Interesting Comments

This is an interim post as I regroup and figure out where to proceed.

I envision this as a partly/mostly tailored, self-directed learning process. The idea is make available a standard set of materials and instruction to business people to make them more effective at a quicker rate when they start doing business in China. The premise is that this knowledge will facilitate the person's ability to make business decision with less struggle.

A digression:
Life in China is a struggle, even for Chinese. Access to current information that is needed to make business decisions, access that we take for granted here in the US is not easily had in China. Add to that a lack of understanding of how things came to be and why things play out as they do in China, and the ability to make decisions about even simple things is challenging. Even if you hire/enlist a local or a "China Expert" to provide clarity, you still need a way to understand how "clarifying" your help is being.
End of digression.

So, as I've been thinking about this theoretical instructional problem, I thought, a business person would appreciate a central place to which they could go to get a quick and informative dump on the basics of things they need to know, in a variety of subjects, so they can make better informed decisions, decisions that they make when preparing to start work, as well while they are underway with the initial implementation. The information provided would be presented in a way that is easily digested. If a person has familiarity with some of the core subject matter, or desires more information, additional content could be added. I like the concept of RLO's as described in our Cisco reading. I think this method combined with suggested reading and possibly some online interaction with others could work.

Testing and evaluating the learner.
I don't see what value a letter grade would offer in this situation. At most, a certificate or some official statement could be provided that proves to someone who cares that the learn actually completed the coursework. There would be testing throughout the process, but this is merely to show the student and the facilitator what knowledge has or has not been grasped. In the even that a test shows significant errors, the student would be provided with suggestions of where to return within the course work for review. And the facilitator could help with some individual instruction. This is really an honor system. This is my thought, but then as some people already know about me, I hold an unpopular view on grading.

Well, enough rambling. It's time to figure out how to model-ize some of this.