An Interview with Joseph D. Novak

Joseph Novak’s career in teaching has spanned over four decades; he is now professor emeritus of Education and Biology at Cornell University, visiting senior scientist at the University of West Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, and president of Joseph D. Novak Knowledge Consultants, Inc. He is the author of 26 books, including Learning How To Learn (1), translated into 9 languages; 29 book chapters; and over 100 articles published in professional journals. He has consulted for several corporations, federal agencies, and for more than 400 schools and colleges in the U.S.A. and abroad. In July 1995 Professor Novak resigned from active teaching at Cornell and subsequently has been working with corporations using concept mapping for research and development efforts to create and transfer knowledge and information in corporate environments; he also teaches clients how use concept mapping to capture and archive expert knowledge. Perhaps this interview will capture some of his expert knowledge for Journal readers.