What is an EXPERT?

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In a discussion group with our teaching and learning center, a faculty member asked this.  I may have brought up the subject using "air quotes" in reference to a speaker the campus had hosted.  But he asked, what makes a person an expert in teaching and learning?

Well, the same question occurred to me this morning when on the Christian radio station one of the hosts was touted as an "expert in marriage and family."  Who died and made this person an expert?

I was told one time that if you read three books on a subject, you are an expert.  That seems like a pretty low standard.  Can I just put out a shingle and say I am an expert in higher education, etc, now that I have a doctorate?  I don't feel like an expert.  I feel more aware of what I don't know.

We have an epidemic of experts, and I would like to see proof of it.  Education would be one, but outcomes might be another. 

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