consultant's self-assessment score would have to be in the 80s or 90s to meet the expertise expectations of nuclear utility managers. Nevertheless, in the case of nuclear safety assessment guidance, Technidigm already provides some good documentation free of charge.
STUDENT CONSULTANTS: Nevertheless, being a Technidigm-2000 consultant is not constrained by one's self assessment score. A high school student with a relatively low self-assessment score can be an effective Technidigm-2000 consultant and can apply the 12 Technidigm-2000 elements to many topics, issues, and situations. Specifically, a student consultant might be effective in minimizing unsubstantiated opinions (level one), developing facts (level two), and supporting research (level three), but final solutions (level four) might require using people with more experience.
INEXPERIENCE DOES NOT PREVENT ISSUE PARTICIPATION: A consultant with a lower self score is still able to plan the level four activities needed to achieve good solutions to problems. The value added by this Technidigm consultant is that the consulting activities are being accomplished within a comprehensive context, applying an understandable framework of principles, objectives, timing, and feedback.
TEACHING, MENTORING, AND SPONSORING
If you are a teacher or a mentor of teachers, you are welcome to use Technidigm-2000 documentation as you see fit, including as the basis for summer day camps or general classroom instruction. This means that if you are personally holding forth teaching character and integrity to students in a classroom setting, please feel free to download and duplicate Technidigm-2000 materials. You can even sell the materials to the students you teach. Other commercial use requires written permission from Technidigm, which will normally be a formal contract or license.
Moreover, commercial sponsors should provide financial support and encourage the activities of teachers and mentors. For example, a summer camp teacher may have many students who are financially able to pay a reasonable amount for the camp experience and others who can not pay as much as might be needed. Sponsors may be available to cover part of the costs. The teacher or camp director can seek local sponsors, and they can inquire as to whether Technidigm can provide general financial assistance through national corporate sponsors.
Sponsors benefit by improving their public image and by being able to hire Technidigm-trained employees. Sponsors that send funds directly to Technidigm can be assured that all such support will be applied to teaching Technidigm-2000. All teachers seeking these funds for their students will be supported to the extent that funds are available.
Summer training on Technidigm-2000's 12 elements will provide students and teachers with an intellectually stimulating experience that cannot easily be matched even in the more formal classroom training during the regular school year. Since summer activities such as day camps are entirely voluntary, it is mostly the motivated and exceptional students who will be interested. Also, of course, it is primarily those teachers and other mentors who are respected by the students who will be able to interest their fellow teachers and students in pursuing Technidigm-2000.
Technidigm-2000 offers an open ended opportunity for each teacher and student to develop a better understanding of our modern technical world. Students will be motivated to read the newspaper as well as watch television, but they will do so with greatly improved analysis skills. They can pick apart Technidigm-2000 and come up with their own, more comfortable way of looking at today's society and their future in it. If they simply stick with Technidigm-2000's 12 elements, they will have a powerful tool that will serve them well for the rest of their lives!
A typical mentor might find five to 20 teachers for mentoring. A typical teacher might find 20 students for a summer day camp, which may only require one week of meeting at a suitable location for 3 or 4 hours of discussion and other diversions. Each mentor, teacher, and student develops a Technidigm-2000 workbook based on a simplified version of the book On-the-Level developed individually or a workbook provided by Technidigm.
Students should be quizzed during and at the end of the session, and the teacher should acknowledge exceptional accomplishments by special awards and appropriate incentives. If considered particularly appropriate by the teacher, exceptional students should be recommended to Technidigm for consideration for an achievement-based scholarship. Sponsors for scholarships may be local or national, whether arranged through mentors, teachers, or Technidigm.
Financially, each teacher or mentor should plan on charging that makes it worthwhile for the teacher or mentor to do a good, enthusiastic, and creative job. A modest fee of $30 for each of 20 teachers or students would result in $600 minus expenses for the week. If morning and afternoon sessions are possible, then this amount could double. While money is not a Technidigm-2000 objective, those who teach its 12 elements should be well compensated for their efforts. Each student should be able to find friends and neighbors willing to be their personal sponsor, and each sponsor should be shown the student's workbook or notebook at the end of the day camp.
Keep in mind that local companies and government agencies can support your efforts either financially or by providing an attractive location. Sometimes a corporate conference room is special enough, but you may find some fascinating high-tech companies that will pitch in with much more interest than you might expect! Talk to company presidents and senior vice-presidents about using their facilities for Technidigm-2000 youth training. It does not hurt to ask, and anyone whom you contact will probably know a few young people (perhaps even their own children or employees) who could also use something productive to do!!
In keeping with its fundamental mission of character and integrity building, the Technidigm community seeks neither profit nor recognition. Teachers and mentors must understand and apply the Technidigm-2000 approach to technical common sense if they are to be successful in developing a productive summer program for their students. Thus, they deserve the benefits of meeting this challenge.
If you are a professional and enthusiastic teacher, you already know how to put together a good summer program without much help. Nevertheless, you may want to find other teachers, organizations, companies, media, and government leaders who can provide a range of support and direct assistance. As most professionals know, a positive attitude and a little enthusiasm make all the difference!
Teacher and Mentor Synergism
Mentors and teachers should share their Technidigm-2000 knowledge and perspectives frequently. In those communities having multiple sessions in progress, a joint seminar or assembly should be arranged for students to summarize what they did during the week and to compare their thinking on different topics. Small discussion groups consisting of one student from each class addressing a common topic should be led by one of the teachers. Classes should then reconvene to discuss what was learned in the discussion groups.
What qualifies someone to mentor and teach Technidigm-2000? Teachers and mentors should have a high self score relative to their students, although this is not strictly necessary. Students can (and will) teach other students, but they need to be supervised. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to teach rocket science.
As a "rule of thumb," a senior mentor might charge 20 teachers or college students 50 dollars each for a week of intensive classroom mentoring on Technidigm-2000 and its applications. They then might monitor the efforts of teachers conducting summer day camps for several weeks to ensure they understand and can apply the 12 Technidigm-2000 elements effectively. The mentor may also identify and recommend successful teachers and students for community awards or for Technidigm-2000 national awards.
The teaching process is successful when the student understands how to apply the 12 Technidigm-2000 elements and has an appreciation of the importance of having the highest standards of integrity. If a teacher or mentor has a personal, political, or religious agenda to promote, this is not the place to promote it. Keep in mind that the Technidigm intent is not to teach what to think, it is to teach how to think with common sense in a technical age!
If you ever wondered what you can do for your country, is this not a challenge that would provide a good answer?
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