How our courses are built, taught, certified and integrated.
How we teach
Relevance and Application
Not just random facts — with each course, we are attempting to materially improve one of your skills.
This differs from some of the presentations we have seen at conferences. Some conference presentations communicate a few interesting facts about the topic, but do not leave us feeling as though we really improved on our skills.
Thus, at the Academy we are working to take the best from conference presentations and mold each one into a cohesive course, with tools designed for the application of knowledge to your job performance.
Students as Members
We intend to be a resource for you that you can use throughout the rest of your career.
Faculty — Not Just Instructors
We work to have faculty members who are experts in their subject matter, but who are also skilled at teaching the material. Good teaching is not as easy as it looks.
What's a Provost?
A provost is the chief academic officer at a university — well, that's one definition. At many universities, the Provost supervises the deans and spends a lot of time on budgets and personnel matters.
Not our Provost. At the Academy, our Provost is focused on learning effectiveness. Leading our instructional design efforts, the Provost works with the Department Chairs and faculty members to design courses so that instruction is as effective as possible, applying proven teaching principles and techniques across all of our courses.
By ensuring that every course in every department flows from basic to advanced — with section breaks and memorization techniques appropriate for the complexity of the material — the Provost works to minimize your administrative time and maximize your learning.
How to learn
Learn the System Before You Start Judging It
Try to focus on learning, rather than judging, at the start. Deliberately practice being objective — not an advocate for or against the system or any rule of it, but a dispassionate judge of the thing, as you learn it. If you come in with a strong viewpoint, such as "patents only protect big corporations" or "inventors are the ones driving civilization forward and challengers are just cashing in," you may be inclined to assimilate only the information that fits your view — and that can block you from learning all the facts.
Periodically think about the functionality, sensibility, and problems with each system you're learning about — be it the patent system, court system, drug approval system, or whatever. Grasping what works well to achieve the stated purpose, and what doesn't, helps your brain more deeply embed the system into what it understands.
Understanding how fit-for-purpose the thing is can help solidify your knowledge of how it functions — applied to every rule of the system, what produces good results and what are the unintended consequences. Thinking that through often leads you to understand the particulars of how it works, and the exceptions.
Look for the Exceptions After You Grasp the Main Flow
Do not fight against every thought entering your head. In extreme cases, a learner views the instructor as the enemy, and tries to defend against having the instructor get any new fact or idea into their brain — challenging each idea, and even fact, to see if it can be deflected and discarded. Some learners have even been taught that this is good critical thinking.
Critical thinking and challenging ideas has a place, but it can very much interfere with learning the basics of something. Assess how critical you tend to be, and adjust it down if it's interfering with your learning. Try believing that the instructor is trying to help you, and let that help in.
Be an Insider
You are not a marble in the game — you are a player. Recognize any mental views that could stand in the way of you expressing your insights in situations that involve patents, or whatever topic is being covered, and set a strategy to eliminate those views.
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"The patent system is for lawyers, and I am not a lawyer."
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"The patent system is for researchers, and I don't do anything like that."
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"The patent system is for executives, and I'm only on the fringe of that."
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"The patent system is for smart people, and I'm not smart enough."
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Dismiss the mental barrier as unnecessary — it doesn't need to limit your learning.
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Assess each fact and concept as it comes up, and realize none of them individually is difficult.
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Be determined to "prove them wrong" and disprove the stereotype in your mind.
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Build a self-impression as an insider — a capable, articulate executive with real insight to contribute.
Have the Attitude of an Exploring Child
Explore without aggravation. There's no need to immediately understand everything — just be open to the insights that emerge.
Appreciate the value of each module and concept on its own; that value doesn't depend on learning the entire subject.
Built to work with your LMS
Shareable Content Object Reference Model
Experience Application Programming Interface
Certification means real, demonstrated understanding
Personal Development — make your plan real and integrated
References
- Thalheimer, W. (2006, February). Spacing Learning Events Over Time: What the Research Says. Retrieved March 24, 2025, from worklearning.com
- Hu, C. (2024). Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning. Scientific American. Retrieved March 24, 2025, from scientificamerican.com
Still have questions?
Contact our Provost at provost@poa-global.com
Learner Services: (888) 420-6212
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Not just random facts -- With each course, we are attempting to materially improve one of your skills.
Thus, at the Academy we are working to take the
A provost is the chief academic officer at a university. Well, that is one definition.
At many universities the Provost supervises the deans, and spends a lot of time on budgets and personnel matters.
By ensuring that all courses in all departments are structured with a flow from basic to advanced, with section breaks and memorization
We work to have faculty members that are experts in their subject matter, but who also are skilled at teaching the material. Good teaching is difficult, and not as easy as it looks.
Our instructors are selected for their commitment to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the industry by providing training that will contribute to the capabilities and performance of the students;