Bloom, Gardner, Gliffy & Reflection

One of the foundations of higher education is the importance of reflection. John Dewey defined reflective thought as the “active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds that supports it, and the further conclusions to which it tends” (p. 6, How We Think). As reflective practitioners, our classes should be well designed - not only informed by our expertise in our subject matter but also by a thoughtful consideration of  the organization and delivery of those methods.

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Homage to Dr. Dean B. Roberts

One of the things I learned along the way is a deep respect for the wisdom of age and the value of tradition. I was fortunate enough to have Dr. Dean B. Roberts as a professor, mentor, dissertation chair, and friend while completing my doctorate at Tennessee State University. Now, as then, I was and am deeply involved in instructional technology and distance learning. Dr. Roberts, on the other hand, greatly values traditional instruction including the classroom lecture.

So, one might think we would find little room to agree. However, nothing could be farther from reality. Dr. Roberts began many a sentence with the phrase, “Trust me, …”. And, it wasn’t long before his students learned that such trust would be well deserved. From Dr. Roberts I learned that an artfully delivered lecture given by a thoughtful scholar can be a rich and active learning experience.

So, when Dr. Roberts suggested we read Candide, I checked it out of the library that same day. I have read it many times since. Therefore, I am adopting Candide’s reply to Dr. Pangloss, “excellently observed, but let us cultivate our garden”  both as an homage to my mentor and as an indication of what I will strive for in this blog. I’ll make some observations, but take them as they are, the reflections of an imperfect traveler like Pangloss - possibly not excellent, but certainly well intentioned. As for what is true and genuine - it is the company of friends and loved ones and time spent in honest labor.

Life is Good at UMW

You gotta’ love John McPherson’s Close to Home comics*.  The guy has got some insight!

But sometimes, life really is good! And life is wonderful at the University of Mary Washington.
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Issue: Pre-term Requirements Due upon First Class Meeting.

Here’s an interesting issue with application both to traditional face-to-face instruction and to online teaching and learning. It is not uncommon for a professor to have students complete some reading or other assignment before the first class meeting. This allows the first class to be more than a “greet and meet”.

Here is a possible framework for discussing the issue.

Assumptions:

• It is the professor’s prerogative to assign pre-term activities.
• Such pre-term requirements should be reasonable.
• It is theoretically possible to assign a level of pre-term activities which would be more than reasonable.
• Especially in an 8 week term, little time can be wasted.
• It is difficult, if not counterproductive, to lecture for the entirety of the first class meeting in an evening 3-hour class meeting or Saturday six-hour class meeting.

Considerations:

• Course expectations should be available to students at the time of registration in order to make course selections appropriate to that student.
• Access to the professor should be available during some period of time before the registration period so that students may inquire about the course requirements.

Questions:

• What is the maximum time commitment that should be required for pre-term activities (per class type)?
• Who should establish such a standard?
• Should pre-term assignments affect grading?

Ideas for pre-term and first class meetings:

• Post info on “Additional Requirements” section of Class Schedule in Banner: http://www.umw.edu/registrar/course_schedules_registrat/default.php.
• Post “Out of Office” message in email/voice mail which contains information about pre-term requirements.
• Write boilerplate reply for complaints – while in a pleasant frame of mind!
• Realize that email is sometimes misread in tone and tenor. Student inquiries may not be pejorative but rather looking for encouragement.
• Consider using phone call to respond rather than e-mail.
• Use portion of first class meeting for exploratory activity in class (possibly facilitated via web).
• Use portion of first class to have library services explain online database access.
• Use Senteo Clicker system, especially for first class meeting.
• Begin small group facilitation by forming groups in class for short activity to be followed by outside class collaboration.
• Begin work on long term projects during first class – brainstorming, group selection, interest inventory.
• Establish and record parameters for use in “action research” project.
• Use online collaborative concept mapping/brainstorming tool (Gliffy, Bubbl.us, Mindmeister, etc.) on overhead or in small groups with laptops.
• Use online collaborative document system (Google docs, Zoho, etc.)

Follow Up Activities:

• Examine syllabus for possible alteration and accommodation to minimize pre-term assignment load.
• Re-examine and compare learning outcomes from 14 and 8 versions of class.
• Program (departmental) meeting to discuss and come to consensus on pre-term assignments.

Personality Type Considerations for Online Courses

I was engaged the other day in a wonderfully philosophical conversation with Dr. George (Bob) Greene here at the College of Graduate and Professional Studies of the University of Mary Washington. We were discussing the application of personality styles to the formation of small project teams in one of his management classes.

His first class session devotes a portion to developing the theory and then having his students self select themselves into small groups based on their self identification of personality style. Surely an excellent illustration of applying a theory into practice. Bob pointed me to a wonderfully accessible book on the subject, Personality Puzzle by Littauer & Littauer.

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About online learning from around the ‘Net

This page is an amalgamation of the news feeds from several leading sources in instructional technology. Following a link will take you off this site and allow you to visit the full story at the original source. I developed this page mostly for myself but hope others find it a quick overview and useful page.

The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog

• Number of Data Breaches at Colleges Still on the Rise
• Faculty Members Given Laptops May Incur Taxes
• Learning With ‘Clickers’ Gets Better After Peer Discussions
• Guest Blogger: Technology Leaders Can Help Colleges, and the Nation, Weather the Recession
• Defendants in Music-Industry Lawsuit Ask for Trial to Be Broadcast Online
• Music Industry Ditches Company It Used to Gather Evidence on Students
• Stanford U. Unveils iPhone Application That Will Soon Let Students Locate Each Other
• Introducing Wired Campus’s First Guest Blogger, Tracy Mitrano
• Wired Campus Is Taking a Holiday Break
• Did Company Use Fake Facebook Groups to Market to Students?

Educational Technology

• Using virtual worlds and video games to teach the lessons of reality - Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American
• Obama pledges schools upgrade in stimulus plan - LIBBY QUAID, AP
• School experiment leaves pupils to their own devices - Miki Perkins, WA Today (Australia)
• Dearborn Public School’s Web site earns high praise - Press and Guide
• Learning through play - Jennifer Bacchus, Jacksonville News
• Tech purchase allows students to see, not just hear, when they learn - SUE TER MAAT, Chi*Town Daily News
• Virtual reality comes to the classroom - REBECCA TODD - The Press (New Zealand)
• CES 2009: Netbooks and notebooks from under $500 to over $5,000 - Jacqueline Emigh, BetaNews
• Teachers can find online donors to fill their wishes - Eileen FitzGerald, News-Times
• MSU-Billings hosts computer camp - KTVQ in Billings
• RIAA drops effort to sue song swappers - eSchool News
• Report: Schools Throwing Away E-rate Funds - Dave Nagel, THE Journal
• Teachers turn to Web for classroom supply help - Ron Matus, St. Petersburg Times
• School’s math lessons go high-tech - CATHY GRIMES, Newport News Daily Press
• Rethinking libraries - Trevor Jones, The Berkshire Eagle
• Intrusion prevention in primary education - David R. Bailey, TechLearning
• Teaching the teachers: What’s changed in education - Edith Starzyk, Plain Dealer
• Seven New Cases of “Cyberbullying” Are Prosecuted - David Fierce, eFluxMedia
• Small laptops pose big threat - John Edwards, Computerworld
• Schools going high tech - Stephanie Bertholdo, the Acorn
• Computer geeks are building the future - Carol La Valley, Rim County Gazette
• OC professor to work on technological literacy - The Edmond Sun
• “Netbook” A Major Tech Trend Of 2008 - Larry Magid, CBS
• Schools prepare for spending cuts - Jeff Gatlin, Pinnacle Online
• The top 10 ed-tech stories of 2008 - eSchool News

Distance-Educator.com’s Daily News

• M-learning eBook Downloads
• MEASURING ORAL PROFICIENCY IN DISTANCE, FACE-TO-FACE, AND BLENDED CLASSROOMS
• Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of a New Genre
• Comparison of Student and Instructor Perceptions of Best Practices in Online Technology Courses
• For Obama, split looms over education reform
• Bring Rifles and Books: College on a U.S. Base in Baghdad
• McGraw-Hill Contemporary Introduces ‘Pre-GED Online’ To Build Student Background Knowledge for GED Study
• USC, Clemson may share some specialized classes
• Pushing the Envelope on Copyright Exemptions
• High-speed Internet now in more rural, low-income areas

EDUCAUSE | Contributed by EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and Instructional Technologies

• 7 Things You Should Know About Lecture Capture
• 7 Things You Should Know About Wii
• 7 Things You Should Know About Multi-Touch Interfaces
• 7 Things You Should Know About Lulu
• ELI Discovery Tool: Applying Technology to Teaching and Learning
• 7 Things You Should Know About Citizen Journalism
• Engineering Informatics for Bio-Inspired Robots
• 7 Things You Should Know About Data Visualization
• 7 Things You Should Know About Haptics
• CyberBridges—An Authentic Learning Case Study

EDUCAUSE | E-Learning

• 7 Things You Should Know About Lecture Capture
• Student perceptions of the effectiveness of group and individualized feedback in online courses
• Is Technology the Answer to Rising College Costs?
• Living and learning with new media: summary of findings from the Digital Youth Project
• Distance Student Learning: The Addition of Rich Media and an Assessment of Outcomes
• With Students Flocking Online, Will Faculty Follow?
• A Complete Online Class: Course Management, Live Web Conferencing, and Teacher-Made Streaming Movies
• Inspiring Innovative Teaching Ideas Through the E-Teaching Collaborative
• Asynchronous and Synchronous E-Learning
• Information Presentation for Effective
  E-Learning

What are the issues?

In Asking the Really Tough Questions: Policy Issues for Distance Learning, Barbara Gellman-Danley and Marie J. Fetzner organize issues related to distance education into seven areas each with a list of key issues (http://www.westga.edu/~distance/danley11.html). Their document was published in 1998 but continues to be an excellent framework.

Policy Development Area	Key Issues
1) Academic	Academic calendar, course integrity, transferability, transcripts, evaluation process, admission standards, curriculum approval process, accreditation
2) Fiscal	Tuition rate, technology fee, FTE’s, consortia contracts, state fiscal regulations
3) Geographic	Service Area Regional limitations, local versus out-of-state tuition, consortia agreements
4) Governance	Single versus multiple board oversight, staffing, existing structure versus shadow colleges or enclaves
5) Labor-Management	Compensation and workload, development incentives, intellectual property, faculty training, congruence with existing union contracts
6) Legal	Fair use, copyright, faculty, student and institutional liability
7) Student Support Services	Advisement, counseling, library access, materials delivery, student training, test proctoring

 
In chapter eight of the second edition (2005) of Distance Education: A Systems View, Moore and Kearsley address issues of policy in strategic planning, staffing, learner support, libraries, budgeting, quality assessment, the digital divide, and accreditation. As they note, even in 2005 policy barriers to implementation of distance learning activities were falling at the institutional, regional, state, and national levels.

Are there other issues than those listed above?

Faculty Interest & Needs Assessment

The University of Mary Washington is investigating the need and interest in teaching some of its courses in a blended or fully online environment. As part of this process, the interest level of the faculty is being gauged along with potential needs for professional development and/or technological support. A survey is available to full and part time faculty. The survey is being administered to faculty on the CGPS campus first with a subsequent administration to CAS faculty at a later date. If you are a part time or full time instructor on the CGPS campus and have not been emailed a link to the survey, please contact John St.Clair, Director of Distance and Blended Learning.

The software tool being used for this survey is Zarca and is available on the web.

August at CGPS

Here are a small set of photos taken on the campus University of Mary Washington College of Graduate and Professional Studies.

Is chalk a pedagogical tool?

Surely chalk is dead!

Chalk is dirty, dry, and dreadful.

According to ErgoInDemand it was in 1801 that “James Pillans, Headmaster of the Old High School of Edinburgh, Scotland, is widely credited for inventing the blackboard and colored chalk which he used to teach geography.” Certainly this was a technological innovation at the time. But surely, the time for using chalk in a classroom is long past.

Can chalk be used in a pedagogically sound fashion?

Again, according to ErgoInDemand, chalk continues to enjoy some advantages over the omnipresent “dry-erase” whiteboard. Boards are now available in varying sizes and can be permanentlty mounted or installed on mobile platforms. And, yes, even the hand held “slates” of long ago. Young students benefit from the tactile feedback that chalk offers, not present in dry-erase markers on slick whoteboards. Dust-free chalk is available in many bright colors. Chalk is less expensive and cleans on hands, clothes, or board with soap and water rather than chemicals.

But really, who uses chalk anymore?

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