Faculty Support

Stranded at sea

2009-04-23T00:48:00.005-05:00

OK, It was more of a manmade tide-pool, and we were only in 6 inches of water, but technically we were "aground" or "stranded" and the water was seawater (or at least brakish). Back 10 to 15 years ago when I first came to Taiwan I used to come down to the fishing port and hang out. Before it was reclaimed and gentrified it resembled more of a wharf you might find in a Batman comic - where the Batman goes to find trouble - more than the touristy resort like atmosphere we have today.

I'd seen the bottom of the bay back then before it was dredged and gated - and I'd seen some nasty stuff stuck in the mud. Back then you couldn't walk the beach for more than 50 yards w/out finding a hypodermic washed up on the shore.

It's much cleaner now - but those memories, and my wife, kept me from taking off my shoes and pushing us back in deeper water.

Besides, it seemed so absurdly funny, and the weather was nice.

Twitter and Fortune Cookies

2009-04-20T01:41:00.003-05:00

You know the old joke made famous in an episode of “sex in the city” about the true way to read a fortune cookie by adding 2 words to the end. I'm thinking that's funny now for a couple reasons.

fortune cookies are as American as apple pie. Invented in San Francisco they are largely unheard of in Taiwan and China, so fortune cookie jokes fall flat. When the IMF – some international banking thing – admitted China, US senators who supported it celebrated with a Fortune cookie photo-op. The Chinese thought it an odd American cultural thing and smiled. The Americans thought they honored a Chinese cultural tradition and grinned. Misconceptions were maintained bilaterally.
Twitter forces me to use only 140 characters – including spaces and punctuations. Messages get reduced to what you could fit in a Fortune Cookie.
You gotta add “with a 2 yr old” to a tweet from me – then it's funnier and more accurate.

If I were more clever I could reduce this to something more witty and pithy.

I'm liking Twitter at the moment. It works well for my needs traveling. I can keep multiple people updated, I can pull myself away from the more time-consuming blog, and access has been easier than email.

Soon I'm going to try tweeting a haiku.

Only in Taiwan: emergency room for a mosquito bite

2009-04-20T01:09:00.008-05:00

At the Master Teacher Retreat, we recalled that the great teachers we'd had went beyond the expected, beyond the traditional boundaries of the classroom and beyond the strictly professional to establish connections: between what we knew and what we wanted to learn, and between ourselves and others. They forged relationships by making us feel we mattered. They shared their passion and made it interesting. They thereby shared something personal through transparency and an openness.

That got me thinking. Most bloggers start personal and have a quandary when their audience grows; do you continue writing for personal fulfillment or do you write specifically for your audience? I started writing for teachers and I've put some useful practical pedagogical content in every post: very professional. As a result of the retreat, and since I'm on vacation in Taiwan – I'm going to change my tone. Push the center of gravity toward the audience. I tweeted last night about taking my son to the emergency room for a mosquito bite. Some people have demanded details.

While the bandage accentuates the size - it doesn't add to it. This picture doesn't really do justice to the size either - it looked HUGE last night.

I'm on about the tropical line here – much of the island is subtropical. The island supports wildlife different from what we find in Kansas, tho anything that can be eaten or used for or currency has likely been hunted to extinction, but bugs and the snakes are not to be trifled with. I have stories, having lived in the mountains, but this post belongs to the boy.

People here go to the doctor for things that would annoy a doctor in the states. Like when they get a cold. It’s dramatically cheaper to see the doctor – appointments aren't needed and I've never had to wait over 10 or 15 minutes. Also scratches that heal by themselves in dryer cooler climates get infected quick. This is the part of the world that through crowding and climate produces 75% or more of all the new virus strains. This different attitude toward the health profession causes cultural misunderstandings and friction – but in defense of my hosts, Taiwan and China have lower infant mortality rates than the U.S.

Translations cause problems. For example, the Chinese have 1 word for either a mouse or a rat. The distinction here seems academic; after all they are vermin. Mosquito gets translated as "wen-dz” but I'm not sure there aren't several small blood sucking varieties – and if not those here give tremendous welts - large red swellings with a hard center that produces multiple blisters. Scratch and they break and spread.

About noon on Sunday we noticed a reddening of his right ear. I guessed a mosquito bite.

5 hours later after his nap it seemed noticeably larger, and the multiple blisters presented. Iknow the pic is bad - but I was holding him in one arm, he was squirming, and I felt like I was being judged harshly for taking a picture at an inauspicous moment. I put up token resistance when Ah-gong (Grandpa in Taiwanese) offered to take him to the Doc. He normally drives more aggressively than the average local and that says something. In the late 90's Taiwan had the highest traffic mortality rate in the world. It's better now but I don't know if they've dropped in the rankings. The trip to the clinic put the fear in me a couple times.
The worst part was holding him down so the nurse could clean and dress the ear. If you've read the short story "the country doctor" by William Carlos Williams you can understand why I had to be the one to hold him and why I had to do it right.

For the first time I believed the expression parents use - it hurt me more than it did him. We were cool together afterwards, but the next morning he pointed at me and screamed "j'accuse" in a nasty resentful tone I havent seen before.

Master Teacher Retreat

2009-04-08T03:50:00.007-05:00

KCPDC sponsored a faculty retreat for faculty recongnized by their schools as being highly effective, "master," teachers. We have audio that breaks down our early objectives, plans and calls for nominations if you want to see how that process started. I experimented with a video blog addressing our expectations:

We organized the retreat in part on the KCPDC wiki. Once the action started, much of the plans were replaced by photos, links, and items that came out of the event. The extent to which some of our participants took initiative and helped craft the page, and create content and write new pages, surprised and inspired me. Co-facilitated by Dr. Rob Flaherty and I (Greg Dixon) - we pushed the center of gravity toward the participants, banking on the idea that great faculty would make ideal collaborators. That paid off.

I'm still processing what we learned and explored, so expect to see an addtional post or two reflecting on what I took away.

Tech TALK 3.25.09

2009-03-23T08:14:00.014-05:00

The last half of this TechTALK will feature activities you can take directly back to the classroom. It will be hand's on and interactive and will use Team-Based Learning strategies to meet it's objectives. I plan on "teaching with my mouth shut" as much as possible - taking a nod from a book I've been hearing about lately.

The objectives: to support the pedagogy (andragogy) required to justify use of web-based network technologies in the classroom. As an object lesson, we will collaborate and create relevant content, and share it with each other using readily available tools/ applications available free online or through ANGEL.
Our Datatel representative recently said that 2/3 rds of the sucess of any technology initiative are cultural, and only 1/3 is the mechanics of using the technology. Scholars from the humanities who tend to write on the subject (Cummins and others) also say that sucess with any computer-mediated communication (CMC) or computer-aided learning comes from pedagogy rather than technology. So we're going to do activities that lend themselves to digital platforms and demonstrate or assess our outcomes -

I've done the activities and they're fun.

The images here come from a book, Using Wikis for Online Collaboration by J. West and M. West (2009). Also from the book we learn important steps in the conceptualization and planning of a wiki, uses of wikis (FAQ page, team collaboration spaces, critical thinking and collaborative writing assignments, and more). The book also contains

sample rubrics for every step of the process,
advice for managing the process,
activities for knowledge construction (FAQ, an annotated bibliography, etc.)
as well as basic how-to information.

Resources on wiki basics: What is it? Why? How? etc.

Faculty support wiki page to support this presentation available click here.

There willbe door prizes!

Balzac ND Little Chinese Seamstress

2009-03-10T07:54:00.018-05:00

study questions
Map available - large.
Wikipedia on the book by Dai Sijie
Wikipedia on author (semi-autobiographical?)
Poster images found at Stefan Landsberger's sight.
history of Chinese Communist Party

Characters:

Ma - our narrator most of the time. Dr.s kid. 18 ?
Luo - Dentist's kid. 19
The Little Seamstress (aka: ) age?
Tailor
Village chief - ex opium grower.

Setting
Phoenix mtn near ChengDu ? Year (?)

Books worth reading.

Nien Cheng, Life and Death in ShiangHi
Kristoff and WuDunn, China Wakes

Pictures from my travel in the area

Celebrating Math Month

2009-03-09T09:23:00.004-05:00

March is math month. In addition to Square Root day (3-3-9) there's Pi Day (3-14-9).

If you are looking for math applied to youth oriented pop culture - there's a moving math poem from a Harold and Kumar movie. Maybe it's more surprising than moving.

Let me know if anyone has ideas to use the following geometric brain teaser courtesy of Bruce Stewart via the Boing Boing blog.

Lectures: gone in 60 seconds

2009-03-05T13:48:00.004-06:00

The Chronicle of Higher Ed. 3-6-9 has a fascinating FREE article on effective online lectures. Called "microlectures" the context discussed is community colleges. While some doubt that their topics can be boiled down, the article interviews a variety of deans and course designers who have been won over. IMHO, this may be because the format requires the teacher to break complex ideas down into more easily digestible chunks. Students love it.

NOTE: these microlectures should be combined with readings and activities that require them to explore the ideas.

The format encourages active learning. Read more.

The following extended quote is take from the article.

HOW TO CREATE A ONE-MINUTE LECTURE

David Penrose, a course designer for SunGard Higher Education who developed San Juan College's microlectures, suggests that it can be done in five steps:

1. List the key concepts you are trying to convey in the 60-minute lecture. That series of phrases will form the core of your microlecture.

2. Write a 15 to 30-second introduction and conclusion. They will provide context for your key concepts.

3. Record these three elements using a microphone and Web camera. (The college information-technology department can provide advice and facilities.) If you want to produce an audio-only lecture, no Webcam is necessary. The finished product should be 60 seconds to three minutes long.

4. Design an assignment to follow the lecture that will direct students to readings or activities that allow them to explore the key concepts. Combined with a written assignment, that should allow students to learn the material.

5. Upload the video and assignment to your course-management software.

Twitter anyone?

2009-03-03T12:30:00.000-06:00

Twitter has gotten a lot of attention in higher ed and beyond lately. The Chronicle has a video on how a prof uses it for teaching, and not only is it widely considered a social justice tool, but also the L.A. Fire Dept. uses it (text and audio from NPR), the Nat'l Red Cross uses it in disaster response, and it was found more effective in saving lives during the Virginia Tech than conventional communication.

What is it?
The folks from commoncraft have a 2 minute explanatory video at YouTube, and Wikipedia breaks it down as well as anyone. In a nutshell - it's blogging in 140 keystrokes or less using primarily phones.

Why is it important?

Recent studies and projections on the future of the internet and communication see hand held devices/ phones as the dominant connection tool to be.
The overwhelming majority of students have cell phones

Any texting savvy faculty and staff here? Anyone interested in using Twitter for academic purposes? Early alert?

Would you like faculty development information - opportunities, resources, etc. delivered thourgh twitter?

Fantastic opportunity

2009-03-03T09:38:00.000-06:00

Does anyone doubt the impact of Langston Hughes on American and world culture? The distinguished poet, playwrite, novelist/ short story writer defined the Harlem Renaisance and came out of Lawrence, KS - just a stone's throw away. Are there English teachers who haven't taught, "Theme for English B"?

Langston Hughes E-texts
lesson plans
audio - "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" , free thru Librivox - the African American Collection.

Ron McCurdy will be presenting his acclaimed Langston Hughes Project sometime on or about March 11, 2009. He's taken this act to Carnegie Hall already. It's a multi-media performance incorporating music, poetry/ spoken word and an impressive visual experience. There's talk of using the Performing Arts Center (PAC).

Barb Clark-Evans tells us he is seeking collaboration - particularly from English literature and composition teachers.

Dr. Ronald C. McCurdy is Chairman of the Jazz Studies Department and Professor of Music in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California (USC) and is Past President of the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE). Prior to his appointment at USC he served as Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at USC. He has served as Professor of Music and chair of the Afro-African American Studies Department and served as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Minnesota. In 1997, Dr. McCurdy served as Visiting Professor at Maria-Sklodowska- Curie University in Lublin, Poland. In 2001 Dr. McCurdy received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Kansas. (source - his website)

Enhancing Teaching and Learning Conference

2009-03-02T15:56:00.004-06:00

KCPDC sponsored a teaching and learning conference here this weekend. Documents, handouts and an archive of what presenters have sent to me is available. Despite the awful weather (I spun out on I-70), attendance was respectable.

Dr. Mike Neal, assistant dean of the KU school of education, provided the plenary / keynote address. He noted that in the past - life was experience rich and information poor, so that students may have reacted better to instructors who functioned as fonts of knowledge. He conveyed his own past growing up on the farm and his experiences in college. Life today however, is "information flooded and experience poor." This demands new approaches by educators. We face a crisis in education and those who adapt will shape a new and revitalized future.

He added that the days of "Sit and Get" are over. There are a new 3 R's: "relationships, relevance and rigor."

Below will be an compiled video of many of the sessions I got to sit in on.

PODStock: Podcasters' Conference

2009-02-05T09:54:00.003-06:00

This spring, in May 1st and 2nd (a fri and sat), Kansas will be home to a national podcasting oriented ...conference (?) The "stock" in the name connotes either love and peace or angst and exploitation - depending on your Generation. Either way it makes you think something will happen beyond the expected or prepared for. I want to go.

According to their website:

Podstock is a brand new conference designed to bring podcast creators and those who see the real value of podcasting as creators and consumers together. We'll have breakout sessions on podcasting for beginners, as well as sessions for and by seasoned pros. We'll explore podcasting as well as many other web 2.0 tools that can enhance learning and communication in your world. We invite you to join this site and add your thinking to the initial planning for this event. The conference will be held in Old Town Wichita, located in Wichita, Kansas and host participants from all over the country. It will be 2 days of education, learning & fun, so we hope you won't miss it!

You can also check out their social networking community (Ning).

By the way, the logo is an owl on a microphone - not Hello Kitty. Am I the only one who saw a resemblance?

KCPDC Workshops

2009-01-28T07:56:00.004-06:00

The following workshops are being presented by the Kansas City Professional Development Council during February. These are free to KCKCC employees. To register contact Nancy Gordon at ngordon@ kckcc.edu or at 913-288-7140.

Legal Aspects of Supervision

When: Thu, February 5, 1pm – 5pm

Where: KCKCC

Description:This course familiarizes supervisors with the sources of the law, unlawful employment discrimination, justification and defenses to employee complaints, and considers preventive measures and proper language. It reviews sexual harassment and steps a supervisor can take to prevent it. After this workshop, participants will be aware of the varied complex responsibilities and will understand the impact of diversity on the legal aspects of supervision.

Diversity in the Classroom (FDP Core)

When: Fri, February 6, 6pm – 9pm

Where: Ottawa - Rm 303-305

Description: This course provides an introduction to multicultural education aims and methods as well as a look at the relevance of local history. Participants will study race, class, and gender inequalities and will probe these issues as co-investigators sharing their own best practices.

Online Instructional Strategies (FDP Elective)

When: Sat, February 7, 9am – 12pm

Where: Ottawa - Rm 303-305

Description: brain research shows that people learn best when they use as many of their senses as possible. With that in mind, participants in this workshop will learn about the science behind this teaching/learning concept, but spend most of their time developing, discussing, and practicing active learning strategies for their own courses. Instructors will leave this workshop with an understanding of different active learning strategies and models as well as how they themselves learn best.

Motivating Employees (SDP Core)

When: Thu, February 19, 1pm – 5pm

Where: DeVry - Room 218

Description: A look at what motivation is, how motivation turns into observable behaviors, the aspects of motivation, and how to elicit desired behaviors. The instructor will present the basic motivational theories and his approach to motivation. This course relies on interaction and participation from class members. Small groups, discussion questions and practical application are mainstays of this course. Participants will come to understand the impact of diversity on motivating employees.

Powerful Non-defensive Communication

When: Tue, February 24, 1:00pm – 4:30pm

Where: UMKC - Admin Center, 5115 Oak - Brookside Rm

Description: forthcoming

Money and recognition

2009-01-23T13:57:00.003-06:00

Nominations are due Feb. 15 for the Henry Louis Excellence in Teaching Award. In addition to the recognition, it comes with a $2000 prize ($1500 cash + $500 for travel). Available only to full-time KCKCC faculty, the field is still very small. Those who've done course redesigns for Title 3 have examples of documented a success that have already been shared it with the college - at least it will help in filling out the form.

Staff are eligible for the Outstanding Staff Employee of the Year award. It also comes with a $2000 prize ($1500 cash + $500 for travel). Nominations for this are also due Feb. 15.

Click the links above to pages with details and links directly to the forms to be filled out. Turn in those completed forms to the Faculty Staff Development office (Ben's).

Post questions to the comments here.

Research/ articles from the Chronicle

2009-01-21T08:43:00.003-06:00

Here's an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education. This article, titled, "Wake Up and Smell the New Epistemology," was sent to Ben by Dr. Steve Vaitl in the Science Division. It provides an interesting view of today's student and argues for a new approach to teach. Let us know what you think.

The Chronicle also has multiple articles on clickers. It looks critically at the applications and pro and con of clickers, also the crucial importance of peer discussion in their use.

A lot of us here would like to hear about the experiences of actual in-class teachers with this technology.

Writing over screen captures with Paint

2009-01-21T08:20:00.011-06:00

Jennie asked some good questions in my earlier post on email. As for the Yellow "writing" I put over screen captures to explain the steps for doing things. I start by taking a snapshot of computer screen (screen-capture) by hitting the "print screen" button located on the keyboard between the letters and the number pad. Toward the top - but not in the row of "function" keys.
I then open the Paint program - it's on all PC's - or ought to be. Look into the Accessories folder. Paste into a new project (hit control V - or go to edit and find Paste). Once in Paint, click on the pencil and open your colors palate.

You'll get a pop up or you can use the palette at the bottom of the page (which I always overlook - don't know why).

Actually - to make things easier to see - I've been using the air brush today - more than (or rather than) the pencil. It gives you a fatter line that's easier to see. That's the button just below the pencil.
Thanks for asking.

Upcoming conference: NISOD

2009-01-21T08:10:00.002-06:00

The National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) invites you to register for their 31st annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence, which will be held on May 24-27, 2009, in Austin, Texas.

Make sure to register by April 30th to take advantage of the early-bird discount.

General session information is available, and there's time to submit a proposal until Friday, Jan. 23rd.

upcoming conference - KCWE call for proposals

2009-01-21T08:05:00.002-06:00

The Kansas Council for Workforce Education (KCWE) is seeking proposals for presentations for the 2009 Career and Technical Education Summer Conference on August 3-5, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Wichita, Kansas. The conference theme is "CTE: Driving Student Success." KCWE members are encouraged to submit proposals with broad appeal on topics of interest to our membership and other CTE educators. Presenters will lead 50-minute sessions. The deadline to submit proposals is February 20, 2009.
Proposals should include:

Your name and contact information. Include your institution, academic department, business address, business phone number, fax number, and e-mail address. If you will have co-presenter(s), please send the same information for your colleague(s).
Title and a brief summary/description of your proposed presentation. This should be suitable for inclusion in the conference program. Keep in mind that the most successful sessions have been interactive, hands-on presentations.
A description of AV equipment you will need.

Proposals should be sent to:

Bill Osborn (KCWE President Elect)
Associate Vice President of Instruction
Johnson County Community College
12345 College Blvd.
Overland Park, KS 66210-1299
913.469.3868 (office)

Any further questions contact Ben Hayes at (913) 288-7224

Using Email to Welcome Students

2009-01-13T11:13:00.009-06:00

The in-service theme was Making Students Feel Welcome. Do that by sending them an email today - before you actually meet - and attach your syllabus to the email. Groups already exist in Groupwise. For additional how to click here.

Please insert hyperlinks to The KCKCC Writing Center or to the Math Tutoring Center in your syllabus and email the links. The process works similarly in MS Word and/or Email programs.

Never inserted hyperlinks before? You aren't alone - but it's easy, clear, and scores cool points with students. Here's how in Email: (1) click on View/ HTML. (2) Notice a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) tool bar appears.

Next: highlight text that you what to become a link (3) and then click on (4) the earth (as in "world wide") that has chain "links."

You'll get a pop-up window that asks for the web address you'd like to direct people too. Enter the address and it's done. The result is shorter, less visually busy, and should work better with ADA compliant mechanical readers.

Team-based learning

2009-01-12T08:01:00.005-06:00

At the Sp 09 In-service, several of our faculty presented on Team-based learning (TBL) and how they've used it in designing significant learning experiences for their classes. Most notably faculty recounted how it has improved attendance and engagement while bringing up performance. Since the presentation I've had phone calls, email and several personal requests in the halls for more information.
We plan on interviewing our faculty and getting their insights (either on video of podcast) - because they are the experts on applying the methods to our unique environment. In the mean time.

Further information on TBL - see particularly videos on

understanding the difference between groups and teams,
understanding the Readiness Assessment Test -
rubrics / assessment -a) setting grade weights. b) assessing course and team effectivness

email

2009-01-05T09:28:00.007-06:00

Research shows that connecting with students before the first class improves retention (Lorenzetti 2008). Here, email groups are created for every class automatically before the first meeting making it easy. Why not email a greeting and attach the syllabus before you physically meet? Details on how at the end of this post.

Of course, email has changed the teacher/student dynamic. See the following.

Does email curb productivity? (NPR text and audio)
UNC Chapel Hill investigated Email in Academia re: expectations, use and instructional impact in Educause. Faculty and students have different expectations (BTW: a blog might bridge the gap). Another study compares synchronous and asynchrous communication .
A service to send self destructing private notes through email .

On a lighter note - but still relevant and revealing (from the Chronicle of Higher Ed.).

Professors list "favorite" emails from students part1, part 2
3 of the funniest email from students and what they say about technology

Regarding expectations - email is often said to be as private as sending a postcard through the mail (e.g. employers have a legal right to read mail sent through a company server or from a company computer). This may complicate discussions regarding FERPA and sending grades through email.

How to:
And if you haven't used the pre-established class groups set up via Groupwise, go to the address book, make sure your are in the Novell groupwise address book - (See yellow arrow - note: not the frequent contacts where it might try and take you first) and at the top the classes start in alphabetical order by 4 letter abbreviation ( e.g. if you teach an English class and the class number were 00990**** - - you'd scroll to where we put the green arrow - ENGL00990*** and click).

Using this option maintains student privacy. Everyone gets the same message - but they don't see individual email addresses. Mail is sent to their KCKCC email account - Remind them to check that.

Lorenzetti, J.P. (2008) 14 ways faculty can improve online student retention. Recruitment & Retention 22 (12)

Math Art: Fractals

2008-12-17T09:25:00.007-06:00

Not really sure what fractals are - other than art created from math using computers. Click on image to see full size.

Created by Wolfgang Beyer with the program Ultra Fractal 3.
Licensed by Creative Commons -

There are also some great images on flickr from the New York Public Library, and LIFE magazine has posted amazing photos on Google.

ICC Book Club: Diaz' Oscar Wao

2008-12-09T11:27:00.003-06:00

Today's book club discussion will be treating this book (see wikipedia for summary). It's won the 2008 Pulitzer prize for fiction and the National Book Critics Circle award.

It tells a story - several woven together - of a family, their country of origin (the Dominican Republic) and their new home, New Jersey. The background on the history and politics of the Dominican Dictator Trujillo and his gangster minions alone makes this book worth the read, but the language used - makes this work remarkable.

A lot has been made of the gutter Spanglish - but having studied the work of the Hispanic cultural critic Carlos Mencia, that didn't throw me off - tho my knowledge of gendered nature of swear words has been expanded. The gratuitous use of the "N" word gave one pause, but ultimately the overall effect has been an authentic (albeit coarse) common dialect.

The controlled use of ambiguity makes this a favorite over the last few books we've read. Less a contrived work of art and more a testimony of the Dominican diaspora experience - it succeeds in a compelling, powerful way.

Writing conventions in electronic media

2008-12-03T08:11:00.008-06:00

How should conventions of spelling, mechanics and punctuation be treated in email, discussion boards, blogs, etc.? NPR today has text and an audio podcast exploring linguistic innovations from technology, and Dilbert has dealt with the issue for a good minute. The comic is from 6-6-2004 archived at www.dilbert.com Click on image to see the complete (and larger) strip.

Links for teachers

2008-12-02T08:22:00.014-06:00

Biology: what glowing hamsters can teach us about genetics (video of animals bio-engineered); reprints of antique medical illustrations - cross reference with cool art; European Molecular biology lab creates 3-D digital embryos - kinda like Google Earth on a REALLY small scale.

Psychology: - study shows cognitive therapy is as good as antidepressants; study looks at why failure inspires some and demoralizes others; book review - The Time Paradox, re: how individuals think of time shapes personality; Brain science - the source of genius;

Science: Richard Feynman on the essence of Science;
Language: Merriam-webster announces top 5 words of the year.
Art and Music: the youtube symphony orchestra puts classical music online; Free downloads of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash duets; the white album turns 40; 10 fun facts about Picasso (source for images); reprints of antique medical illustrations - cross reference with biology.
History: world history in images from 1949 to 1989 in under 5 minutes - to the tune of Billy Joel's We didn't start the fire (video).
Green issues - the environment: green cars at LA auto show.

image from http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2008-01/homer-simpson-brain-mri.jpg

National Day of Listening, Pedagogy of Powerpoint,and Holiday Wishes.

2008-11-25T08:59:00.012-06:00

NPR is promoting the National day of Listening the day after Thanksgiving -

NEW YORK – StoryCorps, the most ambitious oral history project ever undertaken, will launch the first annual National Day of Listening on November 28, 2008. On Thanksgiving, Americans and loved ones gather to share a meal, express their gratitude and reminisce. StoryCorps is asking Americans to linger a little longer in the Thanksgiving spirit and honor a loved one by conducting an interview about his or her life.

This site provides more detail and audio as well as links to a guide to helping you through the interview as well as how to archive and/or share it. In addition to being a great idea for family and personal reasons, it could be a foray into podcasting. If your audio is 8 minutes or less and relates to content taught here at the school, or pedagogy/andragogy, we'd post it on our podcast. You will greatly appreciate the time you spend doing this - regardless of when or if you post it.

Also this week, we have a new resource on the pedagogy of powerpoint - focusing on when, where and why. There's a pretty funny and apt teachertube video on the subject - regrettably the resolution could be better.

Need something more to be thankful for? Free downloads of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash performing together in 1969. Via openculture

BTW: the turkey is oragami/ papercraft. Taken originally from a Japanese website - find English directions and info here.

Grants and resources for instruction in the arts

2008-11-21T10:02:00.002-06:00

Recently in discussion of grants and funding available on campus, someone said, "Why isn't there any money for the arts?" Well, there is, for example the National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Wallace Foundation. Edutopia (a George Lucas educational foundation) has a post on the best places for grant information.

Susan Turner, who writes grants for the college, advises to start early and not underestimate the time needed. She notes that potential grant requests relate to a project—usually within a program area—that can be described and budgeted. All potential requests for funding will be prioritized by the Provost.

Grant requests are based on a problem or need that can be clearly stated. So the first step in submitting a request for funding is to complete the summary section of the approval form The next step will be to discuss the concept with the appropriate dean(s) and secure initial approval. Then submit it to Dr. Sangki Min and he will review all requests with the Provost. Susan will contact the successful requesters to discuss the request and design a realistic work-flow schedule for getting a proposal out the door! Her first concern is developing that work-flow schedule (back dated from the submission date) so that there will be adequate time spent on the research and writing and reviewing stages.

All grant requests should include a timeline of who is responsible for what stage as the project is implemented.

TechTALK wrap up

2008-11-18T13:03:00.008-06:00

This post will be a place to respond to ideas from those who attended our session.

Thanks to Herschel Martin who suggested the following cartoon from Real Life adventures.

Let us know what you'd like to know about, or what applications might work best for your class. Post to the comments here and let's extend the conversation.

Web 2.0 - controlling the message

2008-11-17T11:05:00.019-06:00

Susan from Online Ed. facilitated with me, Greg, from T3 on a category of Web 2.0 applications.

For a condensed audio podcast on Web 2.0 - check out what I presented at the international NCSPOD conference. An earlier post described the format and process of the GIFT presentation. I intended to present identical 8 minute teacher-fronted informative mini-lectures, but interesting things happened (Click on links to hear it). In the first session a mad torrent of information comes out. Pace and frequent mammoth embedded relative clauses obscure organization. In the second session the audience takes part guiding discussion, wikis get attention and themes such as the Guttenberg project and ESL or international students get treatment. In the final session, a great idea from another presenter (on recognizing faculty and sharing info) is mentioned and the focus is more on the philosophy of Web 2.0. Reviewing the audio has lead to some productive self-assessment.

KCKCC videos on YouTube ,
Greg's YouTube recommendations
Handouts (HOs) from TechTALK: RSS feedreaders, social bookmarking, finding blogs - Source of my HO (I remixed Tim Davies' work - he's since posted new remixes by others - he does great 1-page HO's)
blogging posts, our feedreader (aggregator)
top 10 objections to using social media - and responses

Isn't the headgear a nice touch?

What do you want to know more about? Post suggestions to the comments.

Why should a teacher blog

2008-11-14T13:58:00.010-06:00

This week a series on web 2.0 applications that will lead us to the TechTALK workshop facilitated by Susan Stuart and myself (Wed. noon in 3207 - RSVP to B.Hayes).

An excellent job making the case for blogging in education (How/Why/etc. mainly through loads of links) has been done by another blogger - and I've done it through anecdote at my first educational blog, but here I'll throw some recent hard research at you.

A blogging case study (Armstrong and Retterer, 2008) from the AACE Journal, affirmed that computer mediated communication makes writing more fun for students and there's indication that students wrote more, felt more confident and more accurately assimilated second language linguistic features (without overt instruction in grammar).

A phenomenological qualitative study (Felix, 2007) found first through a meta-anaylsis that

differentiated instruction, using multiple modes of presentation, will positively increase a student’s opportunity for learning. Communicating efficiently, using various communication methods, will enhance a teacher’s instructional effectiveness and a student’s ability to understand. Blogging appears to offer multiple opportunities [for this]...

No big surprise. But then the study itself

highlights the importance of writing in education,
finds that blogging teachers changed instruction to more actively engage students
indicates that blogging leads to greater collaboration, connected learning, cognitive complexity, student/ teacher dialogue

In E-mail in Academia, a refereed journal article from EDUCAUSE, faculty noted that they liked using email for communication, but didn't like answering substantive questions thru email. Students still feel more comfortable (due to shyness, or because written questions can be better composed) asking these questions thru email. If it's a personal issue or grades - office hours are the way to go, but if it's something the whole class could benefit from - blog it! That way you can share the info with everyone, and archive it indefinitely to pre-emptively address future classes - without necessarily identifying the source of the question.

For an example (case study(?)) using blogging in a class click here.

Writing comics and irritating usage

2008-11-13T07:59:00.007-06:00

How many decent regularly produced comics do you know about writing and/or grammar? Here's one to check out from Karen Riddick, who does an electronic magazine (an e-zine) on writing and usage (and who just published a book). Click on the image to see a complete, full-size comic (shrinking it to fit the blog compromised legibility). This is a great source for images to embed in lessons (a la wikis, email, blogs etc.) to punch up interest and spark discussion.

The example above links mechanics and linguistic meta-language with the current election. Connecting learning to our students' lives makes it click. Also on the issue of the topic of the above comic, Oxford researchers have released a list of the top 10 most irritating words or phrases in English. Not all of them are cliches, but...

And what is the difference between a cliche and a colloquialism?

Title 3's Denver Conference: casa bonita

2008-11-13T02:05:00.002-06:00

Of course it was business during conference hours, and handouts and powerpoints from the conference are available now online.

But the real story may have been the dining tip Media Guru J. H. gave the T3 team. "An experience you won't forget - Cliff Divers in a Mexican restaurant - Casa Bonita" Turns out South Park has done a sanitized and idolized treatment of the place. That episode (see complete show here ) is one of the creators' top 10 favorite episodes.

Think an aging theme park crossed with the dinosaur restaurant. Think theater production values approaching a small town renaissance festival in a down year: high school students shouting into a squawking P.A. system that rendered them absolutely incomprehensible. Kitsch on an absurd scale.

I had a great time and we all have a story. Did you know of said Media Guru's reputation as a practical joker? In his defense he claims to have not been there for 20 years, but you have to suspect him. Someone should've tried the margaritas.

The food aspired to concession stand standards, but the wait staff were warm, friendly and harried. The mariachi's (seen here singing me happy birthday) rocked.

Preparing to teach: tips and ideas for the first day

2008-11-12T15:32:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow (Nov. 13, 2008 at 12:30 in PDR) Cindy Otts will be facilitating a Dine & Design workshop on "Tips and ideas for the first day." Please RSVP to Ben Hayes if you plan to attend.

This dovetails nicely with Janet Velazquez' Academic Symposium yesterday on What the Best Teachers Do. A big part of Janet's presentation talked about preparation and touched on ideas such as:

making promises rather than expectations,
framing the big provocative question that guides the inquiry of the class
figuring out what students know and understand, and
creating an environment conducive to learning

This also connects to Tips Ben has circulated re participatory lectures (particularly the idea of framing the big question). Ben has also shared the Hawaii Community College system links which have loads of Tips on many teaching concerns including the first day.

Cindy's workshop will be collaborative. Consider checking out the first KCKCC wiki, where we collected icebreakers from our faculty - to build community, establish trust and start class off. But NOTE: Icebreakers and community building isn't just for the first week or two; like all relationships, classroom dynamics require maintenance.

Sustainability and Green Issues

2008-11-12T07:49:00.002-06:00

From the Keynote speaker at the 2008 NCSPOD , to the theme of the upcoming KCPDC Professional Development Conference in March (not to mention the election), environmental concerns are getting more attention.

Here's some links I've collected:

Thomas Friedman has written a book, Hot, Wet and Crowded. It's about the green revolution; here's the Daily Show interview. There's a quick video on electric cars and mileage that could be great for teaching math skills and applying it to students' lives - deep learning. The effect of climate change and the lack of sustainability -one in four mammals facing extinction - interest to biology teachers. How to do more with less: packaging idea to reduce waste. A how-to describing a process to convert an old pizza oven, an ink jet printer and nail polish remover into a Solar Cell (from NPR),

A Call for Input

Who would you recommend to deliver a keynote on the environment (going green or doing more with less)? We want someone engaging who can address green issues - or doing more with less. Johannes Feddema, a KU professor and climatologist, has been recommended by a colleague, and I just heard an interview with him on NPR (11-12-8 at 7am). Post suggestions to the comments.

Writing Instructional Materials

2008-11-11T14:46:00.001-06:00

Found an online punctuation game from the creators of the book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves. It's fun - and I didn't ace it. While this book, and the assorted support material, promotes a conservative view of grammar, for students who haven't been exposed to the rules, it's a legitimate resource. I'm of the "descriptive" rather than "prescriptive" school, but appreciate both perspectives.

This as well as a vocabulary test, were found at Daily Writing Tips - an RSS feed/ blog that has some great stuff. It's not all grammar - it also lists places to get ideas for writing, advice for the divergent as well as the convergent aspects of the craft, and tips and tools for online writing. It's one of the best writing resources I've found, though for audio check out Grammar Girl.

I enjoyed the "Black board moments" post - though I disagreed with many of their alleged offenses against English. ("Blackboard moments" means occasions of usage that evoke a response akin to fingernails on a chalk board). What I find useful is the need for all teachers to acknowledge their own grammatical fetishes and share them with student writers.

The vocabulary test may never replace www.FreeRice. com for a fun way to learn vocabulary, (and it doesn't feed the poor) but it's another tool for androgogical kit. See also Chomp chomp grammar - an online grammar learning game.

If you have sites you like - share them in the comments.

Intercultural Book Club: _After Dark_ by Murakami

2008-11-07T23:46:00.000-06:00

The physical descriptions of characters intrigues me - men seem to be described initially, but the initial lack of description of the female characters might mean something. Halfway through it I've finally gotten a description of Mari, but not really of her sister. Eri, the model, maybe needs no description because Japanese and Chinese models fit a type: tall and willowy of stature, with higher-bridged and more angular noses, and lacking the epicanthic fold. The mind wandered to how class and status define "beauty" and how the genders see differently. Ethnic groups see differently too. Japanese readers see something exotic in Denny's, the way someone from Kansas might find a Teppanyaki house.

Doesn't the ICC have Roger Shimomura prints in storage? (art seen here is his). Though I recall the prints the school owns are earlier and more conservative works, but a lot of his later work - or what you find in the Nelson or at KU's Spencer museum - show that split world / past-modern/ Pop-schizo thing that I kinda see emerging from this book.

Resources for study.

Special thanks to E.K. for finding the book on CD and reminding me to get on my homework.

Title 3 Conference in Denver

2008-11-05T13:16:00.000-06:00

People keep saying you TItle III can be a catylist for changing campus culture toward more student centered practices, and a way for faculty to explore new ways to teach.

Carteret Community College, see their blog, have used T3 funding to rethink approaches to advising, assessment and distance learning to improve retention rates. Distance learning (aka Online ed.) thrust their program into a leadership role thru/due to aggressive professional development opportunities.

They used Skype to live webconference in the presentation. They also reccommended http://www.dimdim.com/ as a tool to web-conference. It's free and they said it's excellent software. They've also used all these tools and IM (Instant Messaging) to provide tutoring/ support to students.

Donald Staub, their director noted that administrators and facuty don't know what Title III is and we need to communicate with them better. One thing he does is to pay for adjuncts to cover faculty classes so that key faculty can attend professional development. He also reccomended

we find out the attrition rate for online classes, as well as web-enhanced classes
we establish a common language (specifically lexical) for our discussions
we ask deans, "how would you like to see teaching change on campus"

Ben's Active Learning Resources

2008-11-03T10:02:00.000-06:00

Ben Hayes collected the following resources as part of a Dine & Design workshop.

Definitions of Active Learning (with brief examples, and a list of online resources from the University of California at Davis).

The Active Learning Site, Charles Bonwell. Bibliographies of active learning articles in disciplinary areas, for large classes, and to promote critical thinking; research summaries and Internet links.

"Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom," Charles C. Bonwell & James A. Eison. Discusses the value of active learning and ways it can be incorporated into the classroom.

Active and Cooperative Learning, R.M. Felder. Links to active/cooperative learning journal articles and websites.
Active Learning for the College Classroom, Donald R. Paulson & Jennifer L. Faust: Describes 29 active learning techniques.
Active Teaching and Learning Rationale and strategies for active learning in the college classroom, including teaching and learning in the lab. (Module 3 of Getting Results, an online course for instructors on course development, funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by WGBH in Boston and The League for Innovation).
Scenes from a Classroom: Making Active Learning Work (University of Minnesota, Center for Teaching and Learning Services). A tutorial with guidelines and keys to success for planning active learning activities. Includes scenarios depicting typical problems and their solutions.

Active Learning in Large Classes: Video Resource (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Center for Instructional and Professional Development). This site provides an interactive tutorial. Seven video clips, each accompanied by a Word document, demonstrate: clickers, learning teams, discussions, and other in-class activities

Active Learning with PowerPoint University of Minnesota, Center for Teaching and Learning Services). A tutorial on ways to use active learning strategies with PowerPoint presentations; includes 12 active learning strategies.

"Active Learning on the Web," Bernie Dodge (San Diego State University). Ways to use the Internet for active learning.

"Student Diversity Requires Different Approaches to College Teaching, Even in Math and Science," Craig Nelson, Indiana University (In American Behavioral Scientist, V. 40, No. 2, 1996, 165-175). Research by Triesman and others demonstrates the positive effect of using collaborative small groups with students from non-traditional backgrounds, (ie Blacks, Hispanics, and rural whites), who struggle with college coursework. Argues that traditional approaches are biased, while active learning strategies can lead to “massive differences in overall student achievement.”

Teaching with the election

2008-10-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

Many are finding teachable moments by incorporating the election into their courses. Dr. Janice McIntyre has her reading students read a selection of articles on how the campaigns target young voters (and what young voters think) from USA Today October 6, 2008. The link has video of supposedly representative young voters from the 4 categories they fall into.

Her students do a "My view" project. They

read the article(s),
annotate it,
write their reactions and
engage in a discussion about what it all means - to them personally and to the larger community.

For full details of the assignment click here where it's stored on their class wiki.

We invite them to continue their discussion in the comment section of this post.

NCSPOD "GIFT" Sessions

2008-10-27T22:55:00.000-05:00

GIFT is an acronym and a play on words. You share a Great Idea for ....Teaching? Faculty Topics? I forget what it stands for - Anyway it's clever. They set up 7 or 8 tables and somewhere between 60 and 100 people came in and distributed themselves at tables, organizers rang a bell and presenters had 10 minutes to share their project, experience or item of expertise. Then the bell rang again, groups shifted to different tables, and the presenters went through it again - repeating the excercise 5 times (+/-). Something like speed dating meets the Old-School lecture.

It turned out to be amazingly fun, and the cruising learners/ customers/ datees(?) seemed to have a blast. Intense in a good way, without enough time to get boring, the topics and format seemed to pique everyone's interest and motivate self-directed learning. Several presenters noted how they really honed there presentation through the process. I aimed for that and admire their success. Our table however seemed to get more interactive and the center of gravity moved toward the group. Not planned but not unwelcome. I recorded audio of our last 3 sessions and I'm thinking about posting them as a sort of reflection/ meta-analysis of the evolution of the experience. It may be interesting to dissect it, look at how it evolved, and consider implications for professional development. . .

I ran out of handouts and promised to post them on a wiki. They're up. Also posted are pages with more info. I'd like to see other people post material there as well. Presenters had intriguing stuff - and no one can be everywhere at once. Don't worry about making mistakes - anything lost can be found again. Password to edit is KCPDC08 -the last two characters are numbers. Many hands make light work, and an archive could help a lot of people - me in particular. If you haven't posted to the web by yourself yet - ya gotta do it.

AND/ OR post links in comments to this blog. I saw people shooting video of the Poster sessions with Flip cameras, and rumor has it they will be posted to the web - if you know where tell me. I'll post a link when I find it.

2008 NCSPOD Conference

2008-10-26T22:45:00.000-05:00

The NorthAmerican Council for Staff, Program and Organizational Development (NCSPOD) Conference has just ended in Reno, NV. In addition to providing an invigorating forum for collaboration among community colleges and universities, the international organization presents awards to honor exemplary performance.

The biggest award (to my biased and imperfect understanding) is the Glenn Schmitz Award. It "recognizes an individual or a group that has provided outstanding service to the NCSPOD board. " This award perhaps creates the most excitement and suspense because it is the only award kept secret. No one outside of the active board, not even the esteemed Helen Burnstad (who has an annual award named after her) knew of the selection before the NCSPOD President, Louanne Whitton, announced the winner.

Of course it went to KCKCC's Ben Hayes. All agreed that the recognition was well deserved and there was no luck about it, but you should ask him about how he did at the tables. The fates smiled on him this week.

More teaching resources from the web.

2008-10-20T08:39:00.000-05:00

With the election there's a load of great content that might connect to students' lives.

The last presidential debate in 10 easy minutes (video)
Standford's course on presidential elections (lot o' links + video)
The geography of the US presidential election - part 1 (Spoiler alert: the whole Red/ Blue state dichotomy is misleading and trite). Stanford lecture (almost 2 hour video)

In the world of literature:

Academy award winning animated video of Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea
This year's Nobel prize for literature goes to...
Free Yale course on the american novel since 1945

Business and Economics

Nobel Prize (in Econ) Paul Krugman on the current "readjustment/ crash" (word choice depends on your portfolio).
Free Yale course on Financial Markets

Web resources for teachers

2008-10-13T07:56:00.001-05:00

Going to try a new format. Too much fun (and potentially relevant) stuff; if it isn't shared quick it could be lost, so minimal descriptions

Video of scholarly and education merit to provoke discussion (or digression):

Anthropology: KSU's web celeb anthropologist Michael Wesch
Biology - crab rides a jellyfish; Learning about memory and aging on YouTube
Business: Yale professor explains financial crisis in 10 minutes
Chemistry;
Physics (including a boomarang in zero gravity);
Art: THe 50 greatest art videos on YouTube;
Collections: NYTimes top 5 online video lectures - and Open Cultures top 75 online educational videos - part of their "signs of intelligent life on youtube collection". Free Engineering and SCience courses from Stanford online; source to watch complete documentary films for free;
Pedagogy: Father Guido Sarducci breaks it down (learning and retention- Remember Saturday Night Live in the late 70's? funny because it's true)

Podcasting Research

2008-10-06T10:20:00.000-05:00

The Pew Research Center reports that podcasting is continuing to proliferate.

Unsurprisingly, few people report downloading podcasts every day, but increasing numbers are accessing and downloading content.

Furthermore, access to the necessary hardware is increasing even faster, and socio-economic status doesn't hinder youth from having that hardware: "Like podcast downloading, ownership of iPods and MP3 players has also increased since 2006. According to a December 2007 Pew Internet Project survey, 34% of American adults and 43% of internet users report owning an iPod or MP3 player, up from 20% of the total population and 26% of internet users in April 2006.

Young adults between 18 and 29 years old are the age group most likely to own MP3 players, 61% of whom own these gadgets."

The Effect of Web-enhancement on Classes – Quantitative Research.

2008-09-22T18:27:00.000-05:00

An article by Wingard (2004) ,
Classroom Teaching Changes in Web-Ehan ced Courses,

"assessed the kinds of changes that occur in face-to-face instruction when faculty add Web enhancements to their course. "

It comes up with some expected and unexpected results. The affected faculty expected the following:

more efficient face-to-face interactions, better class discussions
more active learning,
less lecture
more readily available practice and feedback opportunities for students, and
more student-centered instruction.

That was essentially the case; moreover, “an unanticipated consequence of continual and comprehensive student access to course materials and resources was an elevation of faculty's expectations for students" [emphasis mine].

Where change was noted it was much more likely to be positive.

Source: Educause. Follow link in first sentence for full article.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

2008-09-15T12:55:00.000-05:00

In honor of the first meeting this semester of Multicultural Literature Book Club sponsored by the Intercultural Center (and since prior commitments will keep me from our discussion tomorrow, 9-16-8, in the ICC at noon) this post is a book review.

Special thanks to Barb Stransky for tracking down an audio version of the book for me. I audio-read/ listened to the text. The best discussion I’ve found might be found at shortlist for the Booker Prize site, an online debate over the merits of the short list for the 2007 Booker Prize.

At first I found the first person thing annoying. 1^st person narrators are notoriously unreliable, ambiguous and subjective, and he refers to that when he says his “history” is at least true in its essence. That said, this makes it unconventional and artistic. The choice provokes discussion and avoids trite resolution.

The novella is overtly symbolic, in the nature of a Hawthorne novel, and is best understood in terms of an allegory. Wikipedia notes that his name, Changez, is Urdu for Genghis. The Chilean bookseller’s reference to young men captured and trained to kill for their adopted groups is Christian, right? But Genghis Khan’s tribe exchanged princes with the Romans in the same way. Maybe even Genghis himself, (if I remember my history channel).

Erica symbolizes the American dream, much like the Statue of Liberty or any other physical monument. Like Gatsby, Changez reinvents himself for the object of his desire, this Erica/ AmErica.

The crux is the Ghost seduction scene – where, after a failed attempt at “possession” – to “have her” - he tells (Am)Erica, “Imagine I’m Chris.” Changez hijacks the ghost of Chris and uses it to ram the twin pillars of Erica’s long guarded treasure. This results in, as the French would say, “La petit mort” her first with another man (she’d only reached climax one other time since Chris’ death, where she pulled her own trigger while imagining Chris.) Like the towers on 9/11, her shudders signal collapse and impeding devastation.

Or does Changez offer himself up as a vehicle for the ghost – himself a spiritual victim of a long lost idea? We can’t trust his rationalizations. Was Changez the plane or the hijacker? Meat puppet or metaphysical date-rapist? I see him as the incubus who destroys his lover and loses his soul. His rationalizations for co opting the dead Chris smacks of the rationalizations of date rapists on a recent episode of “The Closer.”

The allegory isn't pure or consistent. Working for Underwood Sampson, he’s been blind and weak, but he regains his strength after his hair grows out.Christianity is a clear source of the allegory, but Changez shifting identifications with disparate images shows his actions are rationalizations for baser motives rather than the altruistic goals put forth in a monologue meant, after all, to detain and expose an enemy combatant, so anything said is unreliable. Does he blame some Delilah for cutting his hair? Would he say anything's fair in love or war? Could the pillars be also a Philistine prison?

And what about Chris – and obvious Christ figure who died for the sins of others (remember he died of lung cancer though he’d never smoked until he learned his death was inevitable and immediate)?

Teachers Should have an Angel (online shell)

2008-09-10T14:52:00.000-05:00

Angel is a place to put your stuff - online: a learning management system (LMS) also called a Course Management System (CMS). Here we use Angel mostly for fully online or distance learning, but other campuses provide an LMS for any class offered. You want to have Angel for an on-ground class, such as:

Copyright protection. Having content behind a password protected shell/firewall/ whatever, may keep the college from getting sued. Copyright law is ambiguous - sometimes intentionally so, and anyone can benefit from an added layer of protection. See Dr. Rosemary Talub’s Presentation from SIDLIT.
Students who transfer will have to use an LMS - Blackboard at KU, KSU Online at KSU or Moodle at Baker. They function similarly.
Students want it.

Students and faculty have widely and wildly different expectations. The embedded tables are from an Educause article which provided a meta-analysis of over 100 universities and community colleges. Our own Chan Tung published similar results.

Also, although the process may differ from department to department, it requires a) institutional approval b) at least a semester advance notice c) that you take a "course" online from OES - to learn the system and get the students' perspective.

Because instructors may not know what section of a course they will be teaching or if it will fill, it’s challenging to arrange to have web-enhancement, particularly for an adjunct.

What are other obstacles, resistance, do faculty have to web-enhancement?

Cool academic resources: Media rich

2008-08-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

More educators are incorporating wikis and blogs into their classes. Web spaces are great places to share syllabi, lesson plans, and handouts. Research shows students expect it. Furthermore, they have a great potential “fun factor.” These formats allow for embedding video, pictures, links, audio and more. Web-enhancements, whether through LMS (like Angel) or through free Web 2.0 tools, efficiently share supplemental, and/or media rich material.

Here’s a list of both highly academic and fun resources. Check them out and share with students.

PsychCentral has 10 great free videos on the teen brain, the paradox of choice, eating disorders and more.
The Guardian: UK lists the 50 Greatest Arts Videos of all Time (on Youtube that is)
In case you haven’t’ seen Randy Pausch’s inspirational and relevant “last lecture,” it’s deeply moving and amazingly upbeat.
For history buffs, Howard Zinn’s Peoples history of the United States – animated video. 8 ½ min long.
Oculture’s 70 signs of intelligent life on YouTube a collection of first rate videos.
For political science/ journalism applications, Seymour Hersh (Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist) on covert operations in Iran.
for biology/ botany - a time lapse video of fungi and slim molds (short and oddly compelling)

Recent publications re: Adjuncts

2008-08-25T16:13:00.000-05:00

The Chronicle of Higher Education has recently published several articles related to adjunct instructors. In "We're not your colleagues" a former full-time faculty member and administrator returns to campus life as an adjunct and sees things diferently; and, "The Price of Gas Fuels Tough Choices for adjuncts" brings up a perhaps unforeseen effect of rising gas prices. See also:

Inside Higher Ed "Will Adjuncts Pay to be Certified?"
Inside Higher Ed "For Adjuncts, Progress and Complexities"
Allyn Bacon "adjunct online links library"

Also, when asked what advice they had for new part-time teachers, a collection of veteran adjuncts from several departments offered the following:

go to in-services and departmental meetings, to get key information
seek out your dean and communicate - if you plan a field trip, trip to the library or move/reschedule class for any reason, let your dean know.
give every student a syllabus on the first day
read the KCKCC "Adjunct faculty handbook"

Teaching with embedded video

2008-08-19T07:59:00.000-05:00

Our campus community has an impressive online video presence.

In fact, in the most recent online video to go "viral," you can see a Fort Hays debate coach lose it and moon for rebuttal. One of our own acts as the voice of reason and calm. You may have seen it on network news. YouTube pulled the video, but it's up on Live Leak, viewable at Boing Boing (It is intense - contains very coarse language and, as I said, an exposed rear-end).

The Strawberry Fields Community Garden Project, produced by the school's economics club in conjunction with the Strawberry Hill Home association, shows community involvement and applied, active learning. It features Dr. Medhi Shariati, as well as several students you see in the halls or in class. It's the featured video this week to your right.

The music department represents us with class through many videos of the Blues Devils. Different musicians and musical genres show up. Sometimes the camera is on a tripod, and sometimes on the shoulder of someone in the back of the audience, but the obvious sense of fun makes them worth checking out.

The track team also shares video to assess and improve performance.

See the growing list of examples of our excellence at the forefront of online shared video.

Gearing up: Resources and Suggestions

2008-08-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

On syllabi, include your name, the textbook title, and dates of exams and activities. The master syllabi templates aren’t finished products – they need specific info. Check out Dave Knopp's insightful 1 page paper re: student vs. faculty expectations of a syllabus. .

Email students ASAP. Sending a mass email is easy.Your class "group" has already been created in Groupwise. Go to the address book and enter the 4 letter abbr. for your department and scroll to your class. Attach syllabus or other materials.

Get to know the Academic Resource Center (ARC).Tutoring isn’t just for struggling students. Bookmark these links and share them - repeatedly, in email, on syllabus, and every chance you get:

Learn where the library is and plan a tour ASAP: Contact the main desk at 7650.

Make an effort to break the ice, build community and establish trust. If you’re interested in fresh ideas re: icebreakers, check out one of KCKCC’s first wikis. Build community throughout the semester.

adjuncts: support and development

2008-07-30T11:53:00.000-05:00

One recurring theme of this blog is the support of adjunct instructors. Several times I've supported myself and others exclusively through adjunct work at multiple locations, logging as many as 700 miles a week. That's what got me hooked on audio books. Here , in the fall of 2007, as many as 43.7% of classes were taught by adjunct faculty who aren't otherwise employed on campus.

When you consider that adjuncts teach fewer classes - that's a lot of people who work out of their cars, make due with limited, communal, office spaces and spread their commitments across several schools or businesses. Several sources note that the price of gas has already steered startling numbers of students toward online classes, and experts predict these classes will be taught predominantly by adjuncts. These aren't the only challenges facing adjuncts.

Support for adjunct faculty development.
We have significant resources for adjunct faculty, that many don't know about. The Faculty- Staff Development (FSD) site is a great place to find resources. From there, and additionally:

adjuncts can present symposia and there is a stipend (200$?).
Funds (up to 375$) are available to attend conferences. (note: be willing to share what you learn. Perhaps write for this blog or interviewing for the audio podcast)
the FSD adjunct page has the adjunct handbook and several newsletters from different adjunct support organizations.
FSD sponsors Dine & Design and TechTALK presentations where we share strategies, activies (we don't like the term "lesson plans" but you get the idea), and theory.
you can download Softchalk Software for creating cool interactive online quizzes and instructional material (it's in Angel Support materials). We will have to discuss the benefits of Angel in a future post.

What do you need to know and / or want to talk about? How can we better support adjunct faculty? Post to the comments section of this article.

The importance of humor in teaching

2008-07-23T12:18:00.000-05:00

Several unrelated events conspired to inspire the topic today: humor and teaching. A math instructor remarked on the role jokes play in keeping students engaged, and an article on challenges facing adjuncts inadvertently got me thinking about the importance of a sense of humor for teachers.

There are many sources for cartoons for educational purposes online. Cartoons on the web can often be embedded without violating copyright – since 1) it doesn’t technically exist on our site 2) we don't sell it and 3) it's for educational purposes. Images may look better on wiki pages, but... for example from http://xkcd.com/:

Taylor Mali, a teacher turned Slam Poet, has great teaching material on YouTube. Experiencing his poetry (more stand up/ spoken word with a hip hop feel) is hilarious, and he treats math, history and of course language arts. See a collection of links . He’s featured in the video to your right. I particularly like his piece on “The Impotence of Proofreading,” but his rant on “what a teacher really makes” lifts your spirits and provides perspective.

The Faculty Staff Development Library has humorous resources for teaching: books by Al Franken and Bill Cosby, books on topics such as games for instruction, and videos like “what’s so funny about work,” and more.

Victor Borge’s a phonetic punctuation system can lighten up a grammar discussion and teach mechanics. And for me it's practical; living in multilingual environments, I sometimes speak out punctuation to clarify meaning.

additional links:

SMARTboards continued: philosophy

2008-07-15T11:22:00.000-05:00

This post has been informed by discussions with several master teachers at KCKCC. SMARTboards are a type of Interactive White Board (IWB) technology. It's more accurate and useful in research to use the term IWB, like it can be more useful to say "cola" instead of Coke, though in practice...

The more I read/ watch/discuss and learn about Interactive White Board (IWB) technology, I notice several tacit assumptions that long confused me . Educause, an online scholarly journal, notes that administration and faculty come from different cultures and the assumptions of one culture can lead to miscommunication with representative from others.

When discussing IWB's we must consider how we conceptualize both the technology and the nature of instruction.

Are we talking about it as software or hardware?
Are we thinking in the context of a) online/hybrid (web-assisted) classes or b) on-ground (without an Angel class or “shell” created)?
Is it a tool to produce lessons, to illustrate specific concepts, or to record them for distribution?

All of the above possibilities are valid, BUT, generally speaking, instructors focus their use based on their personal teaching style, the demands of their subject matter, and the needs of their students.

We all think of content, and content delivery, differently. “Concrete” disciplines (math, sciences, nursing) rely more on pre-planning and may rely on the use of Powerpoint or the related “Notebook” software. Social Sciences and the Humanities, where the subject matter is more abstract, tend to use the technology on the run – to augment the experience in the classroom. In fact, one can still get graduate degrees in several fields without seeing a Powerpoint presentation – so equating Powerpoint with instruction draws blank stares from some faculty, just as instruction without Powerpoint mystifies others.

Susie Meyers also notes the need to tease IWB's apart from "Online" instruction. These are distinct and specific issues, but they are not mutually exclusive. Dr. Hasan Naima thinks of SMARTboards not as web-enhancement, but as communication enhancement. This tool facilitates instruction.

Advantages of IWB's (SMARTboards)

Save notes – share via online / email.
Clear instantly – saves time over erasing boards
No chalk dust.
Notebook software offers many possibilities not available through Powerpoint.
SMARTboards facilitate collaboration.

Questions voiced separately that need exploration – known issues

If we visualize SMART tech as a way to prepare lesson, and if these teachers prepare lessons from their home computers, can/ should they have the software on laptops or their home computers to create lessons?
Adjuncts have problems logging into tech enhanced classrooms.

I’ve recently collected new instructional videos for IWB's or SMARTboards at http://del.icio.us/gdixon/smartboard

Web resources with a Math/ Science / Technology (MST) focus.

2008-07-07T10:09:00.000-05:00

The web has a wealth of material to support teaching of the sciences. Youtube offers many, but the problem with youtube is that it isn’t easy to find relevant, quality, content. Luckily Open Culture has done that recently. You can also find resources through our social bookmarking site and at http://del.icio.us/gdixon/math.

Primarily MST resources

A basic skills math podcast that connects everyday life to math concepts. This has potential for learning communities http://www.mathgrad.com/shownotes.html
Pedagogy in Action, a site by the Science Education Research Center of Carlton College, has a wealth of resources for teachers, particularly science teachers. http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/index.html
For Chemistry videos, check out http://www.kentchemistry.com/KentsDemos.htm
MIT provides a great number of resources through its open courseware initiative.
The Indian Institute of Technology and The Indian Institute of Science provide solid content.
xkcd, a webcomic, posts comics related to math.

Wide variety of subject interests - Sciences and Humanities

Many universities and an increasing number of community colleges are making course content available free online. Generally, these schools consider sharing content to be a community service.

The University of Pennsylvania has a 60 second lecture series on a wide variety of topics including chemistry, physics, history, psychology, women’s studies and more. They have some big names. . I stumbled upon it through the presentation by Labov – a giant in linguistics. Because the format is around a minute long – it requires subject experts to summarize, which is an invaluable tool for effective teaching.
Uchannel, associated with Princeton, aggregates (collects) feeds from many quality institutions.
UC Berkeley has pioneered the use of YouTube to deliver content.

If you have resources you've found that you like, please share them by commenting to this post.

Resources for teaching 6-24-8

2008-06-24T14:48:00.000-05:00

This week we mourn the passing of George Carlin, Counter-Culture’s comedian of the 70’s and 80’s and a prolific writer more recently. He created one of the best ways to teach both comparison contrast and the use of metaphor in language through multimedia available free online in a routine called, “Football vs. Baseball.” Find the text and audio , and you can also see video via several sites on YouTube . See him perform the monologue and /or an interesting slide montage. I'll try embedding a video somewhere. The slide montage might really work with Non-native English speakers.

Also a shout out to Janice McIntyre and those who have been using www.freerice.com to build and reinforce vocabulary. She says her students wouldn’t leave class one day because they were so engaged. Designed by a computer programmer who wanted to boost his children’s SAT scores, not only will the game make you smarter, every correct answer feeds the hungry worldwide through the U.N. World Food Programme. There’s a great audio program (with text) from NPR.

NPR provides some great resources. Today they mentioned the Wallace Foundation as a resource for teachers. The site bills itself as high quality source for learning and enrichment activities. They also sponsor grants.

The Chronicle of Higher Education this week praised one of my favorite sites, Open Culture, for teaching resources and for personal enlightenment/ entertainment/ etc. The Chronicle discusses the great online courses available free, but I download audio books and audio short stories. Open Culture also sifts through the morass of YouTube and finds teaching and educational stuff actually worth viewing (it’s out there – really!) And, Open Culture updates frequently. Another collection of redeemable YouTube videos can be found at their smart youtube viewing collection.

2008 Summer Institute

2008-06-19T09:12:00.000-05:00

The Value of Goals

Judging from initial feedback, the 2008 Summer Institute on Course Redesign succeeded rousingly, and expectations were high due to faculty interest in pedagogy and the renown of the speakers (see Team-based Learning website and books published).

Dr. Dee Fink challenged us to imagine our ideal class: bright, engaged and motivated. What would you want these students to be able to do after the class-in life? At the right we have the aggregated responses.

They asserted that curriculum design won’t work if you don’t know your outcome, what you want students to do at the end of the course. This allows for backwards design and makes choosing learning activities easier. This likewise facilitates the assessment of learning.

I wonder how past and present colleagues (particularly in the humanities) feel about setting goals and measuring our own success in promoting student learning (individually – not in any comparative sense. Let’s not digress into NCLB. Please take a minute and do the survey to the right - a quick and anonymous assessment itself).

Some think of teaching as an art and resist the idea of intentionality in creation. My mother, the artist and art history teacher, used to point out that great artists were well-trained. Also, the Latin root for "art" gives us also artifice, artificial, etc. Artists make the difficult look deceptively easy.

A final note: the conclusions of recent empirical research on Latino Students published in Excelencia in Education call for "short-term measures of academic progress to guide improvement in curricula instruction, and support services for Latino students."
The study notes that their conclusions would serve any student population.

For more online resources on assessment see our Bookmarks at http://del.icio.us/gdixon/assessment

SMARTboards: pedagogy and technology

2008-06-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

Ways to Use SMARTboards

(The following are taken and adapted from the IT dept. at Wichita Public Schools

Save lessons to present to students who were absent
Have students create e-folios including samples of their work and narration
Teach whole group computer or keyboarding skills
Brainstorming
Take notes directly into PowerPoint presentations
Reinforce skills by using on-line interactive web sites
Teach editing skills using editing marks
Use in the 6 trait writing process
Use highlighter tool to highlight nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.
Use it with Inspiration
Teaching students how to navigate the Internet
Illustrate and write a book as a class. Use the record feature to narrate the text.
Diagramming activities
Teaching steps to a math problem.
Graphics and charts with ESL learners and special ed students.
Teaching vocabulary
Create video files to teach a software application, a lesson, or as a review to be posted to the server or web. Example- How to create a graph in Excel or how to burn a projects to cds
Use the built in maps to teach continents, oceans, countries, or states and capitals.
Show presentations created by student or teacher
Digital storytelling

How To: Resources available online

2 minute tutorials by SMART Technologies Inc. Animated

Brief and broad overview from an educational blogger. Text-based.

Discussion board.

Podcast – regular and engaging, but each audio episode runs 30 minutes to over an hour

All these sites and more are bookmarked at : http://del.icio.us/gdixon/smartboard

We’ve also tried our own hand at some ultrabasic, quick and dirty videos on using the specific equipment here on KCKCC campus. See our wiki .

Welcome to our new site!

2008-06-10T16:27:00.001-05:00

KCKCC Faculty Support blog

When we first started the The KCKCC faculty support blog on edublog, considerable time was spent offering support and research that showed why and how blogging can be good for educators. There weren't too many posts and they tended to be long. Since then I’ve used several other blog services, and used blogging extensively with a class.

My writing style and approach has changed to fit this medium, and we’ve migrating to Blogger® to take advantage of some fun and useful features.

Less is sometimes more. Readers prefer shorter but more frequent posts. There’s also got to be something in it for the reader – some pay off. This forum will be used to share resources (lesson plans or activities/ research/ etc) gathered through various journals, feeds, blogs and list servs.

Here are some links to previous posts on the old site. I can revisit these topics if there’s interest.

What’s in the KCKCC faculty support blog for you: our purpose and audience.
The adolescent nature of the web: why scatological metaphors are so appropriate. (this has links to interesting audio and text from NPR)
There are also articles about icebreakers and brain-based learning.